Maybe I'm Amazed at the Way You Love Me All the Time, Maybe I'm Afraid of the Way I Love You...
Previously, Chapter 8: Love Isn't Always On Time...
Back in 1978, there weren't any hard-and-fast rules about the size of the diamond in an engagement ring. I'm sure in some circles, a quarter carat would've been considered embarrassingly small, but to Susan, it wasn't about the size; it was about what it represented. Two people in love who wanted to spend the rest of their lives together.
We were in Susan's parents' house, sitting in their small den, when we told them we got engaged. When Susan put out her hand and showed them the ring, they were ecstatic. They were so happy for us. The size of the diamond didn't matter to them either.
Almost immediately, Susan and Gloria started talking dates and venues. They were both so excited. Irv and I sat back and enjoyed the show. I was glad the two women would be taking care of all the arrangements, and so was Irv.
As soon as she got back to the dorm, Susan immediately told her suite mates, and they were so happy for her. She was the first one to get engaged. When I told my buddies, they thought I was crazy, that I'd lost my mind. Frankie was quick to comment, "I heard the guy that gets engaged first does it because he has the smallest dick…" I snapped back, "I heard the guy who thinks like that has been hiding in the closet for a number of years…" We all enjoyed a hearty laugh, and no one got butt hurt. It was the '70s, and we all had thick skin and a sense of humor, however warped they may've been.
I called my parents in Miami and told them the good news, and unfortunately, due to the distance, they didn't have a hand in the wedding planning beyond the engagement party.
It was difficult for Susan and me to talk about anything but the wedding. The first date to be secured was the engagement party, and my family reserved a restaurant on the North Shore where my sister, aunt, and cousins lived.
Susan and Gloria were quick to secure the Bell House in Sharon for the wedding. It was a small, nothing fancy, local venue that many locals used for weddings and bar and bat mitzvahs. It held a little over 100 people.
Gloria wanted a sweet table, and Susan and I wanted "tons of Hors d'oeuvres" (old school for appetizers), and everybody got what they wanted. Irv chimed in, too. He wanted an open bar till 10:00, and he could do it because he was paying for everything. A family friend and local photographer was hired, and a popular wedding band in the area was secured.
When I went all practical and suggested we hold off on the honeymoon until after the wedding, when we got settled, Susan laughed. "No way! We're going on a honeymoon!" What was I thinking? Of course, we're going on a honeymoon! The idea of getting married still had me a little on edge…
Susan and I decided to take our honeymoon in Florida, where we'd planned to live after getting married. Susan set up the entire honeymoon schedule. Every day, a different place, but Disney was the centerpiece.
After Moose and I left South Florida in '76, my father and I didn't speak for quite a while. Something I said about his young, attractive secretary struck a nerve… By the time my parents met Susan, it had been a year since we'd last spoken to each other.
We met in Quincy at a popular restaurant called "The Hollow." Susan was very close to her family; she couldn't believe my parents and I hadn't spoken in a year. She was nervous, meeting my parents for the first time, after a year of us not talking.
Maybe I was a lonely man who was in the middle of something that I really didn't understand. And maybe, Susan was the only woman who could ever help me…
Everyone was on their best behavior, with Susan's incredible smile setting the tone. We ended up having an excellent night, and my parents were thrilled about our move to Florida.
Just before we left, I spoke with my father in the parking lot about going to school during the day and working nights. I told him Susan was getting her Associate's Degree in Early Childhood and she'd be looking for a full-time job. Without hesitation, he offered to help. He said he could get me a job working nights in the warehouse for the company he worked for, and that he knew a guy who had connections in several preschools, so helping Susan find a job wouldn't be difficult, according to him.
I wanted so badly to trust him…
The last few months of school for Susan were a lot of fun. There was a ball for all the graduates and their boyfriends, and it was a late night involving a lot of alcohol.
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After I unlocked the door to my studio apartment, Susan kicked off her shoes and let herself collapse onto the love seat…
The next day, we slept in and then started packing everything up. Susan was moving home, and I was moving into my friend Neil's rental on the Stoughton side of Bay Road, just down the street from Crescent Ridge Dairy. Neil had a roommate, and since there were only two bedrooms, I was going to sleep in the living room on a pullout couch.
I left Boston in the middle of the night, moved into Stoughton, and returned to work for Pokey, doing landscape construction.
With some of the money I got for the Cuda, I bought a high-mileage, faded aqua blue '68 Mustang Fastback off someone's front lawn in Walpole for $150. The owner had just installed four brand-new, off-brand radial tires. It had all four original hubcaps, too. The good ones with the iconic pony at full gallop in the center. It had a straight-six engine that had a rough idle but smoothed out on acceleration. It was good on gas and always started. Susan hated it, and I can't say that I blamed her. I had her sitting shotgun in a '68 GOAT and then a '71 Cuda. The Mustang was a pure 'brew and beat' car, and for that purpose, it served me well. Having a healthy pile of empties on the floor in front of the back seat and no new dents was a sure sign of my success…
It was all starting to sink in. Maybe I was amazed at the way she loved me all the time, and maybe I was afraid of the way I loved her…
To be continued…