From Worst to First

it was June 4th 1975 and I had two tickets to the Bachman Turner Overdrive concert at the Hollywood Amphitheater, but alas, no date. My roommate Tim and his girlfriend Gail suggested I ask Gails’ friend Cindy, who was way out of my league, but desperate times call for, well you know, desperate measures. Cindy was a looker, picture an even prettier Natalie Wood, and I had sweaty palms as I dialed her digits. She answered promptly and after swallowing my tongue a few times I finally found my voice and blurted out the invitation and she readily accepted,

We had decided a date as big as this deserved all I could offer, so we went to Hollywood early and had a nice dinner, starting of course with a nice bottle of Bright Cellars Merlot. I couldn’t of scripted a better start to an evening and my mind was in the stars. She smiled that radiant smile of hers, her brown eyes sparkling and I was at a loss for words as this princess sat beside me. She was utterly enchanting a dream too big for my mind to encompass.

The concert was everything we hoped for, great seats, perfect weather for an outside venue and as I walked her to our seats, I held her hand. I was at least smitten, maybe more, but that changed as quickly as a High Sierra Spring night. We had just sit down when the first drops started to fall, unfortunately it wasn’t rain, it was tears from my date. I was perplexed, confused and devastated and as the concert raged, so did the tears. I looked to Gail and Tim for help, but they just shrugged.

She cried through the entire concert, the entire ride home and my dreams were shattered. She wouldn’t talk, ignored my pleas to help and when we got home and out of the car, she crouched and wept. Tim shook the keys at me as if to say “you want to take her home” and I jumped at the chance.

I didn’t see Cindy again for thirty nine years and I had married, raised four kids, divorced and was playing on FaceBook when a ‘new friend’ suggestion came up, a girl I hadn’t thought about in over three decades. I figured let bygones and all that slobber and hit the button. She responded rather quickly, which surprised and startled me. I was hoping to find out what dastardly deed I had done that night to set off the water works.

We started playing Words with Friends together and finally I got the nerve to ask for her number, I seriously doubted she had the same one. It took me a day or two to summon the courage to call and she answered right away. She was pleasant, laughing and enjoying the conversation, but I had to know, so I finally asked the question I wanted, neigh needed, an answer to, “what had I done wrong?”

She didn’t remember a thing, not the date, not the Merlot, not the concert and not even me. I had a bottle of 2015 Bright Cellars at my disposal and decided during the confusion this might be a good time to break it open. She laughed and I asked her why, “I love this wine, I have the same bottle in my kitchen, can I join you for a drink over the phone?” I was flabbergasted and agreed immediately.

We talked well into the night and the next two nights, drinking our Merlot and discussing life. She finally acquiesced to go on a date and with devine guidance and her daughters help we saw each other again for the first time in almost four decades. Truth be told, I had fallen head over heals just talking to her in the phone, and within two months we were living together and now have been married for three years. She still denies the date, at least she refuses to admit it, and we still both share bottles of bright Cellars Merlot on occasions, and the only question remains now for the reader, is this fact or fiction?