Dear Di-ary….
Question: How did you and Michael meet?
My girlfriend, Lynn, and I were out driving around one night. That’s what you did in the 60’s. You’d put gas in your car; a gallon only cost .25 cents back then; and cruise around town “looking for something to do.” We were bored so Lynn said, “Let’s go to Mom Kinnoble’s,” which was a very small bar run by a woman who did not check anyone’s ID. I was 19 years old at the time…Mike was 21.
I had never been there before but Lynn had. There were pool tables, dart boards, and one bowling lane….which had a “pin boy” in back of the machine who would set up the pins when you bowled!
When we walked in Mike and his friend were shooting pool. She knew his friend and started to talk to him and he introduced us to Mike. They would come over and talk to us in between their shots. Mike wanted to buy me a drink but I already had gotten one so he put $1.00 down on our table (I think the drinks were .50 cents!) and said, “I’ll buy the next one.” We stayed a little while then left. I didn’t get another drink so I went over to Mike, gave him his $1.00 back and said thank you. There were no bell and whistles, they were just 2 nice guys. A few weeks went by, we were bored again and she said….”Let’s go back to Mom Kinnoble’s.” I said…”Ok, maybe those 2 guys will be there and they’ll buy us a drink!” They were there…..and they bought us drinks! When Mike saw me he said, ”Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you. Another girl came in one night and I thought it was you but she didn’t know who I was!” LOL. We started talking more and he asked if I’d like to get something to eat. I said “Yes!”
We started dating but he was in the Navy, I think he was stationed in North Carolina then. He would come home on weekends when he could and we would go out. We wrote letters when he was deployed and dated when he was back in the states. We were dating about 2 years and he was transferred to Jacksonville, Florida, that’s when he asked me to marry him. We planned a big Italian Wedding here and I went back with him to Jacksonville, Florida, to live. We were married in May of 1968 and he was deployed to Vietnam in October of 1968. I decided to come back home and live with my parents for the 9 months of his deployment until he got back home. That was a hard time….you didn’t know if they were coming back. Not all did….he was one of the lucky ones he returned home and was finished his 4 years of duty in June of 1969 and Honorably Discharged from the US Navy! We then began our lives together in New Jersey, having sex and making babies! (You didn’t think I’d leave that part out did you!!!) And the rest is history…..
Editors Note: OFM does not condone any of the sex parts of the blog. Diana has gone rogue and I’m sure Dena is the blame for it.
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