*CA*
I am going back in time to set the scene so that there is context to the new entries.
In the winter of 1977 I was 18 when I met the person who was to become the 1st true love of my life.
*CA* had two older sisters in the youth group I attended in High School.
She had just turned 17 when we formally met, though we knew each other over the previous 5 years.
The night we became fully aware of each other was the beginning of the events that would define my life for the next 50 years.
We were at a weekly meeting of our Church Youth Group, when from across the room, we caught each other’s gaze and the spark ignited. For the next 2 hours, we were shyly looking at each other and giving each other small smiles of acknowledgment and appreciation.
When the meeting was over, we each hopped into our cars (her car was her mom’s Oldsmobile) and headed to our respective homes. As we had to generally head in the same direction, I made sure to follow her as we headed out.
On the way, *CA* clipped a parked car and we pulled over to see what was the damage. As she knocked on the door of the house, I had this overwhelming urge to just reach out and hold her as we waited for the homeowner to answer the door. It turns out there was little or no damage but I knew I was going to be her boyfriend.
We were married on 11/18/1979 while I was stationed in SoCal in the Navy. She moved to Oxnard CA. with me and we had an apartment off base which we shared with a friend of ours from her job. (IRS)
This being the time it was, and with the military NOT doing drug testing at the time, we all enjoyed smoking weed on our off time. We took road trips, went to the Beach, Hollywood,Concerts, etc. We thoroughly enjoyed this paradise as only the young and carefree could.
All good things come to an end though, our roommate transferred to San Diego, and we prepared to move back to the Bay Area after my enlistment was up.
It was then that things fell apart in a major way and my life would never be the same.
I will write regarding that story later.