Special Friends

For some reason, today I was remembering an old flame.  Sometimes people who were special friends cross our minds.  His name was Ronnie, we had an office romance, and he was quite the gentleman.  He was 14 yrs older than me, which means this year, he'll turn 68.   Wow.

I think of him as my first love.  I was engaged to be married to my high school sweetheart (another long story) but found Ronnie fascinating.   Our romance was like a firecracker fuse, it burned hot and bright, but was over quick.   He was honest and hard working, and I admired him for that. 

He was with me when I was served my first "adult beverage" in a bar.  A group of us used to go to the local bar on Thursday nights, like clockwork, and they convinced the bartender, Nick, that I was old enough to drink.  Rum and coke -- yummmy :)   He was there, watching out for me, making sure I didn't have too much, but enough to enjoy myself.   A few drinks and I didn't care to go home, so Ronnie took me to his apt.   It was the perfect escape........  When you're only 20, the thought of being married seems daunting, so yes, I was looking for an escape of sorts.  Or maybe is was that he was an adult - whereas the man I was supposed to marry was childish in comparison.  


There are some days when I miss his friendship,
and what we had between us, even this many years later.  
(33 years is a very long time!!)



I often wonder where he is, what he's doing, and if he's happy.
I hope he is. :)

Ronnie:  If you come across this somehow .. I still think of you!

The Hat

Memories are a funny thing; so are the things we hold on to because of memories. Today, I took down and cleaned my cowgirl hat. I have a thing for hats, and have many hanging on my wall, but tomorrow, I will be a cowgirl for work, so I needed to dust the ol' cowboy hat off.

And I got to thinking about the day I got that hat. It was the early 80s, a time of Urban Cowboys and such. I worked for a forklift dealership, in the service department, and many of the men were my friends. We'd stop at 4th Street Bowl for drinks after work at least once a week. I was in my very early 20s, and the men seemed to look out for me as if I were a younger sister. One of my favorites was Ed. He was so very handsome, looking a lot like a blonde Kenny Rogers. He was very personable, and fun to be around. After work, he took me to a local western wear store, and we tried on hats. I ended up getting a black hat, that fits my head perfectly. I wore it proudly for years, especially to the bar with "my boys". A few weeks after I got the hat, Ed gave me a band of blue and yellow feathers to put on it. Those disintegrated since then. I added the bandana today. It's been sat on, stomped on, had a beer bath, walks in the rain, the sun, the wind. And it still looks great :)

Ahhh the memories!!
To Ed Cameron, Roger Tauscher, Bill Huckell, Jim Hackler,
you were my special buddies back then,
and I miss our times together!
I hope all of you are doing well, wherever you are!