Throwing His Ring Under the Car

When I was fourteen, my family moved to Florida from Canada, toting my parents, four kids, our worldly possessions and a Dalmatian dog. They must have used a shoehorn to pack us all in one car. My legs soon became cramped resting on the dog’s back, mile after mile after mile. In Canada, dogs don’t have fleas but Lady soon accumulated entire colonies on our journey which bit every square inch of my legs.

We settled in Orlando before Disney World. At that time, it was a lovely little town of 40,000 people nestled in orange groves and lakes. I was still a tomboy with my hair cut in a ducktail and wearing white buck shoes, as was the custom for Canadian teenagers. I took a lot of ribbing from my new friends which encouraged me to grow my hair long and ditch my shoes. All the girls in Florida wore crinolines and said, “yes, ma’am” and “ya’ll. None of the girls participated in sports which was a big loss to me. They all surely did like boys, however. During the first party I went to, two boys asked me to go steady. I finally picked the one who was student class president and a very good artist.

He came from a humble background with chickens running around inside his house. His father drove a school bus and drank too much. But “Teddy” was going places, making excellent weekend money by painting signs on store windows. I stayed with him for a year before I put his ring under some car tires to be run over so that I could say I no longer had the ring and could not be his steady any more. I am sure he saw through my subterfuge. I am embarrassed to admit that I was this unfeeling when he was such a decent guy. It’s funny how developing teenage minds work! Teddy ended up being an attorney and all his siblings did well in life in spite of his parents.

Thinking back, I wish I had not been so typical of this age and had kept Teddy for life. I saw him years later at a class reunion and sparks flew! He was a keeper! Instead, I went on to marry the wrong man whom I divorced. Perhaps it was all for the best, because I am happily married now. If had changed the course of my life, who knows how it would have turned out.