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This week’s meme comes from Kyddryn at Shadow and Sweetwater, who found it on Facebook.

The “Leave it to Meme” Meme

1. Who was your first date?

I honestly can’t remember for sure. It may have been my freshman year in high school when I invited a senior I knew from church to the Gingham and Cord dance.

2. Do you still talk to your first love?

No.

3. What was your first alcoholic drink?

The first time I recall getting a little tipsy was at a party in the spring of my senior year in high school where I had a couple of beers. A friend brought me home and, to my horror, my mother and sister were still awake. I recall my mother telling me, “You look drunk.” I laughed at her and quickly went to bed.

4. What was your first job?

I was the music librarian for my high school. I worked a few hours per week after school for $2.00 per hour.

5. What was your first car?

The first car I ever owned was my 1968 Cougar, purchased from my parents. The first new car I ever owned was my 1979 Mercury Capri Ghia.

My father with my friend, Jackie, posed on the driveway with my first new vehicle, August 1979.

6. Where did you go on your first ride on an airplane?

We flew from San Francisco to Minneapolis to spend Christmas 1972 with my mother’s sister and her husband. They lived in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington. We went shopping in downtown Minneapolis and I threw my baret into the air a la Mary Tyler Moore. Here’s a photo of the group sitting down to Christmas dinner. My Auntie Gladys was going through her wig period, although it was not during this trip that she accidentally left one of her wigs hanging from a tree branch. No, during this trip she melted the front of one of those synthetic monstrosities when she leaned into the oven. Naturally, she didn’t realize she had melted her bangs, but we told her . . . between fits of laughter.


7. Who was your first best friend & do you still talk?

My first best friend, Susie, lived across the street with her parents, older sister, and two older brothers. We were inseparable until she started kindergarten and I did not because my December 21 birthday came after the December 1 public school cut-off. I remember standing in the doorway, crying as I watched her and the other neighbor kids walk to school. After that, we weren’t as good friends because we did not have anything in common. It wasn’t long before her parents sold the home and moved to a larger home in a newer neighborhood.

8. Whose wedding did you attend the first time?

The first wedding I have any memory of attending took place in our local church, followed by a reception in the upstairs banquet room of the Richmaid Restaurant, pictured below. It hasn’t changed a bit from that evening when, at about five or six years of age, I recall dancing to Chubby Checker’s “The Twist,” which was a current hit.

A recent photo of the Richmaid Restaurant. In business on Highway 99 since 1938, it still features the best breakfast in Lodi.


9. Tell us about your first roommate.

Technically, my first roommate was my older sister because this house was originally a two-bedroom, two-bath home. So we slept in the same bed together when I was a young child.

However, my first roommate when I moved out was a wonderful woman named Barbara who is still one of my very best friends. In fact, she accompanied me to New York City in 2007 when I performed at Carnegie Hall with the Stockton Concert Band. She is one of my sons’ godmothers, we were in each other’s wedding parties, and she is one of the most loyal, supportive, honest, and unconditionally loving people I have ever known. I consider myself lucky to have her steadfast friendship in my life.

In New York City with Barbara, March 2007. The trip commemorated 30 years of friendship.

10. If you had one wish, what would it be (other than more wishes)?

That my boys will live long, happy lives enriched by friendship like that I have enjoyed with Barbara and other special folks in my life.

11. What is something you would learn if you had the chance?

I have always wanted to play the violin.

12. Did you marry the first person you were in love with?

Thankfully, no.

13. What were the first lessons you ever took and why?

Piano lessons. I couldn’t wait to begin my formal instruction because I had been playing by ear for several years.

14. What is the first thing you do when you get home?

I make my way to my bedroom and change from my professional clothing to something comfortable, usually a very unattractive schmatta of some sort.


14 Comments

  1. ChiefMyrtleBeach

    I remember the first drink I had was a beer my buddy and I found in his dad’s guest house.

  2. Phil @ Commodity Trading Information

    I love stuff like this. If I wasn’t so sleepy, I would answer all the questions in this comment…but that may be like I’m bogarting your blog as well. I do clearly remember my first drink–it was Mad Dog 20/20, Kiwi Lime flavor. Drank a whole bottle of it while sitting down, and didn’t think it did anything to me…but then I stood up. I think you know the rest (LOL).

  3. Ah I remember my first drink… Cointreau it was… absolutely foul.. hated every sip. Got very drunk though! πŸ™„

  4. I love those older pictures! They are so nostalgic! They bring back old times just by looking at them!

  5. Paul Sanders

    Its really nice to remember those happy moments in the fast where we are still young… Nice old pictures..

  6. Fast food coupons.

    The pictures are really nice and old. reminds me the old days that we used to have fun in. Its so amazing how things can change in a matter of time. See the car then and the car now.. see the dining table and other stuff then and see them now.

  7. Jim James

    What’s the first thing I do when I come home? Lie down for several minutes. You should also ask, what’s your first pet? and, when was the first time you wear a gown?

  8. I still remember my first date, but I can’t remember my first ride on airplane. I think this one is hard to remember.
    .-= RuriΒ΄s last blog . . . Understanding A Fast Payday Loan and How to Get One =-.

  9. windows xp forum

    Nice meme. Smacks of high school slum notes, right? Well, I will follow the meme myself.

  10. Anonymous

    β€œ1. Who was your first date?
    I honestly can’t remember for sure.”

    Most people do not remember their first dateβ€”there are thousands more so why dwell in the first one?

  11. “Did you marry the first person you were in love with?

    Thankfully, no.”

    Me too. I believe that the “first love never dies” saying is not true at all.

  12. Well, if I have to do this meme, it would be pretty tough. As age catches up, the memories are kind of blurry. But reading through your post, it is interesting to know a little of your life story. πŸ™‚

  13. I love stuff like this. If I wasn’t so sleepy, I would answer all the questions in this comment…but that may be like I’m bogarting your blog as well.

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