The air is cool, the leaves are falling, the lawn is large. As I go up and down the acre on the lawn tractor, inevitably the same memory comes back to me, not just the visual memory, but the sensation of one particular Halloween evening around 1973 or so.
Monica, who I initially met through church, but later became neighbors, lived just across the way from me. She was so pretty with her Marcia Brady blonde hair, and a huge smile and welcoming blue eyes. Her parents had converted the attic of their home into a super-cute bedroom for her, so we spent a ton of time hanging out up there.
Her mother was an administrator in the school district, while her father worked at Sears. Her grandmother, whom I rarely saw, shared the home with them. Monica also had an older sister who turned me on to the now iconic "Tapestry" album, by Carole King, as well the now very famous "All My Children".
In 1973 we were in Jr. High and Monica had an admirer. Brad, who's parents were teachers in the school district. He was tall, lanky, blonde and had braces. He hung out with Jeffrey, who's dad was the principal of the elementary school we all previously attended. Jeffrey was a larger guy, with dark, coppery red hair and dark freckles to match.
Halloween evening we made it a foursome, too "old" for costumes, and certainly too young to actually date, so we started at Monica's house where her mom made cocoa for us, then over to my house where we hung out on the front porch (still visible from Monica's house). The air was cool, the chatter fun. I had hopes of Jeffrey being interested in me, but alas, and thankfully, it didn't come to pass. Two vibrant red heads would only be capable of producing Bozo-like children.
Monica and I drifted apart in high school. And as with all young romances, Monica and Brad's was short lived, but the coziness and the expectancy of the evening, and a warm friendship that lasted much longer, has remained with me for a lifetime.
