More dating in the 80s (continued)

The last thing we talked about was “Paying homage to the Porcelain God,” and in case some of you do not know or remember who that was… It was any toilet handy!  I have some not so fond memories of the prayers I said to it!

Speaking of toilets!  Remember last time I told you in great detail about my hospital visit and forgot to tell you the operation’s name: Mastoid!  My stay was a little longer than usual because of my physical condition.  I was placed in a wing for the blind as well as deaf.  There were handholds on the wall the entire length of the corridors.  I was supposed to be escorted to the bathroom and escorted back until I was totally clear of the anesthetic.  Right!  On my first visit, I decided I could make it on my own, the handholds were helpful, but I crawled most of the way back to my room.  You can imagine the surprise of the Nurse finding me in my bed! I was watched closely from then on.   

I borrowed a pretty blouse from Pat.  She always looked great and seemed to have a large supply of clothes.  It was starched and looked great!  I was horrified that it had dark stains around the collar.  I just washed and starched it and gave it back to her, saying nothing.  I watched her pack a big box with most of her clothes, including panties.  She mailed them to her Mother, and in a few days, they came back all freshly washed and ironed.  I never borrowed again!  She would go through the apartment, and it looked great when she was done.  But nothing was cleaned. I didn’t care; we were friends; we took care of each other and had a blast.

Pat met her husband-to-be, and so her dates were spending time with him.  I, on the other hand, had a lot of fun.  When the guys found out I was a hick from the sticks and had never had any of the wonderful food available, they couldn’t wait to show me what I had missed.  One of the first places I was taken was CBS!  Not the TV station; College Bake Shop!  They made the most wonderful Pizza in the world!  I had never had Pizza before, and that blew their minds.  The tables were just big enough for the Pizzas. The restaurant was a favorite hang-out for the young people, and I loved it.

My next foray into the delicacies of Hartford was spaghetti!  I thought I was having Macaroni and tomatoes like we had at home.  You can imagine my surprise at a huge plate of that long stringy stuff with a Marinara Sauce with huge Meatballs sitting in front of me.  I looked at it for several long minutes before admitting I didn’t have a clue about how to eat it. My date took great pleasure showing me.  I still love it and make it often.  There was a Greek Restaurant in downtown Hartford that was family-owned. Two of the young men took a liking to Pat and me. We always made it a point to go to their restaurant often, especially after shopping, with all our bags of bargains.  The guys couldn’t stand knowing we would walk or take a bus carrying all those packages; they would drive us home.  They were sweet and very nice guys that never tried to take advantage of us.

When I walked alone, I was never worried about being accosted.  I had a large purse on an over-the-shoulder strap.  I put a weight in the bottom for protection. Several guys started harassing me as I was walking downtown one day.  I held the purse by the long handle and started swinging it in a circle, and as they moved aside, I walked through them.  I never acted like a victim; besides, I was young and immortal!

I dated a guy who had just gotten out of the Marines; I think his name was Sam, and his service stories were hysterical.  Many of us young people got together at one of the apartments and just hung out and drank beer and ate food.  There was no delivery of food; it had to be picked up.  One time Sam decided to do a white glove inspection of our apartment.  Pat and I were not amused.  When he showed up in his dress blues, we let him in, and he ran his white-gloved hand around our wainscoting and tsk’ed a lot.  We followed him around, and when he got to the front door, we pushed him out and locked it.  We told him, “Come back when you aren’t a Marine, and we will party!”  He took it okay and came back with beer and goodies to eat. 

One night Sammy and I parked, and during our make-out session (which is much tamer than now), we professed our undying love for each other and declared we would get married.  I think there was a lot of beer involved because the next morning, I was scared to death as I told Pat over breakfast.  “Oh, my God, I don’t want to marry anyone.  What am I going to do?” Pat suggested, not saying anything unless Sam brings it up.  When Sam showed up, we both pretended not to remember much about our conversation and just let it go.  Sammy had a Red convertible, and we, of course, had the radio going full blast all the time.  When he stopped at a stoplight, we would jump out of the car and dance until it changed.  We got some strange looks from other drivers and a few honks!  Fortunately, no cops showed up.  They don’t have a sense of humor.

Okay, that’s enough for today; I will swing back around and talk more about my adventures of being single in the 80s in Hartford, Conn. 

Speaking of Adventures, check out my Young Adult series of 7 books on Amazon.  They are called Ruby & Nolan’s Great Adventures in Space.  Want to learn how to ride on a Dragon’s back? I have created a map of their new world and will be inserting it in new books. Thanks, and have a great day.

Time Traveler signing out!