PART ONE: THE BEGINNING
It was in the fall. A dance. The Southeastern Washington fairgrounds in Walla
Walla. A crowd of people outside a door waiting to be ushered in. There she was.
The most beautiful creature I had ever laid my eyes on. I knew she was special. I
don't know how this is possible, but I loved her the instant I saw her. Sweet,
innocent face, big beautiful doe eyes, long chestnut brown hair cascading down in
waves to below her shoulders. She was snuggled up in a fur coat and I was drawn
to her like steel to a magnet. I approached her and quickly, gently placed my arm
around her shoulders. In my most polite tone I asked "Will you go to the dance
with me"? Picture this now: I am a big guy with long hair. I did not look like part
of polite society. "Whaaaat?", came her reply. "Why should I? I don't even know
you"! "Because I love you" I said matter-of-factly. She protested a little, but
agreed to go to the dance with me. After a time we left the dance to go see the
fair. We ran into her parents, whom she had arrived with initially. Laurie
introduced me and her parents seemed to love me. At the end of the night the
parents took us home, dropping me at my house first. Laurie got out of the car
and we walked to the porch together. I asked her if she would go steady with me
and be my girl. She said she would. I pulled the ring which I always wore off of
my finger and asked her if she would wear it. She took it, and although it was
about 6 sizes too big for her tiny fingers, she wrapped a lot of tape on it and
always wore it. It was a sterling silver band with a black onyx set in the center
that had been hand-made by a convict at the Washington State Penitentiary in
Walla Walla. She told me later she does not know what made her go to the dance
by herself. That was something she said she would NEVER do under any
circumstances, let alone spend an evening with a boy she didn't know. Thus
began a love which spanned more than four decades and endured across lifetimes
of living apart and even being married to other people. The year was 1970.
PART TWO: THE FOOL
We were inseparable. I walked Laurie to class at school. We had lunch together.
After school it was a 15 minute walk over to her house. I was there every day. I
was there on the weekends. If you don't believe that ask Colleen Berry, Laurie's
next door neighbor, or Bob Davis, who lived directly across the street. Laurie's
parents just adored me, for some unknown reason. I really don't think I was all
that great. I had manners, was trustworthy and honest, but on the other hand I
was a beer-drinking, pot smoking, cigarette smoking guy with long hair. Go
figure, right?
Laurie's parents house had a studio apartment which had been fitted into the
attic, and we spent many, many pleasant hours up there all by ourselves. We
had bought this huge plastic model of a sailing ship and were assembling it up
there on a large card table. The parents never asked why it took us so long to put
that ship together, and they never came up or disturbed us when we were
together up there. Pretty amazing, considering how protective they were of her.
I don't know why Laurie loved me. Maybe I should have asked her. Laurie was a
nice girl and I was a misfit who played keyboards in a rock band. So why would
she have anything to do with me? I asked my mom this question and she said
"Sometimes people just love each other". Maybe this is the best answer there is. I
listen to my mom a lot more now than I used to. Laurie, with her wit, charm,
cheerful outlook on life and good looks could have had any guy she wanted. But
she was not a competitor. She didn't compete in any of the high school cliques.
She wasn't in any of them. She was her own person. She knew who she was, and
didn't try to impress anyone. That was one of the qualities that I dearly loved
about her, and I could see that in her face the first time I laid eyes on her at the
fair dance.
Something else I need to say: Laurie never had a problem with me about
anything. EVER. No truer statement was ever made! She did not bitch at me
about anything, but accepted me the way I was. Looking back and realizing that,
I just have to marvel at her. Can you imagine what it must be like to be intimate
with someone who smokes when you don't? And she never ever even complained
about that! Laurie was not a taker, she was a giver, always.
The years passed happily by. In the fall of 1972 I went off to my first year of
college at Oregon State U. We kept in contact with one another, and she even
came to OSU to visit me a couple of times. The 2 pics on my Facebook wall page
that show us as teenagers were taken there.
Consider this now: A lot of people are in cheating relationships, but that wasn't
Laurie and I. It would have been easier for me to cut off my arm than it would
have been for me to cheat on her and lie about it. That was a big part of what
made us so special, I think. When you trust your partner implicitly there is no
reason for jealousy, is there? I didn't have to wonder what she was up to, I knew.
All I had to do was ask.
Laurie & I had never gone all the way. She had convictions which, try as I might,
I could not change. She believed two people should be married first. So sometime
during that first year of college I got it in my head that Laurie and I should date
other people and still stay friends and that is what we did. Enter: THE FOOL. She
didn't tell me until years later that that broke her heart. She told me she would've
married me in a heartbeat if I had asked her and that she always figured we
would be married. She told me she almost didn't make it through that. At the
time I didn't even realize this! I do know that I wasn't ready to be married- I
didn't want the responsibility. All I wanted to do was get high. How sad. I still
loved her, I just couldn't settle down at the time, and I could not live my life
celibate. This was the single biggest mistake of my life.
The next year Laurie entered college at Lewis Clark State College in Lewiston and
we fell out of touch with one another. At some point I called her parent's house to
try to get in touch with her and her mom told me "she has a boyfriend at college
and is really happy". Well, now I'm the one who is heartbroken. I never spoke to
Laurie personally and I never called back. I would not hear from her again for 38
years.
Thanks so much for taking the time to post here! I am wondering what you mean by "I sound like your situation: waiting for the reunion?" I am going to look at all your posts to try and figure that out! 
