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memories... chapter 3
Sun, 28 May 2006 21:34:07 GMT alt.fiftyplus
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david...
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my memories continued. it was now sunday, may 29th. while the date
doesn't match today, the world was similar... enjoying a Sunday prior to Memorial day. tomorrow would be Memorial Day (back in those days, Memorial Day was may 30th, not just a convenient Monday... that year, it just happened to be on a Monday, so I knew I had an extended weekend...), but I expected to spend it around the barracks or maybe watch the Indy 500 on the rec room TV. I was remembering the events from the prior week and trying to find a way to see that girl again. a week had passed. i had no phone, and I didn't know dalin's phone number anyway. did she share my feelings? i had no clue. but i knew where she would be. it was sunday evening. she would be at her church. i had to see her. there was a grumpy sergeant who was driving into the city that night. dared i ask for a ride and be beholden to him? or miss seeing her again? priorities ruled. i asked for a ride. he dropped me off in midtown where i took a taxi. i didn't know where the church was or its name... i just knew it was somewhere near the local Sears store... we drove by several churches... (nope, not that one... nope, not that one...) and ended up at a bowling alley, seeking help. the cab fare kept going up and up and I was beginning to worry that i would run out of $ before we found the church. I had been in Syracuse just a month and had been away from the barracks on only a couple of short trips. thankfully, the bowling alley manager knew of the church and we found it. dalin wasn't to be found, but people said she was there. i was perspiring by now. we don't think today of how difficult it once was to find a person when you had no phone, no phone book, no address, no email address... but it was stressful. eventually, she emerged from her class. she saw me and was walking in my direction. how do i appear nonchalant? i certainly wasn't just 'driving by...', and she barely knew my name... so i used 'plan b'... honesty. I told her that I just wanted to see her again. seemed to work. she mentioned a sunday school class picnic on memorial day and invited me to come. there would be approx 6-7 people of our age going and they would pick me up at the barracks on monday morning. Heaven's gates had just opened!!! i don't remember how i got back to the barracks that night... i may have walked, or taken a cab... or maybe i just walked on clouds. i don't remember... :) it had been a wonderful evening. she *remembered* me and had invited me to a church picnic on Memorial Day. life couldn't look any better... :) i had been so afraid that she would say something such as "uh, do I know you?" Jean B....
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