Personal Note:  I consider this my “vintage” blog post, long before blogging ever existed.  In the 1970’s, a song called “We’ve Only Just Begun” was made popular by Karen and Richard Carpenter, a brother – sister duo referred to as The Carpenters.  Although I will not record a MP3 and sing for you, this is our version of “We’ve Only Just Begun”.

What follows was written in May, 1977 as part of a final exam for a college creative writing class I had taken and was subsequently given to my future in-laws to describe to them how I met their daughter.  The time stamp on the story is August, 1975 at the outset of my initial college experience when I met the love of my life who later became my wife, Jackie.

Prior to now, the document only existed in hard copy form as it was originally put to paper on a typewriter – I know it may sound pre-historic but computers did not exist at the time!  Jackie came across my story wrote while going through some of her Mom’s belongings after her passing, as it was hidden in a manila envelope in a drawer full of papers.

I thought it timely and appropriate to not only record it digitally to preserve it, but more importantly to revisit the thoughts and sentiments expressed (as corny as they might be) since we celebrated our 35^th wedding anniversary on September 2, 2013.

Call me crazy or nostalgic – I am grateful for this personal treasure being found as it was thought to be lost.  It is part of my personal tapestry and history and I am honored to share it with you.

In your own life, it is important to mark special moments – beginnings, endings, and milestones. At times hindsight lends perspective that the moment an event occurred does not.  In short, the result brings clarity and personally, this is one time a look in the rear view mirror is warranted as we enter new seasons in our life together.

Without further ado, enjoy my very first attempt at writing.

 A Beautiful Tomorrow

I searched and searched, but my efforts proved fruitless.  “There has to be someone on this floor that has a list”, I muttered to myself.   I wanted to find the student register for Seton Hill College, the all-female sister school to St. Vincent College where I attended in western Pennsylvania.  A week old freshman, I decided to register hunt one more time – at least for today.

Seated in my chair I pushed myself from the desk, stood up, and walked to the end of the hall to the door numbered “300”.  I gently knocked on Joe’s, the resident assistant, door.

“Come on in”, Joe (Hutchinson) welcomed me with his New Jersey accent.  “What’s up Bruce?”

I blurted out, “You’re not going to believe —“.

“Try me”, interrupted Joe.

“I’ve got to be the only person on this campus that tries to call a girl at the Hill and selects all, but the right phone number. I don’t know which floor she lives on, but if I keep playing Russian roulette with phone numbers I’ll go broke making calls”, I explained as I relied on the pay phone located on our floor to call Jackie.

“So, do you have the hots for her?” Joe joked as my face flushed red.

“Come on, I’ll try to help you out.  What’s her name?” Joe asked.

“Jackie McCauley, she’s a freshman”, I replied.

“That’s all I need to know” Joe said as he picked up his phone and dialed the number of a resident assistant he knew at Seton Hill.

“Becky should have a list of the freshman girls and their phone numbers.  We’ll find her.” Joe said is he tried to encourage me.

“Hello, is this Becky?” Joe inquired.

“Yes” the voice on the other end of the line affirmed.

“This is Hutch at Vincent’s” Joe said as he identified himself by his nickname.

“How are you doing Hutch?” Becky asked in a polite manner.

“OK.  Yourself?” Joe replied in sync with her question.

They continued to chat for a few moments then Hutch asked, “Can you check your room roster to see where a gal named Jackie McCauley lives? I have a guy here that’s been trying to call her all day and he is having a heck of a time tracking her down.”

“Sure. Hold on a minute while I look.” Becky obliged.

“Is the spelling M-C capital C-A-U-L-E-Y?” Becky asked.

Hutch repeated the spelling to me and then answered Becky, “That’s the one!”

“Got some paper? She lives on Fourth Admin and there are two numbers listed for that floor.” Becky explained.

“Go ahead”, Joe instructed as Becky gave him the numbers.

“The first number is 837-9922 and the other is 837-9895.”

“Thanks much, Becky.  Keep in touch.”, Hutch responded.

“You too”, Becky replied.

“Here you go, Casanova”, Hutch teased as he handed me the paper with Jackie’s contact information.

“Thanks a lot, Hutch”, I said gratefully.

“Now, my only problem is to get up enough guts to call her”, I further exclaimed.

“Don’t worry about it Bruce.  You’ll be OK”, Hutch advised.

“Thanks again Hutch.”, I repeated.

“Good luck”, Hutch said as he closed his door and sent me on my way.

I decided to place the call sooner than later before I talked myself out of doing so. I left Joe’s room, walked down the hall, located the pay phone, picked up the receiver, and began to dial the digits. As I dialed, I repeated the numbers aloud to avoid getting another wrong number.

“Eight-three-seven-nine-nine-two-two”, I parroted to myself.

The phone rang and rang and rang.  Finally a young gal answered, “Hello, Fourth Admin” as she stated the dorm floor and name.

“Would you check to see if Jackie McCauley is in please?”, I requested.

“Wait a minute, I’ll see if she is in her room”, the girl replied.

As I waited for Jackie to come to the phone I thought aloud, “Lord, if you really like me please don’t let my voice crack or let me say anything that will make me sound like a fool.”

As I waited, my thoughts formed some questions:

“What will I say?

Will she think I’m too forward?”

“Why I am calling her?”

My heart beat heavily as if a thousand drums were being played inside my chest. As my heartbeat rapidly increased I heard a voice on the phone.  I was the same voice I heard before, that of the young gal who answered the phone.

“Jackie is not here at the moment”, she stated. “Can I take a message?” she asked.

“Yes. Would you please have her call Bruce at 539-9805?”, I requested.

“OK. Let me write the number down”, suggested my newly found personal answering service representative.

“Got it”, she said and with that I thanked her for helping me out.

Nearly two hours passed while I sat nervously in my room doing homework and not wanting to miss the call.  The wait seemed like an eternity. Suddenly, I heard the phone ringing down the hall, but I did not want to race to answer it and appear out of breath as the pay phone was a good hundred feet from my dorm room.

“It had to be Jackie”, I thought.

“Lumberjack, can you get the phone?”, I asked.

“I think the call is for me and I don’t think I can talk to her right off the ring”, I said sheepishly.

Lumberjack lived in my dorm.  He made his way to the phone, picked up the receiver, obliged the caller’s request, and yelled down the hallway for me – “Hey Bruce.  It’s for you!”

“Thanks Lumber.  I’ll be there in a minute”, I said as I delayed even more in an effort to be composed.

I do not know what possessed me to do this, but before I made my way to the phone I combed my hair and brushed my teeth before proceeding to answer the call and a hopeful date with destiny. I did not want to mess this up. Perhaps my own attempt at role playing and feeling good about myself would pay off.

I had met Jackie a few days before at a picnic and was drawn by her good looks as she was (and still is) very attractive.  More importantly, there was something I observed about her while talking with several others at the picnic.

She had countered a young guy who was bent on getting drunk the night of the picnic. She was not ashamed to ask him why he would consider doing something like that.  The courage she displayed in that moment attracted me to her and inside I knew I would like to spend the rest of my life with someone with that sort of character and integrity.

It may sound cliché, but I knew I need look no further for my future wife – it was love at first sight!

Jackie’s father was an alcoholic and the young guy’s ambition to get drunk hit too close to home.  All I know is that moment was pivotal in my wanting to get to know her and to see whether I could pursue a relationship with her.

As I picked I the receiver I thought, “Here goes nothing.”

“Hello. This is Bruce”, I greeted her.

“Hi”, Jackie answered. “How are you?”, she continued.

“Pretty good. Yourself?”, I echoed back.

“I’m doing OK. Just a little tired” was her reply.

Enough of the chit-chat – it was time to dive in and ask her my nervous question.

“The reason I’m calling is that I found out through a friend that today is your birthday.  I wanted to wish you, well, a Happy Birthday!”, as I stumbled on this uncertain but eventual path.

“Aww.  That’s sweet.  Thank you very much.  How did you find out that it was my birthday?”, Jackie questioned.

“I saw Mark Ford as he is in some of my classes and I began to ask him about you”, I replied. “He told me August 31^st was your birthday so I decided to give you a call.”

Mark met Jackie at the 1975 Orientation Picnic hosted for freshman of both schools. At the time, I did not get an opportunity to talk with Jackie.

After breaking the ice some more I asked, “Would you like to go the play with me tonight being held at the St. Vincent amphitheater?”

“I’d love to!” was her willing response to my ask-the-girl-on-a-date question. “Do you want to hear something funny?”, she further inquired.

“I thought all along you were calling me to ask about my friend, Debbie.  I figured since you were talking to her at the picnic you might be interested in her. What a switch this is!”, she excitedly continued.

We laughed about the apparent “mix up” and I said, “I’ll meet you at the amphitheater at eight o’clock.”

“I’m looking forward to it.” Jackie replied.

I offered, “By the way, I’m sorry I had asked that you call me back.  I called ten different floors in every dorm at Seton Hill until I finally found your number.  I used my last dime when I called earlier and I didn’t have any more change.”

“Don’t worry about it.  That’s OK.” I’ll see you later. Bye!” Jackie ended.

I hung up the phone, ran down the hallway to Hutch’s room, knocked on his door, and without waiting for an answer, barged right in.

“I got the date.  I got her to go out with me!”, I said an excited tone. I felt like a horse at the starting gate of the Kentucky Derby, wanting to run freely without restraint.

Hutch repeated his earlier sentiments, “Way to go Casanova! Way to go! Have a good time being with her tonight.”

“Thanks again for your help.  I’ll talk to you later – I have to go get ready for my date.” I replied in haste.

I did a B-line to the shower, shaved, and got dressed for the play and my soon to be evening with Jackie. I looked out the window from my dorm room to see if the day-long rain had stopped.  The sky continued to darken with big, black clouds.  However, the rain held off for the moment.

I wanted Jackie to see me clean and dry, not wet and drippy.  I walked to the amphitheater an hour earlier than planned to avoid the rain.  It was a five minute walk to be an hour early.  What can I say, I am a punctual person!

The hour passed slowly.  To me, it seemed like forever!  Finally, the yellow school bus (cross campus transportation) from Seton Hill arrived at ten minutes of eight and dropped the girls off in front of the amphitheater.

I rose from the chair I was seated in while waiting and spotted Jackie.  She walked through the blue doors as I made my way over to meet her. We exchanged “hello’s” and walked up the stairs to the semi-circled amphitheater as the play was about to begin. We squeezed through a maze of people, took the programs offered to us, and were ushered to our seats by a young man.  In an effort to score some points with my small, blond date I started a conversation.

“I really like the dress you are wearing”, I said.

Jackie replied, “Thanks.  My Mom and Dad bought it for me as my birthday present.”

 

As we waited for the play to begin, we talked with some friends who sat next to us.  As I turned around, I noticed Bill walking through the door of the theater.  My heart sunk.  I met Bill at the orientation picnic and became somewhat jealous and protective as he had talked with Jackie at the picnic and had an interest in her as well.

As Bill approached us he asked, “Would you mind if I sit with the two of you? You’re the only people I know”.

“Sure, why not?” was my polite but disappointed reply to his request.

The disappointment stayed with me throughout the play, but I kept it to myself.  At the conclusion of the play, the actors served finger sandwiches and drinks to those in attendance.  A nice touch!

Again, Bill decided to tag along.  Although I did not mind Bill as a person, my hope was to talk with Jackie alone – not to Bill and Jackie and whoever else came along.

I was aware of an underground chapel called the Grotto beneath the Basilica that served as the campus’ main church.

“Jackie, would you like to visit the Grotto with me?”, I invited.  The invitation was sincere, but also doubled as an attempt to get rid of Bill for the evening.  A guy has to do what a guy has to do!

“It’s really beautiful, you’ll like it.”, I continued.

“Yes, I really would like to see the Grotto.  I wanted to visit it when I was here during the summer for the Opportunity program, but never got the chance.”

My divergence attempt failed.  For the third time during the evening, Bill decided to “chaperone” us.  The disappointment now became evident on Jackie’s face as well as her countenance seemed to change.  The three of us descended the steps to the Grotto and admired its simple but special atmosphere.  We then made our way outside and talked for a few minutes.

“I need to go. It’s 10:30 and I’ve got to look some things over for class in the morning”, remarked Bill regretfully.

“Goodnight, Bill”, Jackie and I said in unison as a way of ushering him along.

“Bye.  Thanks for letting me sit with the two of you.  I really enjoyed it.”, Bill said as he walked away.

“What a relief – I will finally get a few moments with Jackie by myself.”  I thought.

The bus for the return trip to Seton Hill would be here in a few moments.  I walked Jackie to Kennedy Hall where we waited for her ride to depart.

“Thanks for a really nice evening”, I said shyly. “I had a great time even though we were chaperoned!”

The two of us laughed. “I enjoyed the evening too. It’s been the nicest birthday I ever had”, Jackie said as she thanked me.

I peeked out the window of Kennedy Hall and noticed the school bus coming up the lane.  Again, I listened to my inward thoughts playing their own sort of tennis match.

“Should I or shouldn’t I?”, the silent question tumbled in my head several times.

“Would she mind if I kissed her on the first date?”, I pondered.

I reached for Jackie’s hand and gently squeezed it.  Then, in a soft-voiced plea I asked, “Can I give you a birthday kiss?”

Jackie nodded affirmatively! Our lips met for but a second, but the second held the prolonged beauty of its innocence. I escorted Jackie to the bus, kissed her again, and wished her a goodnight.

Jackie asked, “Will I be able to see you at the Labor Day picnic tomorrow?”

“That sounds good to me”, I smiled with my voice.

I waited for the bus to depart and as it drove away, I looked forward to a beautiful tomorrow.

 

As I close this time with you until we meet again, thanks for your patience in listening to the tale of our humble starting point.  Many moments and days have passed and I would walk the same path over again – in a heartbeat!

I am reasonably sure I can make this assertion – my guess is that you too have had some defining moments as you have walked the journey in the story of your life.  I would lay money on the fact that most of the memorable moments did not come with fireworks or fanfare.  They most likely were every day moments, treasures in disguise. It is in quiet reflection that we ponder moments that undoubtedly provide clarity to our present thoughts.

What moments do you treasure?

I would love to hear about them.  Please feel free to share.  Once again, thanks for allowing me to share this special moment with you!

Photo credit – Brittany Cross