Setting the Stage...

I had made the decision early in high school not to date or hang out with too many people from school. It seemed that whenever I did that I found that too much was expected of me. You saw the same people every day and I found it took to much out of me to keep up with everyone. There was always gossip of some sort; someone mad at someone else; people not talking and someone was always either in the middle or completely left out. For whatever reason it seemed that I just happened to be that someone most of the time. So, I choose to be careful about the relationships I formed, especially when it came to boys. Most of the boys I was friends with in school were older than I was by a year or two. There was no romantic interests with any of them so we could go about the day laughing and joking without being serious. There were two sororities in my high school and three fraternities. I was asked to join one of the sororities when I was a freshman. I did so without hesitation as it seemed to me that the "popular" girls were the ones that were members. I often wondered if I was asked because of the popularity of my brother, but did the best I could at being my shy self. I liked sorority. We would get together on Saturday nights at someones house and have meetings, where we would decide on how to raise money so that we could rent a cottage in the summer together. We had sleep overs where we stayed up way to late and played with Ouija boards that told our future! We confided in each other about who we liked and problems we might be having. We were a sisterhood. Those of us in these organizations would gather together and pile in cars, riding out to state parks and lakes those final days of summer. It was a mixture of so many different people. Some of whom I hardly ever talked to over the four years of school. But here we were together having fun.

There was a group of boys who were considered the "smart" ones that were part of this group that I suddenly found myself in. I always knew who they were but I was not in any of their classes so I had no previous reason to socialize with them. And my rule stayed pretty true of not dating anyone from school. But, that late summer of 1968 was different. We all seemed to have a common bond now, we were seniors and we were graduating. All of us were perfectly aware that our lives were going to change in the year 1969. Who knew what would happen after graduation. Everyone seemed to be much more open, much friendlier and everyone seemed to be happy.

The drinking age in New York was eighteen at the time. Most of us were still 17, but some of the boys were 18 or looked 18 so they could buy beer. Drinking seemed to play a big part in those get togethers. For me, having a few beers made me feel less shy, and much more willing to have conversations with those I did not know very well.

That was the beginning of the relationship I was about to begin.