It Was Gonna Be....That Person

Lets turn the clock back to the first week of high school.  I am not referring to the first week of the senior year, but to the sophomore year.  The year was 1970.  Graduation from Junior High was behind us, as was the relatively shorter summer.  We all had to get use to the fact that homeroom was even shorter in high school than it was in junior high.  Hundreds of new faces from around the city looked for a seating chart or just an open seat in their new homes away from home.  A quick scan of the new faces brought a smile to my face as I spotted whom I thought was an angel sent from heaven.  Her name was Beverly (Bev).  I remember the white or maybe cream colored quilted coat she wore and her radiant smile.

Being the ultimate introvert that I was at the time, it took all of the sophomore year and part of the junior year before I built up the courage to even talk to Bev.  It must have been fate that put us in some of the same classes initially, one being Latin.  In the Latin class we sat side by side, same row, different column, and close enough to copy notes.  I'm sure she meant well when she asked me what my "chicken scratches" where.  Turns out that my longhand was not very legible.  From that moment on I decided I'd just print all my notes and that I'd finally get the courage to talk to her.  What really got the relationship on track was when I asked her for a date.