Pittsburgh's Positive news, events, people, places!
Pittsburgh Memories
My Favorite Pittsburgh Memory or How I Met Your Mother
It was September 16th 1967. I had recently enlisted in the Army, draft notice in hand. It was a Saturday night and I wasn’t feeling much like partying. My friends Dave and Jim called and said Dave had his dad’s car and that they were thinking about going to a dance at the Grove, and asked if I would like to go too. I said, “No, I wasn’t really up to going out that night.” They were persistent and I finally gave in.
I didn’t dress up and just kind of cleaned up and went along. Well, it was one of those nights at a Pittsburgh dance. Lots of pretty girls all kind of clustered and lots of guys walking the circle to see if a spark could be generated.
I was not having the best of luck, maybe it was how I was dressed, maybe it was my funky mood. But I got turn down after turn down in just trying to get a girl to dance with me. And of course, with each rejection my mood toward the evening deteriorated. Dave and Jim didn’t seem to be having any problems getting girls to dance, but I was a basket case. Finally, after my 10th turn down, I went over to the guys and said, “Look, this sucks and I’d really like to go home.” They said that they weren’t ready to leave, they were having a pretty good time. I said “I’ve gotten turned down ten times. How about if I make it to 20 different turn downs, we blow this pop stand?” They reluctantly agreed.
Oh, boy! Now I have a goal. My approach changed from “Would you like to dance?”, to “You don’t want to dance do you?” Success was building. Eleven, twelve, thirteen all the way to 18 was achieved in very short order. I approached the 19th and asked, “You don’t want to dance do you?” She said, “Oh sure, I’d like to dance with you.” I muttered an expletive and went out on the Grove floor to dance. Dave and Jim both saw that I had failed in my quest and were quite relieved that the evening didn’t have to end early. A fact they gleefully acknowledged by dancing near me and this girl, who couldn’t have heard what I said.
The song ended and I started to head back to the circle walk, but this girl blocked my path and asked if I wanted to dance again. I said, “Okay.”
Well, we danced together until the dance was over. I got her phone number. We went out. I went to the Army. A little more than a year after the first dance I proposed, she accepted. We got married and had five beautiful children. Chalk one up for the Grove.
It was September 16th 1967. I had recently enlisted in the Army, draft notice in hand. It was a Saturday night and I wasn’t feeling much like partying. My friends Dave and Jim called and said Dave had his dad’s car and that they were thinking about going to a dance at the Grove, and asked if I would like to go too. I said, “No, I wasn’t really up to going out that night.” They were persistent and I finally gave in.
I didn’t dress up and just kind of cleaned up and went along. Well, it was one of those nights at a Pittsburgh dance. Lots of pretty girls all kind of clustered and lots of guys walking the circle to see if a spark could be generated.
I was not having the best of luck, maybe it was how I was dressed, maybe it was my funky mood. But I got turn down after turn down in just trying to get a girl to dance with me. And of course, with each rejection my mood toward the evening deteriorated. Dave and Jim didn’t seem to be having any problems getting girls to dance, but I was a basket case. Finally, after my 10th turn down, I went over to the guys and said, “Look, this sucks and I’d really like to go home.” They said that they weren’t ready to leave, they were having a pretty good time. I said “I’ve gotten turned down ten times. How about if I make it to 20 different turn downs, we blow this pop stand?” They reluctantly agreed.
Oh, boy! Now I have a goal. My approach changed from “Would you like to dance?”, to “You don’t want to dance do you?” Success was building. Eleven, twelve, thirteen all the way to 18 was achieved in very short order. I approached the 19th and asked, “You don’t want to dance do you?” She said, “Oh sure, I’d like to dance with you.” I muttered an expletive and went out on the Grove floor to dance. Dave and Jim both saw that I had failed in my quest and were quite relieved that the evening didn’t have to end early. A fact they gleefully acknowledged by dancing near me and this girl, who couldn’t have heard what I said.
The song ended and I started to head back to the circle walk, but this girl blocked my path and asked if I wanted to dance again. I said, “Okay.”
Well, we danced together until the dance was over. I got her phone number. We went out. I went to the Army. A little more than a year after the first dance I proposed, she accepted. We got married and had five beautiful children. Chalk one up for the Grove.
About
Events
-
Harmony in Wood: Furniture of the Harmony Society
May 8, 2009 at 9am to December 31, 2009 at 5pm – Ambridge
Badge
© 2009 Created by Joanne Quinn-Smith on Ning. Create a Ning Network!
