In these fast-food times when people resent the seconds they have to wait for a fax, when they buy their Jell-O pre-made because they don’t have the time to boil water, when they use Federal Express because they can’t wait the extra day for the regular mail, it’s no wonder they fall in love in a hurry. After a week or a month or so, they’re making commitments people used to put off for years. Then what happens?
Frank: “I was in my late 20s and I was getting bored with the dating game. I had just gotten tenure as a high school English teacher. As a teacher in a small town, I had to watch my private life. That wasn’t difficult since none of my fellow faculty excited me. But one September a change came into my life. A newly hired 22-year-old recent college graduate was added to our staff. It was not long, around Thanksgiving, before we ended up chaperoning a school dance together. She was very attractive, sexy, vivacious and the kids just loved her. I was a pretty loose character myself in those days. To our students and ourselves we seemed a perfect combo.
“We started to go out after that dance. It was nearing Christmas and as I said, teachers had to be discreet. Although I was seven years older than Carol, I was more of an innocent romantic than she was. She was my movie fantasy come true! I asked her what she would say if I were to ask her to marry me. She said she would marry me, if I were to ask her. God help us, we got married a week before Christmas! It was a surprise to our students, our colleagues, our relatives and, of course, ourselves.
“Within three months she wanted to forget the whole thing. We never had any fights, she just wanted out. It was all a big mistake. Also, she started to fall for another teacher. We split up at summer break after seven months. Our no-fault divorce went very smoothly. She married the other teacher. Three years after that first Christmas, I fell for `the girl next door,’ the teacher who had been teaching next door to me for six years. After three weeks of dating, I told her I loved her around Christmas. We got engaged in January, married in June and are still happily married 21 years later.”
Elizabeth: “I was beginning a new job as an accounting supervisor for a large insurance agency. I was to meet my supervisor, the financial director, on my first day of work. I imagined him to be a middle-aged, balding man with glasses and a round midsection. While waiting to meet him, I saw a tall, handsome and friendly looking guy walk out of an office. I hoped he worked in the accounting department with me. A minute later he introduced himself as my supervisor. He was funny and friendly, patient and open-minded, everything I could hope for. I later learned he was single and straight.
“Within a month I wanted more than a working relationship with him and felt he did too. I had already told the girls in my department that I had met the man I was going to marry. They thought I was crazy. He was everything I had ever wanted in a man but never thought I would find. Before meeting him, I was convinced I would never marry, but he changed all that.
“Our company had an unwritten policy against employees dating, but we were determined to be together. We both left the company, even though until then we were both focused on job performance. But our attraction and love couldn’t be denied. We’re getting married.”
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Do you have to be “ready” to have a relationship? Send your tale to Cheryl Lavin, Tales From the Front, Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611. Include day and evening phone numbers. Letters may be used in whole or in part for any purpose and become property of the column.
