Okay. Thanks to Mr. John Cohen’s comment, I guess I need to confess about my dating in high school. If I’m to be technically accurate, I never dated during high school, at least not the school year.
Let’s see, if we call freshman year part of high school, then every girl I was interested in already had boyfriends. Hmmm, the first girl I remember was Judy Scott. Judy was from Briarwood Beach I think. The first think I remember was that she reminded of a girl I knew in Brunswick, Debbie Poe. I never asked Judy out. Well, I was 14, 15? No car, no money. What kind of date would we have? I did, however, talk her into doing a skit in the “First Annual Golden Coathanger Awards” at Westfield Junior High.
I was also completely smitten with Bonne Black, but she had her boyfriend, Bruce. Bonne and I did a lot of things together, but as friends. Yes, friends. We almost had a date once. It was the end of our senior year. I invited her to a graduation party in Brunswick. We had a really good time and it impressed the hell out of the guys I knew in Brunswick. since there wasn’t as much as a goodnight kiss, it probably doesn’t count as a date.
Oddly enough, at about the same time I was smitten with Bonne, I also had a mad crush on Jeanne Brazis. Jeannie went to Brunswick High. Like Bonne though, Jeannie and I were just friends. We did a lot of things together as well. With Bonne there was Bruce. For the longest time, Jeannie didn’t really have a steady boyfriend, but I never was able to step into that role.
My memory is a little foggy on this, but I kind of remember going to a Stephen Stills concert with Patti Brown. And maybe a Glass Harp concert, maybe. I really liked Patti, but she was my friend Marty’s cousin and she was younger.
Those of you that only know me since my mid-to-late 20’s or older might find it hard to believe, but I was always sort of shy around girls. I didn’t have a problem meeting girls or talking to girls, but I always had a problem “taking it to the next step”. I’ve already alluded to my inability to pick up hints.
The summers were a bit better. I was working at Chippewa Lake Park. The most memorable was the series of dates I had with a girl named Joanne (okay, this is yet another Joanne).
My Friend Bob Powell had hooked up with a girl from Lakewood. She had two friends and the three of them were staying in someone’s parents’ cottage at the Park. Bob, or Boog as we called him, had his friend Barry lined up, but needed a third guy. That’s where I came into the picture.
Over the course of a week, maybe ten days, the six of us went out every night after the Park closed. We drank, we smoked, we made out. No, I didn’t have sex, but it got close.
There was this other girl too. She was younger, lived in Parma. I remember John Cohen couldn’t stand her. I went out with her one time. Wait, that was during the school year. We went to the Medina-Cloverleaf football game in Medina.
There were a lot of other girls I thought about asking out in high school, but I didn’t drive, didn’t have any money, didn’t want to hear “No.”
So, okay, John. I didn’t date in high school.