To be honest I do not remember whose party it was but I know it was one I wanted to attend and was upset when I wasn’t invited. Naturally I accepted a date so I could go even though there was any number of reasons I could have declined. First, she had the same first name as my sister, which made it weird. Second, she was a lot younger. All right girls mature faster than boys, but when you are sixteen a girl of fourteen seems like a child. Third, she had a twin. He was a nice guy, but it just made it even weirder. Finally, she had not matured in the area guys at sixteen look for first. All right so it’s shallow, but Donna was quite mature in that area and it impacted my expectations.
One thing I realized right away was even though she had a twin brother there was no mistaking her for a boy. She had jet-black hair and big brown eyes. She was slender without being skinny. She smiled demurely, but not in a shy way but more in a provocative manner. In fact, there was nothing shy about Peggy; she was friendly, engaging and an excellent conversationalist.
As far as I can remember we never discussed civil rights, the war, or anything of a controversial nature. Before we arrived at the party we were talking about people we knew. It was amazing the number of people we both knew, and she seemed to have something good to say about each one of them. It was surprising to me that with so many mutual friends we had not been introduced to each other.
She told me how she had seen me at a dance with one of our mutual friends but didn’t have the courage to introduce herself at the time. When we reached the party I realized I not only was glad to be at the party, but I was glad to be with Peggy, even if she did have my sister’s name and a twin brother.
Although most of the details of the evening are vague I remember talking with a lot of mutual friends, especially girls who were in her BBG chapter, like Gilda, Rosie, and Debby Sue. Despite having only finished her first year of high school Peggy held her own with the other girls. Whatever lack of confidence she felt the night she chose not to introduce herself to me it was completely gone.
When we ordered pizza at The Wagon later that evening she told me how she was looking forward to the Packer season and asked what I thought about the merger between the NFL and AFL football leagues. I think I had probably talked about sports with girls before, but usually because they wanted to join in a conversation I was having with some other guys. This was different. She actually seemed to be interested in the Packers and football.
Besides the subject the other thing I remember about our conversation was her hands. Her slender fingers seemed to not only weave the story together, but also somehow add a tantalizing element to it. Given all the reasons the evening should have been a complete disaster it was not.
Yet, somehow I knew as we kissed good night we would probably not go out together again. She never called, but then it really was my turn to ask her and that never happened. A couple decades later I worked with her twin brother on a building project at the Milwaukee Public Schools. I may have asked about her, but I’m not sure.
Do you remember the first good date after a breakup? What set it apart? Were you able to follow it up with another one? Tell us in the comment section.
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