My trip down memory lane
THE SEVENTIES
Ah, the era of sex, drugs and rock-n-roll. I smoked a lot of pot when I was in ninth grade. It was cheap, easy to get and a new experience. And fun for awhile, but I got tired of having my brain turn to mush and I could count on one hand the number of times that I've smoked pot since 1973. I never did acid because I saw too many people freak out on that stuff and knew a few people that ended up in the state hospital because they took STP that was sold as LSD. Not worth the risk. As for 'shrooms, I can't stand to puke and there's no high worth that side effect in my mind, so I never tried those either. I stuck to beer, tequila and whiskey. The tried and true. I've never been known as a risk-taker. Unconventional at times, yes. Daring, no. Sex wasn't daring in those times. HIV hadn't reared it's ugly head, I didn't have to worry about getting pregnant since I was on the pill and I was fairly picky about my partners so I never had to endure an embarrassing STD moment like Rob. And there's something special about those awkward fumbling moments of adolescent sex when you think you're in love (but it's really just hormones.) I don't regret any of them. I did have one bad experience when a guy tried to rape me, but I punched him in the face and kneed him in the nuts and was able to walk away while he lay screaming on the ground. I found out later that I broke his nose, hah! But for the most part, guys didn't push for sex and I never felt like I had to "put out" if someone took me to a concert. If the chemistry was right, I might go for a roll in the hay, but otherwise it was just a "see ya later" after the show. No big deal. In that decade, in my particular cultural setting, sex was just a natural thing that happened if it happened.

THE EIGHTIES
This decade started out with a failed attempt at college. I was living at home with parents who expected me home for dinner at 5:30 every night. These were the same people who gave me a "be home by dawn" curfew as a teenager, but apparently going to college turned me back into a first grader in their minds. It was too weird so I dropped out and went to trade school to get an Electronics Technician certificate. No problem with the curriculum since I'd been born into a family of ham radio operators and already knew half the stuff they were teaching. I got a job right out of trade school, but then the Austin bust of the early '80s hit and I got laid off with no electronics jobs in sight. I went back to office work and landed in Human Resources where I would remain for the next 15 years. I also got married, built a race car and settled into what I thought would be my life for the rest of time. Hah!

THE NINETIES
This decade started out pretty ugly. My husband at the time had landed a job at the same place I worked and decided to have an affair with the AP clerk there. I waited two years for him to straighten up his act (I'm a very patient person) and finally decided I'd had enough and kicked him out. Probably one of the funniest moments of my life was when he confronted me after I started hanging out with Rob and said to me, "How DARE you date someone that works at the same place we do." Now the AP clerk he'd been fucking for over two years was a woman that I had to work with on a DAILY basis. His only contact with Rob was the occasional passing on the sidewalk. What a clueless idiot! And then I realized I was still legally married to this man. Ack. I couldn't file the divorce papers fast enough after that. Which was just as well because as it turned out my divorce didn't get finalized until June and Rob and I married in July. Nothing like cutting things close, eh?

Neither Rob nor I were looking for serious relationship when we hooked up. I was still legally married at the time and the last thing I wanted was a boyfriend. He had been recently burned as well and neither one of us were feeling the "rebound urge" at the time. But sparks had flown in years before and when we reconnected it just felt right. Things fell into place and the best description I can come up with is that it was magical. Or mystical. Or spiritual. Or all three. It was like a romance novel come to life. I lack the words to adequately describe it. Things have not always been roses and champagne and caviar over the last ten years and we've been through some rough times between his son's teenage years, my dad's health problems, job lay-offs and just the normal wear and tear of modern life. We've weathered this well and it turns out that we are very good at the everyday stuff. Maybe that's what matters over the long run.