Their 1st date

Karen and Carol were good friends. They were students at a small high school in a small town in New York. Weekends found them at the local diner, listening to Mack The Knife. Usually a group of 15 or so got together.
Carol was tall-ish and a little over weight. Karen was a pixie- 5'2" and weighed less than a hundred pounds. But she was stacked. Karen was dating a boy, she thought she might love him, they'd talked about getting married. Carol was dating a new guy- a serviceman, if you can take the scandal! His name was Wayne, tall, good looking. A full head of dark shiny hair. All the girls just stared! He and Carol had a good time dancing, slow dances were his favorite.
Wayne took one look at Karen. He had but one thought-

Those have got to be FAKE!

So he asked he to dance that fateful Friday night. My, how they danced. Carol got her nose a little out of joint.
As was the custom, all the friends showed up at Karen's house late at night, Karen's mother Anna would make them breakfast.
Saturday found Wayne and Karen still talking. Saturday evening they danced the night away.
Sunday morning found them at Anna's table again, after mass, of course.
Wayne saying things like "When Karen and I are married, you'll have to have breakfast with us." Anna was furious- he was a Serviceman, for Christ's Sake! And wasn't he the spitting image of her son she'd buried just a few short years ago?

That fury might have been just the thing Karen needed to say yes.

A few short months later- May 12th,1962, to be exact, Karen Shortell and Wayne Johnson got married in a little church on a hill.
Carol was a bridesmaid, Karen's favorite sister Marianne the Maid of Honor.


I'm not sure if it really happened just like that. But I've heard the story of my parents 1st meeting often enough that I could picture it that way. It's my favorite "memory" I have of them.
They loved to dance, right till the end.

Happy 45th anniversary, Mom and Dad.