by Rosalyn Coppola
It was April 29th, 1967, I was only fifteen years old. I was infatuated with a boy that was in my class since grade school. My best friend Jane was in the high school musical and so was he. So, of course, I would go to the rehearsals just to see him.
We were all outside the high school and he jokingly grabbed my wallet and started to run away with it. I started to run after him to get my wallet back. The front of the auditorium had long outdoor steps which had two hills, one on each side. As I was running, I tripped and rolled down the hill. As I looked up I saw a very nice and good looking boy extend his hand to pick me up. It was not my crush. His name was Dennis. I had never known anyone named Dennis before.
He had dark curly hair and beautiful brown eyes with long lashes and a beautiful smile. He was wearing a maddress plaid shirt. At that time, I thought that maddress was a little dorky. We talked a long time and he asked me to go to the Battle of the Bands the next night. I said yes. Dennis came to my house to pick me up the next night and met my Mom and Dad. He was very respectful to my parents and shook their hands. He looked like a hunk. A term that my friends, Lillian and Jane, would call a very handsome guy. He was wearing a black leather jacket!
We went to the Battle of the Bands and on the way home we stopped at Sherman’s Malt Shop. We had lime rickies, which are soft drinks that I love. Dennis walked me home and he asked me what was my favorite color. I told him Orange. I asked him his favorite color and he said, “I like Orange, I like Blue, and I like You.” We walked home and he kissed me in the ally way at my house. I was in heaven. We dated and he gave me his gold ring and asked me to go steady on June 23. We “went steady” for six years.
Dennis would carry my books for me in high school. I am so glad that he was not shy and had the guts to open up and say how he felt felt. I would have been too shy to confess how I felt until he had said so. We would walk down the hall and my Italian teacher would call us Romeo and Juliet. We got married on June 17 and had four beautiful children. I was orginally taken back by Dennis’ dorky maddress shirt. Boy was I wrong. When I met Dennis, I was wearing a three quarter length leather coat and he confessed later that he thought I was fast. Boy was he wrong! So first impressions are not always correct. And we were so blessed that we met so young. So my love story can teach us, ladies get off the internet and roll down a hill lol