Puddles and Pettipants
by Ceci LaDuca
My first love happened in paradise. Ramey Air Force Base High School on the sun-kissed island of Puerto Rico. Complete with a beach within walking distance, an Officer’s Club garden filled with Saturday night moonlight and tropical plants. And an invincible football team–the Ramey Bombers–on which my Prince Charming was a rough ‘n ready linebacker.
My beloved had brown eyes, a slightly crooked grin, prominent eye teeth that he called his “fangs,” and a little overhang of brown hair always dipping over his forehead. The year was 1965. We were both seventeen.
There are plenty of romantic memories from that year I could choose from. Eyes locked for an entire Righteous Brothers song over a table at the base hamburger joint. A prom night that made me feel like a Hollywood starlet in my long white formal, with my leading man in his summer tux. The Senior play in which he had a starring role and I was the cue girl.
But of all the first-love moments we experienced that golden year, one of my favorites isn’t romantic. It’s funny.
Prince Charming and I were headed across a soggy open field on our way to the base BX, and in my youthful exuberance I was leaping over puddles in my flared skirt like a graceful young gazelle. First one puddle, then another– with him sauntering behind me.
Suddenly, I heard uncontrollable laughter coming from his direction. I stopped my puddle-jumping and turned around to see my boyfriend bent over, holding his stomach. I asked him what was so funny. He stopped laughing long enough to spit out, “Red and white stripes!”
He’d caught a glimpse of my red and white striped pettipants. Pettipants were a short-lived undergarment of the 60s, like fitted pantaloons, that came almost to your knees. They took the place of a slip. I was flashing them as I leapt!
Eventually, he stopped laughing and I stopped leaping and we continued on our way.
A few months later, the class of ’65 graduated and Prince Charming and I went on to separate colleges in the States. New loves eventually claimed our young hearts, and the pettipants went the way of the dinosaur.
But I’ll never forget that golden year in paradise nearly fifty years ago and the sound of my first love’s laughter as I soared over those puddles!
Ruth and Harry
by Donna Sheinberg
Once Upon a Time…….
She danced around her small one-bedroom apartment with the black satin coat she bought with one week’s paycheck from Fleishman’s, the finest boutique in town. It had a wide, circular lapel and large gleaming buttons. It was a swing coat from the 1960’s. It barely fit her narrow bony shoulders, but Ruth remembered the fabulous times she and Harry would go dancing every Saturday night.
Her favorites were the big bands and swing dancing. Her small town in Pennsylvania would hire bands from all over the state to perform. Harry was quite the dancer, never missing a beat and avoiding stepping on her toes.
As Ruth twirled carefully in her satin coat she looked over at Harry eating his lunch with a tray table in front of his teal hospital-like recliner. Harry could barely pick up the pieces of food with his frail hands. Ruth let him continue eating finger foods to make him feel good even though the doctors all agreed that the Ensure was really where he was getting most of his nourishment.
Harry could no longer dance but he could send Ruth a smile every now and then and she was convinced he understood the significance of the black coat and the fabulous life they had had together.
This was their happily ever after……
Isn’t it curious that sensory triggers evoke kaleidoscopes of nostalgic images and reflections that transport us back in time? Sometimes, as in the case of the two stories you just read, you only need to open a closet where a vintage coat, a pair of shoes or an old undergarment lies in wait. Suddenly it pounces, penetrates your memory banks, and unfolds decades-old pleasures like images in a scratched film roll. Scent is one of the most powerful stimulants in the natural world. Sure, we humans have less evolved “sniffers” than other species, but we certainly do connect smell to significant moments in our lives. Let’s see what Al has to say about that! — Editor
Holiday Memories
Al Carlson
As the Holiday season approaches, we start thinking about two very important things: family and food. And we invite you now to share some of your own fondest holiday memories and the foods that accompanied them.
For me, it’s standing in Aunt Mae’s kitchen on the afternoon of Christmas Eve, as she makes a test sample of korv (Swedish sausage) for me to judge. (Since I’m 10 years old and know nothing about cooking, I’m clearly an honorary judge, but Aunt Mae convincingly behaves as though my opinion matters.)
After dinner, there is the wonderful once-a-year flavor of fruktsoppa (Fruuk’ ta Suu’ pa) for dessert. Then a trip to the living room, where we put the LP on the turntable and try to sing along with “Christmas in Sweden”.
Whether your own memories are from Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or some other holiday, we’d like to read about them.
No! Wait! We’d love to hear about them!
We’re not asking for anything lengthy and meticulous here, just a fragment of memory, a moment of sounds and smells and tastes and relationships that still makes you feel warm inside.
If there’s food involved—and we hope there will be—sharing the recipe or something very much like it would be great. You can, of course, do what I did, and just link to one on the web.
We all have decades of memories now, both good and bad. Let’s share some of the best ones! And you can do that at connectsolli25@gmail.com.
Cheers, Al
Ceci LaDuca is a Tampa native, military brat and USF English grad, having worked in the USF Career Center for 23 years in various capacities. An OLLI regular since retiring in 2013, Ceci has taken several classes, including Spanish, Blogging, Physics, the Great Books series, and the Great Decisions Foreign Policy class. She loves nature, blogging, walking, reading, gardening and retirement!
Donna Sheinberg is a retired social worker who is fascinated by the human spirit which is reflected in her writing. Donna enjoys mentoring students, traveling, and the adventures of learning. She has been taking OLLI classes for a few years and got her start in writing from Marilyn Myerson’s Imaginative Writing class. She is currently in two writing groups including Crew.
Al Carlson spent 40 years as a Librarian and joined OLLI-USF after he retired in hopes of meeting interesting people and learning new things! Boy, did that ever work out well!
OLLI now allows him to co-edit OLLI Connects, moderate Zoom sessions, and take on other interesting projects from time to time.
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