Personal History (1982) - Page 20

...hand and was given a full-fledged to cast to get sympathy from my friends. Although band was the center of my high school memories it didn't offer much challenge to my musical abilities. I was still being instructed by Carson Sharp who had become a very good friend as well as my teacher. With his help, I competed successfully every year in Solo and Ensemble and would leave with excellent or superior [ratings] in at least three solo and group performances. I was also selected for All-State Band in 1975 and 1976, and as a senior played in the All-State Orchestra. With those credentials, I also did some teaching to students of Bountiful and Centerville Junior High School.

Even after having dated many months I hadn't held Susan's hand. I didn't think much of it but one day Susan asked if she could hold my hand, and even though it made me nervous I let her get away with it. Soon she was telling me of a bet she made with one of her friends who had also been dating for some time. She laughed as she told how she had said that her boyfriend would kiss her before the other's would. She claims not to have been hinting that she wanted kissing but I knew better. A short time later I asked her to a movie and even she could sense my nervousness. I didn't enjoy the movie and I enjoyed it even less when she spilled a large drink on me while engrossed in the film. Once home I gave her a small trophy that said "You Win" on the base. I intended to let her win by kissing her goodnight. She was touched by my sincerity but didn't seem to understand why was so difficult for me to do. I couldn't get up enough courage at the door and we had to take a long, long, long walk around Oak Hills [Elementary] school until I could give her a short unromantic kiss on the lips. By then she was tired, disappointed in the kiss and that I had been so unromantic, but I must have improved after that because the complaining stopped.


In my senior year, I also decided to see how I would compete with the others on the tennis team. All I really wanted to do was get my letter to impress Susan. I made the team and we competed very well against the other schools. I remember one time in particular when we played Ogden [High School] at Ogden. They were reputed to be one of the most physically abusive and mean schools in the state, and we approach them with great care. They were also expected to win the state championship so we didn't worry much about upsetting them by winning. About halfway through the game, the couple's team we were playing made a bad approach shot and we rushed the net to capitalize on their mistake. To our surprise, they came to the net as well. The ball was hit to me so with all the strength I could muster I hit the ball cross court and hit the larger of the two guys right where it would hurt the most. He doubled over and our whole team started to fear for their safety. We quickly apologized and continued on to beat them in straight sets, the only members of our team to do so. Next Page