One of the downsides of living in the same neighborhood where I grew up is the fact that I often drive by places that remind me of a past relationship. I didn't have a "serious" girlfriend until a few days after my high school graduation.
I left Conant early. I had enough credits to graduate and decided that it might be a great opportunity to earn and save some money for college. I took a full time job at the Harris Bank on Roselle Road in Schaumburg (place #1). The job was actually pretty simple, and the people I worked with were nice. I had also taken a part-time job at Wiener Take All on Nerge Road in Roselle (place #2), working evenings and weekends. I knew the guys that owned Wiener, and a family friend was the manager. That job was not only easy, it was fun. I got to hang out with people I knew, making hot dogs, flipping burgers, cleaning up the eating area, and eventually delivering pizzas. By the time I officially graduated, I had saved over $5,000.
Then I met Debbie.
Debbie was two years older than me, and worked at a local salon as a hairdresser. I met her, thanks to Jennifer, my brother Darrell's first wife. Debbie and Jennifer came into Wiener for lunch two days after graduation. I still remember what they ordered: a medium pizza with mushrooms and sausage. They came to the store after the noon rush. In between sweeping the floors and wiping down the tables, I talked with them. Nothing important, just chit-chat.
After they left, I got a call from Jenny. Debbie thought I was nice, she told me, and she wondered if I had any interest. I wasn't used to girls showing me much attention, so I was pretty excited about the information Jenny gave me. A day or two later, Debbie and I went out on a date. I can't recall what we did, but I do remember that we stood outside Darrell and Jenny's apartment complex on Algonquin Road in Rolling Meadows (place #3), and talked. Debbie made some corny comment about looking up into the sky and wishing on a star, blah, blah, blah.
Debbie and I kept seeing each other the rest of the summer. I'd work at the bank during the day, work at Wiener Take All on Wednesdays (the bank was closed then), and most evenings, and then I'd head over to Debbie's parent's house until the early morning hours. I was truly burning the candle at both ends.
On days I didn't work, Debbie and I hung out. Whenever we did something, I paid. We went out to eat to the Denny's on Higgins Road in Schaumburg (place #4), went out to the movies to Stratford Theaters at the Stratford Mall in Bloomingdale (place #5), went shopping at Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg (place #6), rented a room at the Raddison Hotel (now the Hotel Indigo) on Northwest Highway (place #7) for our "first time," and then rented a room at the Motel Six on Algonquin Road (place #8) sometime thereafter. I watched as my savings account quickly went from over $5,000 to less than $2,000 in one summer. One summer. A clear case of thinking with the wrong head.
Debbie and I stayed together when I went to Loyola University Chicago on Sheridan Road in Chicago (place #9--kind of, because I don't really live near there, and only see it occasionally). I missed out on a lot my first semester there. Parties, meeting other girls, weekend activities. I even thought about quitting because I had a tough time being away from her. Thanks to my dad, I didn't.
There are other places that remind me if this relationship: my parent's old house on Racine Circle in Elk Grove Village, the 7-11 on Meacham Road in Elk Grove Village, the hair salon, a gas station, a cross street. These places existed 21 years ago when they happened, and they will probably exist 21 years from now.
But that's life, I guess. We all have things that remind us of past relationships. Songs, sounds, smells. It doesn't mean we miss these people, or even that we think about them all that much. They're just memories that mold us to who we are today.
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