"My Life is Based on a True Story!"
Here we now begin the journey through time...
Charlie had stated one time that he was born in a small town in Ohio on January 4, 1955 along with his twin brother, Dean. (Wasn't Disneyland born in 1955 as well?) Four years later in 1959, Charlie's parents moved to Columbus, Ohio and a new life began for Charlie which would lead to many future opportunities. He was a good kid who stayed out of trouble and obeyed his parents. Charlie and Dean grew up in a Christian home and went to Sunday School learning to be the best persons that they could be. They never drank, smoked or even swore. Once Dean grew up, he left home to live in Florida. Charlie showed me a few of his old photos from those younger days. Charlie was kind of a geeky looking guy back then who wore those geeky black framed glasses of his day.
One day his father gave him a birds and a bees talk session and basically told Charlie to keep his pants buttoned up when around women. Yes, that was it. Charlie says that in looking back, perhaps that would have been the best advice to follow considering where he ended up throughout life and into his retirement years.
He eventually became attracted to girls, but every attempt to date one, was met with failure as they turned him down for one reason or another. Charlie did get use
to rejection. Charlie said that rejection is only someone else saying that "they" are not the right person for you. So really as you ponder that thought, you just
are barking up a wrong tree so you need to move on to the next lady and you do not have to get bent out of shape over the incident not working out as you hope that it
would have. There are plenty of fish in the sea! And then one lady added a comment to that saying that there is better bait too!
In grade 9, Charlie was really liked by a gal who wore teeth braces. He reminded her of a cousin, but Charlie bolted off when she made an attempt to hold hands with
him. Charlie didn't find that she had the chemistry for him. I know that in finding a partner, you both have to be on the same page looks wise and that seems to be
only a starting point anyways. Charlie learned later that she was considered the hottest gal in the school and he really missed his chance to be with her. Charlie
said that chemistry meant differently to each person's tastes and one could simply not "dance" with all the gals out there. He remembers talking with a friend in
the class who could not believe that she would have gone after Charlie. Charlie reflects and wonders in some ways what would have happened had he have gone after this
lady. Where would he have been had he chosen that path in life right off the hop? Life is full of opportunities that lead to many different paths that we can choose
from. In each of our lives, we must try and pick the right one for us. In grade 9, Charlie had a friend who played guitar and had a good ear for picking up the tunes.
Charlie began to learn guitar and was able to try his hand at playing the drums.
When Charlie got into high school, there was a nice friendly slim gal that took a liking to Charlie as well. He said that she was suppose to already be taken by a boyfriend who had finished school and was now working. She was somewhat connected to Charlie by a friend's friend's cousin. One day in Charlie's typing class, they were sitting side by side. She reached over to hold Charlie's hand and good old Charlie quickly pulled away. Funny thing I thought was here is a guy who wants to get a gal, but now had pulled away once more when the gal showed a strong liking towards him. Well, really I think that the fact that she was already suppose to have a boyfriend and Charlie's strong values told him that she was off limits, and then again, maybe it was because this guy was suppose to be pretty big and Charlie would get the crap kicked out of him if he did try anything with her. He still hung out with her and when school had finished, she had moved to a different area so she would not be returning next year. End of story, not! It is just a chapter in the life. Charlie does admit that he really did like this lady and he was sad that he did not keep holding hands that day. Maybe she would have left the boyfriend for Charlie. A missed opportunity and perhaps she would have left her boyfriend anyways because things might not have been all that good so she was looking for her next guy to spin her web and draw him in. Who really knows what her thoughts really were! And really, if she left her boyfriend for Charlie, why would she not at some point in the future leave Charlie for someone else? Things do change over time! As we cover this story, Charlie reflects and says that is one of the toughest areas, is the word "change!" People fall in love and things change and then people fall out of love and get divorced.
Charlie had a bit of short lived success one day. When he was 17, a gal who was 13 had kissed him and he liked it. He said there was just something very magical about the moments when they were in the back seat of his friend's car as she was about to leave. The way she looked at him in her eyes and he had looked at her and could sense her urges. The gal's older sister who was in the front seat caught the ending of the kissing episode and quickly put a stop to that. Charlie said that first kiss was something that he would never forget and that she was also very pretty. It was too bad that the older sister would make sure that Charlie and the gal would not see each other again. Charlie to this day wonders what ever happened to her throughout her life and where would she be today. Charlie could only wish the best for her. As Charlie reflects on this short story, he did happen to see her in a grocery store years later and they did talk for a bit. She had a steady boyfriend and all was going very well for this young gal who was now an older teenager.
And so Charlie decided to go to a special group event at high school where students from different high schools would be gathering. There he found himself sitting next to a pretty gal, but as luck would have it once more, she already had a boyfriend. He still talked and hung around a bit and then found out that she would be going to his school in 1973. As Charlie would be going into grade 12, she would be going into grade 11, a year behind him. She seemed to have taken quite a liking to Charlie over time at these regular special events that were held twice a month. Charlie recalls a Valentine's event where everyone had a heart pinned onto their shirt. If you noticed someone crossing their legs, you got to steal their heart and add it to your collection. Lo and behold if she didn't catch Charlie crossing his legs and stole his heart. Charlie stopped at this point of telling me about the event as I could see that deep down, it choked him up as that moment in time meant much more to him. He stated that she really did steal his heart literally at that moment. She had invited Charlie to attend the church where she attended. At the Sunday morning service where Charlie did come for a visit, noticed that she was sitting with her parents. Parents! Yes, another scary subject! How would they react to their daughter's new friend or maybe even a future boyfriend? Charlie would have to hope that they would like him. Well, since she already had her steady guy, Charlie did not have any worries. Life just seemed to carry on at this point. Charlie continued to go to her church and the high school events and carried on conversations with her throughout his grade 12.
And then came the summer after Charlie finished grade 12. He had a friend that was working and shared an basement apartment with another friend. They would always try and talk to the pretty gals that walked by the open window of their basement suite that faced a busy street. One day a divorced lady happened to be walking along the street and Charlie's two friends called her over to the open window. The divorced lady was curious and she seemed to have an instant attraction to Charlie's one friend and they started to see each other. Charlie really took note of their body language and how they reacted to each other. It looked like his friend and her might just hit it off and they did for awhile. Their relationship lasted for a time and then faded away. Welcome to the dating world! You give someone a try to see just where things will go and sometimes it just doesn't work so you break up, take a time out and try again.
Well, soon grade 12 was over and Charlie went out to get a job. Charlie thought that he would do a year of working and saving as much as he could for university and to buy his first car. He was an internal mail delivery clerk so he had to make his rounds throughout the large plant where he worked. Being out there in the working enviroment now, Charlie said that he had met 3 possible women in his travels at work.
The first one was much older, but still very attractive for her age. Charlie did get to talk to her now and then, but knew that it would not go anywhere and perhaps she was already married. And yes, Charlie just left her alone.
The second lady who did not have much chemistry, handed Charlie a business card that talked about the average size of a penis and that the average distance it travels inside a women over a year and if he is not getting at least the average mileage, he was to see the woman that handed him the card. Charlie thought to himself, no real chemistry, but she is funny, and no, Charlie thought that he will pass on her as she might have been handing out a whole deck of those cards to all the other guys at work.
So Charlie had an encounter with another lady, number three. She was in the photocopying room which was located in a secluded area. He met her on the steps one
day and she gave him a hug. She was a single mom with one child and she was letting Charlie know that she really liked him. Charlie said that the hug did feel great.
Charlie thought for a bit on her and figured that she looked okay, but she already had a child with someone else and maybe she was looking more for financial help
than a life long partner. So Charlie did not pursue her either and I suspect that Charlie did not want to be an instant father at this point in his life although he
never said that. When someone has kids, the ex will almost always be in the life as the child goes through birthdays, Christmases, a graduation, getting married, etc.
Perhaps the most ideal partner for a lady with a kid is to find a guy with a kid so that they are on the same page in raising children. Well, that is my humble opinion.
As time went on, Charlie was getting to be a good looking fellow with an outgoing personality and a friendliness that appealed to women. Charlie told me about a
dumb idea that he had with one gal that he was attracted to and he had seen her off and on in passing mostly. One day he said to her,
"Come here, I have a secret to tell you."
He leaned over close to her ear and gave her a quick little kiss on the cheek. The poor gal was so embarrassed that she made sure that she never passed by Charlie
again. Oops! Charlie reflects on another story where his advances backfired. He was with his good friend's sister who was a bit older than Charlie and they were
alone in a park where they happened to have bumped into each other. She was dating someone at the time, but Charlie thought what the heck and he tried to put his
arm around her and told her that they have about 20 mins to make the best of the moment. She pulled away and was not amused. Seems that now Charlie was making the
moves now and the women were pulling away. Anything Charlie tried just seemed to lead to rejection. Could it be that Charlie was trying so hard that he kept
fumbling the ball? Charlie always said the best thing to do in life was just to let it happen. I reminded Charlie of the ladies that had approached him with a
strong liking, but he declined and did the rejection move on them. So what would it be like to find a partner where both parties are very interested in each other?
What I have been observing is that if one party is interested, the other party is not and vise versa.
Moral of the story: Do not chase! Anything you chase runs away. Just think of what happens when you chase a bird, cat or a dog.
Charlie did reflect on another story from the past where he was very attracted to a much younger gal, but both his parents and the gal's parents put a stop to that idea. The age gap in the younger years seems to make a difference, but when you are much older, it doesn't matter as much.
Charlie had another friend that they would go for drives around the city at night. They would also pick up ladies who were hitch hiking. One day they picked up three gals who had been drinking and one a bit too much and brought them over to another friend's place for a party. Charlie had to run home and one of the three went with him, but she was not interested in Charlie as he hinted about the two of them getting together. More rejection, but Charlie was good at taking it in stride. Would Charlie ever find "the one?" What is "the one" anyways? Charlie said that was he was looking for was someone who had chemistry, a great personality, compatibility, she would share the same ideals and common interests with him as well. He hoped that she would have the strengths that Charlie did not possess and also hoped that he would have the strengths that she did not have so that they would be complete together. Charlie went on to say that she would have to have the good qualities of all the ladies that he had met along the way in one package. And so maybe Charlie's life long search continues...
Onto Charlie Finds "The One!"
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