Summer of 74 and Free Love

Summer of 74 and Free Love

It was May, 1974 and I was back in Watervliet. I was still in the apartment but without Dottie. I found a job with Lathem Electric working in their warehouse. It paid pretty well although not as mush as Freihofer”s Bakery, but the bakery job would have been only for the summer and I needed a job right away. Lathem Electric was an electrical equipment wholesaler. It was a pleasant enough place and since it was working in a warehouse I could wear jeans and t-shirts to work, my favorite mode of dress. I am a total jeans and t-shirt kind of guy. I quickly became friends with one of the owner's sons who also worked in the warehouse. We would frequently have lunch in his van listening to Pink Floyd's “Dark Side of the Moon”. You likely can imagine what kind of lunch we were having...

After Dottie left me my neighbor Angie, who lived in the apartment above me, hung out with me to commiserate and cheer me up. She had just recently had a breakup with her boyfriend. She knew the guy Dottie left with as he had been one of her boyfriend's friends and in fact it had been through her that Dottie and I had met him. She said she felt bad as she had known about the other guy and that it had been going on for quite some time. Well, it wasn't Angie's fault. Although Dottie and I had been seeing each other now and then we had not really been “together” since I broke the engagement and at this point it hardly mattered.

Needless to say the abrupt ending was quite a blow to my ego. I had been through a few things in a relatively short time and although I was still trying to make up for those three years I felt I had missed being in the Air Force, I was pretty self assured at this point in my life. I had been receiving quite a bit of female attention the last couple of years. Nothing ever came of it because I was in a relationship with Dottie but now I was free. I had always been monogamous, only dating one woman at a time. Now I decided that I would try going out with multiple women, play the field, after all this was the 70's. This was the sexual revolution and the age of “free love”. I needed to “get hep”! I called up a couple of women I knew for dates. I soon met other women and within the next few weeks I was going out with six different women. I spent a bit of time with Angie too but our relationship remained platonic. I am not really sure why as I think there was interest from both sides. I guess it was we had both been just friends for a couple of years and so it just seemed natural to keep the same pattern. I continued to date multiple women for awhile. I really liked the idea of seeing many women at the same time. On paper it seemed exciting. Well it was fun, to a degree. For some reason it turned out to be not as exciting or fun as I thought it would be. Unfortunately for me I found that keeping things casual was just sort of empty compared to being in a more serious relationship. The truth was I was having more fun with Angie than I was with my dates. I guess this playing the field just wasn't me.

I then met Lisa, well I didn't exactly meet her. It was more I noticed her. It was at a square dance I was at with Angie. Partners were randomly assigned. The dance started as they usually do with bow to your partner and then bow to your corner. My corner was a striking young woman, Lisa. I managed to get in a few words but as the dance moved on I never was Lisa's partner or her corner again. In fact she was never even in my square again. After the dance I told Angie about her and she knew immediately who I was talking about telling she was an impressive young woman, wise beyond her years. She was only 18. I got her name and phone number. I then did something I had never done before or since. I called her without ever having been introduced to her or even having a conversation with her. I told her my name, explained where I had seen her and then tried to describe myself. I told her I was her original corner at the start of the first square dance. She laughed telling me that she had never heard that line before. We talked a bit and I asked her if we could meet up some time to just talk and maybe get to know each other. Lisa was having a busy summer as she was taking care of her Aunt's family because her Aunt was in the hospital and also taking care of her Dad as her Mom was had passed away. Lisa agreed to meet up and arranged a time in the afternoon at her Aunt's place. We talked for a couple of hours. Lisa may have been only 18, but she was intelligent, mature, and thought deeply about things. She was very grounded and had a great sense of humor. It wasn't that she was so good looking but more that she had a presence. As I got to know her I found she had an intelligence that was very attractive, at least to me. We talked about all kinds of things including our beliefs and values. One thing we both had a common view of was presents. Neither one of us particularly cared much for gifts. I told her I would occasionally find something that jumped out at me as being uniquely perfect for someone. I would sometimes get it and give it to them without it having to be any sort of an occasion. Of course I did very little shopping so that was not often, but that was the kind of gift I liked to give. I didn't like having to give gifts that were expected. Lisa said that gifts for occasions didn't do much to her either. She felt anyone can go out and buy something. To her a true gift was when someone gives you something of theirs that they value or cherish, something that is not easy to let go of, maybe even hurts a little to part with.

One weekend my parents stopped by for a visit on their way to Massachusetts to visit my Mom's sister Lynne. I prepared by cleaning up the apartment a little. I mostly put stuff away that I figured they would not want to see. Things like my water pipe, cleaning up any roaches (not the bug) laying around in the ash trays, etc. I had a couple of marijuana plants in the kitchen. I was going to take them over to Angie's apartment but then figured that my parents would have no idea what a pot plant looked like so I just left them where they were. My parents arrived and we had a nice visit. At the end of the visit I was in the kitchen with my Mom when she turned and said to me “Aren't those two plants on the table by the window marijuana plants?”. I replied in the affirmative saying I would never have guessed that she knew what a marijuana plant looked like. She then said “I don't, but I know my son and what other kind of plant would you have?” Once again I underestimated my parents, or at least my Mom...

I found that I was more interested in Lisa than the other girls I was seeing so I stopped dating them. Of course it had to be Lisa who I was interested in. She was the one relationship that lacked a romantic element. Lisa felt that with her planning to attend Albany in the Fall and me planning to attend Oregon that getting too involved was not a good idea. She was right of course, but that didn't mean I was thrilled about it. Did I mention she was mature for her age? Perhaps I was taking this monogamous thing too far, but you can't fight who you are.

I had put 60 thousand miles on my little Saab in just 2 years. I had read that my model tended to have transmission problems around the 90 thousand mile mark. I began thinking about getting a bigger vehicle to carry all my stuff back to Eugene. In July I looked at a small Toyota pickup truck. There was a big sale going on, (Isn't there always?). I ended up trading my Saab in for a new white Toyota pickup and bought a shell for the back for another $125. I now had lots of room for all my stuff.

By the middle of August I was getting set to return to Eugene. I was busy the last couple of weeks visiting and saying goodbye to my friends in the Albany area. Friday I packed up all my stuff in my new Toyota pickup truck. I had to be down on Long Island on Saturday in time to make my sister's wedding. I was planning to head back out to Eugene the day after the wedding. That evening I met up with Lisa one last time. I gave her my favorite t-shirt.

Me and the favorite t-shirt '72