It was at the after-the-funeral-get-together (because I refused to call it a wake.......it's not a word used much in Suffolk).
Towards the end of the afternoon, I was standing near some of the family and a bloke came up to me and said "you don't know me do you?" I said "No, but you must be someone who worked with Colin at sometime". "Yes, I'm C.M" he said. "Really!" I said with a big grin!
When Colin was a County Council road-man and then a supervisor in Central Area back in the early 1980's he was based at the depot in Eye. C.M, also worked for the council as a road-man and he and his wife had rented the flat above the offices there and when Col told me who lived there I asked if this was the same C.M who went to the same secondary school as Col and was the same age as me and then I told Colin all about my first kiss! Colin must have told C.M that I remembered.
I introduced him to the family "here is the person who gave me my first kiss!" Certainly embarrassed the family! Probably embarrassed CM too..........he said " I wasn't going to mention that if you had forgotten!"
Then we reminisced about that day almost exactly 50 years ago when I was a 13 year old helping on a stall at a one-off country fair event called "The Spirit of Suffolk" and he was there with Bacton Modern School to do a country dancing display......and not so shy!
It was quite surreal to meet again after 50 years!
I wrote a note in my " Letts' Schoolgirl Diary", I still have them from 1968 and 1969! Goodness knows why.
(You have to be a certain age to remember them) and lost a lot of respect for my Mum when she told me off for kissing boys,............ she'd been reading my diary.
I must have vowed then that if I had children I would never read their diaries and I kept to that.
Thank you for comments yesterday.
Back Tomorrow
Sue
That made me smile! I had a boyfriend when I was 8 - his name was James, but we all called him "Cookie" - don't ask me why. I don't think he kissed me though.
ReplyDeleteI guess it’s after Captain James Cook the famous explorer? x
DeleteMade me smile and laugh, Sue! Reminds me of when I saw a man at church where we both attend. Went over to say hello and he gave me a hug! And then he told people he remembered me when I was in diapers! Goodness...well I got him to stop saying that. But glad I know him and we are friends with him and his wife. Go to the same bible study as well. Hop over to my blog sometime if ya have a chance! Hugs and blessings!
ReplyDeleteGreat memory! And fancy still having that diary. I had my first kiss with my first boyfriend also at the age of 13 (he was 14!). He gave me a love letter (well, he got a friend to give it to me)....my mother took it out of my schoolbag, threw it away and gave me a telling off, which annoyed the hell out of me - her going through my bag and stealing the letter, I mean.
ReplyDeleteThis has made me chuckle. A great way to embarrass the family indeed. Well done! xx
ReplyDeleteFunny what things happen at after-funeral get togethers (we don't use wake in Norfolk either). I think one is glad of things like that to lighten the proceedings. I had kept my old diaries like yours too, and I also had a Girl Guide Diary although I was never a girl guide but I wrote in it everyday and there was a full record of the 62/63 winter that I religiously wrote down every night. No kisses recorded though! I burnt them when I moved here as I decided I didn't want anybody else reading them one day. Best to do it myself I thought. Have a good day. x
ReplyDeleteI recycled my teen diaries away a few years ago. There were details of ex loves that only I needed to know about!
ReplyDeleteArilx
Oh the joys and sorrows of the teenage diaries - mum too read mine one day so I found a secret hiding place. Once I was married though I decided I would get rid of them. I do miss though not being able to look up when an event happened in the 60's and 70's. I started my journals again in 1990 and often will have a quick look back and it helps me remember some of the little things I had forgotten about.
ReplyDeleteIt would have been so much worse if you had gone for kiss number two there and then! x
ReplyDeleteHa! never thought of that!
DeleteYes, I had a Letts diary, yes, my mother read it; yes I made the same vow not to read my childrens’ and I stuck to it; yes, I love embarrassing my children (its pay back time LOL) and no, I’ve never been kissed by CM ! Thank you Sue for making me chuckle. X
ReplyDeleteLovely story embarrassing your kids is wonderful they do tend to forget you too are a human being
ReplyDeleteSame experience with my mother and the diary. Same vow to daughter and kept my vow. Thanks again Sue for a memory -Letts dieries were quite aspirational when I was young ecause we had a compulsory homework diary that also had to be bought.
ReplyDeleteI love embarrassing my grown up kids it makes for some hilarious times at get togethers.
ReplyDeleteI could never keep up with writing in a diary. Always started with good intentions but never quite managed to fill one.
Hugs-x-
I wrote my teenage diaries with a secret code so my Mum wouldn't understand them if she did read them. The only thing was by the time I was in my late twenties and reminiscing about things ... I couldn't understand them either 😀
ReplyDeleteHow nice that you got to meet the man again who gave you your first kiss. That is a very special moment in a girl’s life and never forgotten.
ReplyDeleteDiaries used to be popular when we were young. I had one but stopped writing in it when I found out my sister was reading it and she teased me without mercy about it.
Great story. I've embarrassed my four many a time but they take in stride now. Was fortunate that my mother never read my journals. Not that there was much to read, but she was a stickler about privacy; thought everyone deserved it, no matter your age. I feel the same.
ReplyDeleteI wrote diaries (journals) from a young age as well. I recall destroying my teenage ones for the soul purpose of making sure nobody else read them! I'm not surprised that a lot of bloggers also kept diaries. -Jenn
ReplyDeleteYou little minx!
ReplyDeleteIt is good practice to occasionally shock our children, remind them that we are real people and were once young.
I used to write diaries until my mum told me off after reading it, I stopped writing it then. A blast from the past, as they say, always good to embarrass the children xx
ReplyDeleteYour little story made me smile.
ReplyDeleteI never kept a diary, too worried about other people reading it.
What a story.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if I will ever bump into Keith who chased me around the playground in 3rd grade when I was the new girl in school.
I hope you do one day
DeleteWhat a great story! I revisited my time with my boyfriend in 7th grade when I found all my old letters. It's good to remember those times. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)
ReplyDeleteI've still got a few diaries from my early teens and what puzzles me is that I mention Christian names of people I obviously knew really well at the time but now I have no idea who they were. I do know who gave me my first kiss though and I've seen his mother over the years (usually at funerals) and she always reminds me I was his first "girlfriend".
ReplyDeleteA lovely story and what the after funeral parties are all about. Reminiscing, funny stories of happier times... a celebration of life.That is what in my book is one of the important roles of a parent... embarrass the kids, just like ours did to us and theirs to them.
ReplyDeleteLX
Lovely heart warming story Sue.
ReplyDeleteMy dear Dad refers to it as "The After-Match Function". We certainly had a good one after dear Mum's service earlier this year. Mum was there, in her screwed down casket. My sister commented afterwards "Wouldn't Mum have loved it"
ReplyDelete