Throwback Thursday: Those Wacky 70s

I was a beach hippie girl in the 60s. And then I accomplished something I always wanted: I became a mother. My adorable two children were my world until the mid-70s when we then became a statistic. I was now a single mother with no working skills. 

I searched for a government program that could help me gain skills, thus income, and found one that helped me become a Special Education aide with Portland Public Schools.

The late-spring of 1975 when my divorce was final. I had met a nice man while I was taking the city bus and we started dating. Well, mostly we hung around my living room during the break he had between his morning shift and afternoon shift while my sons were gone, listening to music and talking. I was a pretty naive young woman--married at 18 with not that much dating during high school, mother at 19, divorced at 25. But even this naive young woman wondered why we never we out to a movie or dinner or something. I suspected he was married...but he said no when I asked.  

He did take me out on a real date a couple of times. The biggest date was when we went to dinner and saw Gorden Lightfoot in concert. I've seen Lightfoot a couple of times since, but this time was very special. My first concert on one of my first dates since I was divorced.

The two of us spent lots of nice time together but interests waned and we started seeing less of one another. My kids were home from school on summer break and I started dating a few others.

Out of the blue I received a phone call from him. He said that he and his wife were back together but they were into swinging. I believe I said, "And?" I mean what did I care? Why was he calling me? I said, "It might be better if you called a priest rather than me if you have a confession to make." He laughed and said that the Swingers in his group were almost always couples but a few trusted singles are invited.  Was I interested?  Hmmmmmm....no.

And life moved on. I would still giggle with my neighbor, Nellie, about how trusted I was. But other than that, I didn't give him much thought. Oh, I'd run into him when I was out and about and we'd chat a bit. We remained that kind of friend--friends that were pleased to see one another but had no interest beyond that--for quite a while.

Forty years later...I recently looked him up on Facebook out of curiosity. And there he was! Turned out to be a real right wing political guy, angry at people like me. You know, bleeding heart liberals heh heh heh. But I left him a message anyway, asking if he was the same man who worked at a specific place in the mid-70s.  Heard nothing for months. *shrug*

And then today he replied that he was who I had asked about and why did I ask? Seemed to me that he didn't know who I was. So I explained. I said that he was the first man I dated after my divorce in the 70s and I just wanted to thank him for being such a nice transition into a new part of my life. I appreciated his role.

"I'm sorry. You must have me confused with someone else. It happens all the time.*"

"You think maybe there is another person with your name that was working at your place of business in the 70s?"

"No, there is no one else who worked there with the same name."

"Hmmm...we went to a Gordon Lightfoot concert and often listened to his music at my house."

"Look, I was married in the 70s and I haven't been to a concert since Woodstock."

"Hmmm...okay sure whatever."

I really did think I was more memorable than that LOL but I guess when you are a cheater, you have to keep the story of your life simple. *Especially when you often get mistaken for someone else.

Yessiree, those 70s were wacky. Between fading psychedelic rock, punk rock, funk, and disco...between swinging and AIDS and notsofreelove...between the killings at Kent State and Watergate and the Women's Movement and Black Power....  And the changes to the American Way Of Life from the spillover from the 1960s revolution....  Yeppers, way more going on than my first dating experience *wink*

And so it goes
peace~~~