blast from the past

  When I checked Facebook this morning, I had a message request from someone whose name rang a distant bell. I repeated the name to myself a couple of times, trying to place this person, and my mind flashed back to my teenage years. Then I read the message. He asked if I remembered him. That his best friend used to date my best friend. Then it all came back to me.

The year was 1978. I was 16 years old and living in Jamestown, Kentucky. My best friend and her boyfriend used to come to my house on the weekend and the three of us would hang out. Of course in those days, there wasn't any internet or cable TV or cell phones. We would hang out in the living room and actually talk for hours without the distraction of screens. I can remember the three of us sitting on my parent's faux leather couch (man, that thing was hot and sticky when we were wearing shorts!) and laughing hysterically because the boyfriend gave my kitten a piece of cheese and the kitten promptly got up in the boyfriend's lap and farted. 

{My best friend - who's wearing my strawberry top because she loved it - and her boyfriend}

We lived in a rural area, so there was nowhere for us to go. We didn't even have a McDonalds. About all we had was a drive-in movie theater, a roller rink, and the high school gymnasium when there were basketball games.

Being 16 and seeing my best friend with a boyfriend when I didn't have one...well, I just had to have a boyfriend, too. So my best friend's boyfriend promised me he'd fix me up with his best friend, J. J and I wrote each other little notes - yes, handwritten ones - and they were delivered via courier pigeon  Best Friend's boyfriend. Why Best Friend's boyfriend never brought J to my house when he'd come over with my best friend, I don't remember. But I do remember one night, Best Friend and her boyfriend picked me up and the three of us went to a basketball game in a town about 30 miles away where the guys lived. J was supposed to meet us at the basketball game. He never showed up. It wasn't like we could call or text him to find out where he was! Boy, the kids nowadays have it so easy, don't they? 

Eventually, my best friend and her boyfriend broke up, and I gave up my hopes of ever meeting the infamous J.

{my sister, my best friend, and our four dogs - GS (stood for German Shepherd - we were clever like that), Ringo, Puggy & Gypsy}

So now, after 38 years, the Mystery Man somehow finds me and contacts me?! I wrote back and told him that I did remember him and asked how in the world he even remembered me. I looked at his Facebook page and from the photos I see, he still lives in the same town in Kentucky, is married, and even has a few little grandchildren.

{Me and my best friend; Christmas 1978}

All I really want to know is:

Where was he that night he was supposed to meet me at the basketball game? ;-)