The thing about girls

When I was 13, my dad got transferred from an Air Force base outside Dayton, Ohio, to a base on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

We moved in the early part of my 7th grade school year.

But on my last day of class in Ohio, word circulated through the halls of Central Junior High that this pretty girl named Jill had a thing for me.

I can’t actually remember how I reacted, but certainly there had to be a note of astonishment about the bad timing. “Now? On my last day in town? I’m just learning this now?”

Thanks to the active cajoling of numerous intermediaries of both genders, I had an awkward conversation with Jill before the end of the day. I suspect it only served to underscore the pointlessness of pursuing a romance with her. But I think we agreed to keep in touch via the U.S. mail.

As I recall, we wrote one letter each.

Anyway, the next summer, I went back to Ohio to spend a week with my friend Matt.

It was July of 1969. I was at Matt’s house during the first moon walk.

While I was enjoying my time with my old friends, the aforementioned Jill came up again. It was reported that she still liked me. Or, in the parlance of the time, she had “the hots” for yours truly.

My friends made a point of noting that Jill was blossoming into a fetching young lady. Though, as I’m sure you can imagine, that is not how it was expressed.

Now there was nothing inadequate about my level of self-esteem when I was 14. But I suspect I was nonetheless skeptical about these reports. Jill, I supposed, liked the slightly exotic idea of a boyfriend in another state. It was not anything real.

But in the days leading up to a much-talked-about boys/girls party near the end of my visit, Jill and I became something of an item. And we had not even seen each other!

That did not deter my friends from pressing me about my plans to “make a move” on the young lady in question. What had I learned about the art of courtship while residing up north in the Great Lakes State? Did I plan to cop a feel during a slow dance? Was I going to kiss her?

Well, a gentleman never tells. But I remember being at that party and sitting next to Jill, feeling nervous and uncomfortable. And then she said something about the insanity of our situation that made me laugh. We both relaxed, and instantly got to go back to enjoying being 14.

I don’t recall a lot about that party. I think I learned something, though.

I already knew that pretty girls trumped just about everything in life. But if you could find one who made you laugh? Man, then you really had something worth hanging on to with both hands.