How I Know Mark

Maybe my dating difficulties go back even further than I thought. My teenage years were riddled with strangeness, too. Even the man I eventually married started out in an unusual way. I've met some fun and interesting people along the way, so I think I'll take a moment and go back in time.

The prom. He was senior class president and I was a lowly sophomore trying to fit in with his older friends. It rained that night and on the way home, he hit the median and blew out the tire. There we were in the pouring rain and wearing our finest garments yet to date and changing a tire. My father was a mechanic and had taught me to do so much in the way of taking care of cars and when the tire blew, this fellow couldn't figure out how to solve the problem. He looked ridiculous standing in the rain while a 98 pound teenage girl in high heels and a yellow dress assessed the situation.

Wasn't long after prom that I met Dan, the man I would marry. I was 16. We met on a blind date and I was the date of his best friend. The four of us, including my friend and his, spent many happy hours together as friends and companions. He and I always leading the pack as we were the outgoing ones of the foursome. Eventually, we all broke up. We became closer friends after that, but that was it. It wasn't until a few years later when we ran into each other that things took a romantic turn. Both people have to be in the same frame of mind. Timing is everything.

I was 19 by then, and for about a year, I had been having quite a nice time with an older man. Friends with benefits is what we were, and we were very friendly! We were both DJ's in our community and he also moonlighted at a 3.2 bar the area was famous for at the time. We had a nice arrangement for about a year before I disappeared without a trace. Dan came to the bar one night, and I never went back, and that was the last time Mark and I saw one another. I felt sorta bad about vanishing like that. 20 some odd years later I found him on classmates and dropped a line. We had a good laugh about it and now have a nice friendship.