Day 1.

After college, I received a job at a small Western Pa bank in the loan department. I had been there about a year when the bank hired a new receptionist, Nancy. I likely said hello and other causal talk with her, but never really talked to her much as my office was not near her desk.

About two months later, on Monday, July 19, 1976, it just happened that we were the only two people in the lunchroom that day. We struck up our first real conversation. She was sitting at a 90-degree angle from me, and I did notice that she had great legs. (I am a leg man.) Back then, females did not wear slacks at work in banks. I found out that she owned a horse that was in a stable that was likely to be shut down and the horses destroyed. She said that she needed to move her horse that evening. So purely as a co-worker, I offered to help move her horse. I was not thinking anything else would happen.

After work, she picked me up at my apartment, and we moved the horse to another stable out near the airport. When she dropped me off, I likely asked if she wanted to come in and she did. We talked until about 1 AM and only talked. She told me stories about her previous marriage, which was annulled after she found out that her husband was a heroin addict. Her former father-in-law was a big-shot Chicago attorney. She told me about being in a car that went over an embankment. She had just gotten out of the car seconds before it exploded.

Another story was that she had a sister who was 18 months younger, but was very tiny. They lived in a three-story house just off the bridge in a small town about 20 miles away. The house had been part of the underground railroad. One day Nancy was tying her sister to a kite or a glider, and they were going to see if her sister could fly out of the third-story window. Fortunately, the parents found out in time and stopped the attempt. (Story was confirmed by her sister.)

Nancy told me she had an appointment Tuesday evening, but would be back on Wednesday.

Days 2 & 3

On Wednesday, I cooked her pork chops (The only thing she ate.) and she took her supplements. She eventually got me hooked on health food stores and the Prevention Magazine. We talked that night until about 2 AM. Sometime between 11 PM and midnight, we were lying on my bed, and we leaned forward and we kissed for the first time.

Thursday, she came over, and we talked for some time and eventually she asked if I wanted a back rub. I had not dated anyone in the year since college, and I was not an idiot. So, of course I accepted a back rub from an attractive girl. I took off my shirt and got a wonderful back rub. (Even if it was not, I would remember it as a great back rub.)

Later, after talking for a while, I asked her if she wanted a back rub. She did. I started to give her a back rub, but the bra strap was getting in the way. So, I asked her if she would unhook the bra strap. I assumed she would unhook her bra in the back and lay back down. She sat up, unbuttoned her blouse and unhooked her bra in the front! Who knew? I was never a player and had limited experience with girls in college. I was not a virgin by any means, but I had never seen a bra that opened in the front. So an innocent request became a wonderful event. Nancy was not large, but what I saw was the best looking breasts that I had ever seen. I am not an expert on bra sizes, but she likely was a B-cup, possibly a C-cup. They were perky and beautiful with no sag and had great-looking nipples. They were by far the nicest that I have ever seen. I wanted to lunge for them, but I am a gentleman, and I had her lie back down and I finished the back rub.

When done, we lay on the bed and got a bit friendly. Nancy at some point said that she had had a procedure the previous Saturday and was not healed enough for sex. She and I spent the night together on my single bed for the first time. Both of us kept our underwear on.

Day 4

On Friday we both had to work until 8 PM, but she came over and planned to spend the night again. Just before we went to sleep, she again mentioned that she was not healed up yet. So, I asked her if she would like to please each other in the 69 position. She had no idea what I was talking about. (She was 22 and I was 23, a few months older.) I explained what 69 was and if I remember right, the response was "Hell yeah", and I never saw anyone take panties off so fast.

She flipped around on the bed, and we went at it. Before I climaxed, I warned her that I was almost ready, and she kept on going. I was able get her to climax, and when we finished, I asked her what she thought. She said it was fantastic and she was going to tell her roommate about the position! I asked her what about me cumming in her mouth, and she said the taste was fine, but she did not like the texture. It was like melted Jello, and she disliked the texture.

Since I knew that she had been briefly married, I knew she was not a virgin. But the way she reacted, I am not sure she had ever engaged in oral sex before. It may be that she had just never had used the 69 position. We again spent the night together.

Day 5

We woke up on Saturday, and as I had planned our first real date, we went and took a shower together. The shower did not last long as we ended up turning off the water and rushed soaking wet back to my bed. (We did not wait to dry off, besides, I only had two towels.) We made love for the first time. It was good and we both climaxed, but we later got much better at it.

We went to Pittsburgh and ate at the New China Inn, on 2nd Avenue. It was the first time I was ever in a Chinese restaurant. We then went to Three Rivers Stadium and went to the Boz Scaggs, Fleetwood Mac and Eagles concert. I did not know anything about Boz Scaggs and did not care for their music, but Nancy did. We both liked Fleetwood Mac. It was July 24, 1976 and was shortly after they released their Rumours album. Nancy did not like the Eagles, so we left, but upon getting home, she made it up to me! It was the only day that we made love more than once. She, for some reason, never wanted rounds 2, 3 or so. But we made love almost every day of our time together.

Sunday through the following week or so…

On Sunday, she took me to her apartment, which was maybe 10 blocks from my apartment. Upon entering her bedroom for the first time, I, of course, got frisky. But she pumped the brakes as she knew that the timing was not right and we needed to start using birth control. So after a trip to a drugstore, we made love for the first and only time in her bedroom. I was hooked! Nancy was funny, very interesting, very attractive with auburn hair that was always beautiful. But believe it or not, what attracted me first, other than nice legs, was her laugh. She had a great laugh! And you hear about people who seem to light up the room when they enter, that was Nancy. She was always upbeat and a joy to be around, even if we were just watching TV or talking.

By Wednesday, we had gotten our lovemaking to the point where we both climaxed within seconds of each other. And for the rest of our time together that was what happened. Rarely did we make love without both of us satisfied within seconds of each other. I B.S. you not! Our chemistry was that good.

On Thursday, (Before or after lovemaking, I do not remember which.) I proposed, and she accepted. We set the wedding for November 12, 1976, a Friday. It happen to be her Grandparents' 58th anniversary. They planned on getting married on November 11th, but the year was 1918 and WW 1 ended that day. I had also received a flyer about an alumni cruise sponsored by my college scheduled for November 13, 1976, the next day after our wedding date. The cruise was to the Caribbean.

On Friday, I took Nancy to meet my Mother and to let her know Nancy and I were getting married. Five minutes after I broke the news, my Mother got a call that she was a Grandmother for the first time. Poor Mom! Two shocks in 5 minutes.

On the following Monday, I booked the cruise. It was $580 plus airfare and I only was making about $500 a month, but I was good at saving. Everything was coming together like a Hallmark movie.

From that point, we spent almost every day together. We did a trail ride on horseback near Nancy's hometown. We took a weekend to Lancaster, PA. I do not remember where we went there, but I do remember a short hummer on the ride back. I was not able to drive and concentrate, so it did not last long. We went to a huge garden center near York, PA and bought some large houseplants, a Dieffenbachia and a Norfolk Island Pine. The pine later became our first "Christmas tree". Both plants were with me for ten years, three apartments and my first house.

One day, Nancy brought her 8-year-old brother and her 2-year-old niece to play with my guinea pigs. (They were the best pets for an apartment not allowing pets.) Later that day we took them horse and pony riding at my grandparents' house. My uncle's horse was a golden palomino.

Steelers' games were the best that year. We did not win the Superbowl, but it still ranks as a great season. When half time approached on the first game, I asked Nancy if she wanted to make love during halftime, and she did. Each week we made love during halftime and lay naked together to watch the second half. The only thing changed for the second game, was that Nancy came over to me just before the 2nd quarter ended and unzipped my jeans and started to warm me up for half time. This only ended when I moved the beginning of October to an apartment in a different town.

We got married November 12th, and went on our honeymoon. On St. Thomas, we spent $500 at duty-free shops, including $100 on an ivory chess set. We drank Pina Coladas at the restaurant high up on a hill over looking the bay. It was where they were reported to have been invented. I had never had one until we were on the cruise ship, but I learned to like them.

We went to Haiti, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. In Puerto Rico, we walked on a beach early one morning and were the first people on the beach. It was framed by coconut palm trees and was beautiful. We toured a rain forest with air that was so sweet-smelling. In Hatti we met 3 young boys who tagged along as we rode ponies to the top of a hill and toured an old fortress. We gave each a silver dollar that we had received from our co- workers. We took a Jeep ride and crossed a stream. In the stream we saw women doing laundry, getting water and a small boy bathing. Most of the homes were mud huts with thatched roofs.

Nancy moved in with me after our honeymoon along with her Russian Blue cat, Dagny. My apartment was now our "home".

We spent Thanksgiving at my grandparents' house and Christmas at her parents' house.

Life was as good as it could be, by all accounts. We never once argued and definitely never fought. I was as happy as I had ever been.

Unfortunately my joy did not last.

In February, Nancy was taking a bath one night and realized that she was having a miscarriage. I do not remember if we even knew that she was pregnant. I tried to get her to go to the hospital, but she refused. I helped her to bed and propped up her feet with my pillow. I sat in an overstuffed chair all night watching over her.

In the morning I tried to get her to go to the hospital, but she refused. She insisted that I go to my job at the bank. Sometime later, I got a call that Nancy was taken by ambulance to the hospital. Since I knew she did not like the local hospital 8 to 10 miles from our apartment and only a half mile from my work, I left work and drove 30 miles or so to a hospital that was her family's local hospital. I got there and found out that she was not there. So, I drove back to our local hospital and went to her room.

A day or two later, Nancy was discharged, but rather than call me at work, she called her former roommate and went back to her old apartment. Later that day or a day later, she called me and said that she no longer wanted to be married. She gave me no reason. I went to her apartment about a week later and asked (begged) her to come back to live with me, but she refused.

Since I was the injured party, I filed for divorce. It was not my wishes, but PA did not have no fault divorce back then and Nancy wanted a divorce. I saw her at a divorce hearing and talked to her many times. Each call was friendly, but painful for me. Even through the divorce, we never argued. I think we had too much love and respect for each other to fight. The divorce was final in May.

In November, I got my Penney's charge bill. None of the almost $500 in charges were mine. I called Nancy and got approval from my manager to write a $500 personal loan to Nancy. I could easily have approved the loan myself, but I did not want to be accused of abusing my authority. Nancy came in and signed the loan papers, while I was not in the office. In December, I got a bill for an additional $79 charged before I had closed the account. I paid the balance at the local store and sent the paid receipt to Nancy in a card and wrote "Merry Christmas" in the card. I decided it was better to pay the bill than to harass Nancy about it. Calling her would have hurt more than losing almost a week's net pay. That was my last contact with Nancy. I never heard from or saw Nancy again.

To this day, I have no idea why she left me. I was and still am 48 years later very much in love with her. If I could turn back the clock to 1976, knowing the ending of the story, I would still marry her. I only had 7 months with Nancy, but they were the greatest 7 months of my life.

Funny anecdote. As I have said, Nancy and I never argued, not ever. But I did see her angry once. In, I think October, she and I asked for time off to get married. I asked and was told "yes" right away. She asked and was told "no". She said, "but I am getting married". They asked to whom and she replied with my first name, "Bob". They asked, "Bob who" and when she said my last name, she was granted time off. We had been dating for 3 months but had kept it on the down low. Nobody at the bank knew we were even seeing each other. The different treatment made her mad! And some time after the wedding and after she left me, she quit the bank and got a job at the local university as a secretary.

Epilogue

In September 2013, I received an email from Nancy's sister. I had tracked her sister down through their father as I knew his full name. In the email, I was told that Nancy had remarried and divorced twice again. She did not have any contact with her family after late 1986 or early 1987, when the last divorce occurred.

One day in 2003, Nancy appeared at her parents' home in North Carolina and asked to move in. She lived there for about 10 years as a recluse. She had no phone, no CPU and rarely even spoke to her family. She rarely even came out of her room. She was paranoid and apparently was suffering from schizophrenia. I was informed that in May of 2012, Nancy ended her life.

I had promised her sister to get copies of our wedding album, and I took the album to my car. But every time that I thought of getting copies made, I got depressed. A year later, when I traded in the car, I found the album. By then I had misplaced the email.

A few months ago, I found the email in a file with my Mother's estate emails. I scanned the album over to my ex-sister-in-law. The act of scanning the album and rereading the email has opened up a hole in my heart again. Even though I remarried 46 years ago, and I love my wife, Nancy is still the love of my life.