It was the summer of 1984 and it was very warm for a June day. I went out for a bike ride around the area where I used to live. There were tennis courts about Β½ mile from my house and there also was a playground with the tennis courts. It seemed cooler there because of the wooded area that surrounded the park. I was on the parallel bars at the playground practicing for a swing type move for gymnastics. I was wearing cut-off shorts and a halter top for me to practice because I knew people where around playing tennis. I did the swing for about 15 minutes and something caught the corner of my eye. It was a shadow of a person. He comes and starts clapping and I just stopped what I was doing and hurried off the bars. He sat on the swing set that was off to left about 50 yards away. I knew that something has really bugging him. I never saw him before around here and he was quite handsome.
He was a tall 6'3 younger man. Sandy-blond hair with a gray colored eyes; very strong jaw line. He looked as if he worked out and was in excellent shape. He was talking to me and said that the swing that I was practicing looked great. He asked if I competed and said yes. He said that he understood competing because he was a kick boxer and was competing this weekend. I walked over to the swing set and sat on a swing and he was 2 swings away from me. We talked until dusk.
We talked about a variety of things. He said that he had a brother and father-his mother died when he was younger. He lived one block away from the tennis courts. He moved here because of his Dad's work and he would be here for awhile and then move to the next place. I told him that I was an only child and both of my parents were alive and I was at the YWCA and that is where I was to compete. At this time I ended up leaving and heading towards home. We agreed that we would meet back at the courts within 2 days.
He was all I could think about for the next two days. I thought about how looked, smelled and his voice. He was a senior in college and I was sophomore in college. He was about 4 years older than me. He was really special to me. Over time we spent the afternoon together after our last class-we met on the bridges over creeks at the college, met at the local diners and also took walks together. We couldn't study together because he was taking different classes.