meeting an angel

June 1973...I had just turned 24, and one evening I was with friends in an apartment house rec room, playing pool. These friends were about 5 years younger, and I knew a couple of them from their older brothers, who had been in my high school class of 1967.

I had "tried" to quit my 6 year habit of cigarette smoking twice that spring, but was still smoking. I was vaguely aware that a few people had come in, and taken stools against the wall. I was busy with making my shot, and when I did, I finally looked up to see who had come in. They were three young women who obviously knew my friends, and were their contemporaries, all of the CHS class of 1972.

One of them was a stunningly beautiful brunette, long wavy dark brown hair, classically gorgeous face, and a stunningly voluptuous body in the full bloom of young womanhood. She was wearing jeans and a blouse that could have been the one in the double exposure photo posted here.

I have always depended on my passive approach with meeting women, never one to approach them with "lines". I usually passed up the really beautiful ones, I suppose, fearing rejection. Or I assume "She is so fine, she must be taken".

But in this case, all of my personal insecurities and issues took a back seat to my desire to meet this beauty. Many adults lack social skills, and more so with teenagers. None of our mutual friends thought to introduce us, so I walked up to her and introduced myself. We shook hands, and their was electricity...magic, in her touch. I had never known anyone with the name "Sari"...had never heard the name. Her smile totally disarmed me. In spite of being blown away by her beauty, smile, and sweetness, I mustered up enough courage to ask her to go to dinner with me the next night. I figured, nothing ventured, nothing gained, and I will probably be turned down, but I had to ask. Was I flabbergasted when she accepted.

Later that evening, I began to suspect that all our mutual male friends had gone through an inevitable phase of being in love with Sari. I can't imagine any man knowing Sari without being in love with her, but I am slightly biased where Sari is concerned.

Even though I was the cool worldly experienced male, I was obsessed with how I was going to impress this beauty. I was to find that this was in vain and unnecessary, and that the young woman I had met was not impressed by bullshit. Her values were real. I had no idea of the lifelong ride my heart was about to take, for better or worse.