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Ken Ortiz
In my post # 252 I mentioned that I received my Lane Tech Alumni Association Directory and CD. And in that post I said that the first person I looked up besides myself was the girl (who was a Lane Student) that gave me my first heartbreak while I was at Lane (see Post #159).
Well.......actually there was another girl I looked up (before my heartbreak girl and myself), and this is a continuation of my post #159 (first heartbreak story):
It was the Spring of 1975, my junior year at Lane, and this spring was where I experienced several periods of adversity in my young life. My first heartbreak was one and another was my time on the Lane Varsity bowling team (which may be a future Lane story).
That spring was rough for me on several fronts, but I was managing. My heartbreak lasted for awhile and I was very jaded in terms of not wanting another girlfriend. You see, my heartbreak girl was the "Girl of my dreams, my princess" and no other girl would live up to her. I think most young guys view their first heartbreak experience like that. I still talked with and hung out with other girls, but they sure would not get a piece of my heart, not if I could help it. Well, there was this other girl.....she was just a buddy....I could NEVER consider her as girlfriend material....we had laughs...she was a lot of fun....very playful, for example, we would be walking down the hall together and I would give her a "roller derby hip check", then she would come back with an elbow to the side....sometimes I would sneak up behind her and give her finger pokes to her sides and laugh as she jumped....(sigh.....what fun she was)....
So....lo and behold......we finally get to the last day of school before summer break......I exit Lane, and who do I see walking ahead of me.....yep, my buddy, the girl that I would NEVER consider wanting to date.....so to make that point clear......I TACKLE her on the grass in front of the school.....and we are rolling around on the grass and both laughing and wrestling......and I ask her for her phone # and address so we can stay in touch this summer, and she gives me her info.
Over the summer I talk with her on the phone, I visit her at her house (I could bike there from my house, but it was a bit of a ride with me living by Humboldt Park and her living around Belmont and Racine). I met her Mom, we even made out a few times in her basement. The funny thing was, because we got along so well and were so much fun together and were very playful together, I did not consider her a serious girlfriend, because in my mind, a serious girlfriend would not be so much fun and playful (DUH?). What an IDIOT I was! She even mailed me a greeting card that summer, and I didn't realize it at the time, but it was the most awesome, heartfelt, beautiful card I ever got at that time. It was a Peanuts mini-booklet, with each character saying a compliment, and she also added her own comments to them that made this card priceless. For example, there was a picture of Snoopy doing a happy dance and the caption was something like "you make me so happy I feel like dancing" and then she added her own comment on it. Then there was a picture of Lucy holding the football saying "I wouldn't pull the football from you" and she added more to it. The point was, that card was her way of telling me she had fallen for me.
So school starts in the fall and we are still a couple and are acting like BF and GF, but I was still not totally into her and still was holding back. Then as I would see my "heartbreak princess" around school, I would still try to convince myself that she was still the one.
I know what you are thinking...."You Idiot! Don't break up with her! She is the true one! The one that is meant for you! Can't you see she is the Sporty Nerdette to your Sporty Nerd? (Or as Michelle in post #202 would put it: Sperdette to your Sperd?)"
Ever yell at the TV or movie telling that idiot "Don't go down in that dark basement alone and unarmed!" Did it work? NO! Even if you told me to watch and heed that Taylor Swift song/video "You belong with me" and tell me that there is a happy ending to it, would I listen? NO!
I will say it again: "What an IDIOT I was" for not seeing that I already had a "girl of my dreams" that has given her heart to me. But like an IDIOT, I call it off with her and I am sure I broke her heart and of course, I do not get back my "princess" that broke my heart, and I also lose this awesome girl who sent me the most awesome card I wish I still had.
So, SHE was the first person I looked up in the Alumni directory, and I was hoping that if I ever meet up with her again, I would tell her how sorry I was for breaking her heart, that she was so awesome and loving to me and also to let her know how much I NOW value and miss that wonderful and precious card she mailed me the summer of 1975. I did keep that card for a number of years, but I got rid of that and "other" keepsakes after I got married.
You may be wondering why I consider that card so special and why I feel so strongly about it now. Because this year for Father's Day, my younger Daughter (20 years old) gave me a homemade, hand written (and hand drawn) Father's Day card, and it was so beautiful, and the words so powerful and heartfelt, I couldn't help but cry reading it. I felt the love my Daughter had for me making that card for me, but I didn't realize the love behind the card I received the summer of 1975.
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