March1st, 1980, was a significant day in my life because after all of the effort over the previous year, the cute girl with the braces finally said yes to “going out” with me. I was a junior in High School, and she was a sophomore, but we are at different schools. We worked together at a pizza joint in Troy, Michigan, and had grown close during the eighteen months we shared working together.

At the beginning of 1978, my family moved while I was in ninth grade. I was forced from High School into a Junior High school situation. I signed up for an easier math class, and on the first day, she walked past me to turn in a paper to the teacher's desk in the front of the room. Her perfect hair, shiny bright braces-filled smile, and big brown eyes attracted me to her immediately, but I thought she was way out of my league.

I learned her name from the math wiz kid I sat next to, but Connie was not overly interested in the older kid with a fro. I found out later she liked guys with long, straight, feathered hair, which was all the rage back then. My naturally curly locks were strike one against me.

Ten months later, I was hired by the pizza place, and she had started working there a month before I had. I asked her a few times to go out, and she always shut me down.

Then Connie began dating my best friend in the pizza business, and I was heartbroken. I dated other girls during this time but still had a thing for her. When she broke up with my pizza buddy, I reminded her that I was interested and began a charm offensive. I convinced her over the course of the next month to become my girlfriend.

We both had braces, which made kissing really awkward, but no less amazing. She's been gone almost sixteen months now, and I am so grateful for the years we had, even while I miss her in so many ways.

Life is short. Enjoy your spouse while you are able, and I believe it is just as important to remember why you said yes in the first place.

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