By Laraine Dunn, January 26, 2019 — My phone rang on a Tuesday night and it was for me. My mother said, “It is a boy but it’s not Billy.” Billy was a boy I dated since 14, I was now 19, and we were expected to marry. I took the call and the boy on the phone said that it was whomever from the deli and asked if I remembered him. I told him I did. I only knew him because my girlfriend wrote him while he was away in the war. He said that he received tickets to the ballet in New York City and he thought I’d might like to go.
Now here is my boyfriend Billy sitting in the living room watching the ball game with my father! And I didn’t hesitate, I said, “Oh yes, I think I might like that.” After the ballet, he walked me to my door and said that he really enjoyed the evening. He didn’t even try to give me a kiss on the cheek. After that night, I didn’t hear from him for a couple months when out of the blue he called again asking if I’d like to take a ride on Sunday. I agreed but on the date I said, “If you don’t mind me asking, what took you so long to ask for a second date?” He replied that he had to get unengaged. Silly me, I asked, “Why did you have to get unengaged?” He confessed, “I knew the moment I saw you, I was going to marry you.” When it’s right, it’s right. Our first date was in March, [we were] engaged in July and married in November. We were married just over 50 years.