First Date and the HS Sweetheart Thereafter

I'm fairly certain I asked about the date in March or April of 1972.  There was to be a big show thrown by the boy scouts. I just happened to be one at the time and thought it would be great to show up with a date at the biggest event the scouts put on each year. It would not have been such a big deal if it weren't for the fact that I was scared senseless and that the first words to Bev were "you're a girl.....right?". I immediately clarified the remark by asking if she'd go to this scouting event if a person were to invite her.  I think she knew where this was going and gave a positive response.  Without hesitation I asked if she'd go with me. Of course the response did not change. The date was May 20th, the event was Scout-O-Rama . Normally I would have had to take my turn "monitoring" the display booth, but I was given a lot of leeway by the guys and was told to just have fun. They knew this girl was special to me.

In the months that followed, notes were passed, letters were written and phone calls were exchanged.  Thank goodness my parents had unlimited local calls (they turned that off after my brothers and I left the nest).  We went to school sports events, celebrated birthdays together, went to each other's family gatherings and played cards during breaks at school.  Some called us "inseparable", the "better half" of the other and "joined at the hip".  Every now and then there was a carnation day at school where one of the clubs would sell carnations to raise money.  I now had a reason to buy them.  Bev had become my sweetheart.

During this time I found a job through the placement center at school.  It was a simple job that paid well.  My father told me it was traditional to give a gift to someone special with the first paycheck.  My father received words of thanks from me, but my mother and my Bev received colorful ginger jars.  It was something I had never done before.  Later in July, I scrambled for a birthday gift.  Not knowing what Bev really liked, I purchased a glass display, something in the same order as the ginger jar, something to set down and marvel at.  The following year she gave me a gold bracelet with my name engraved on the top and the words "Until Tommorrow" (engraver made the error) on the inside for my birthday.  Bev also sewed me a custom made shirt with special buttons she had to special order.