That fateful day

At the end of my junior year of college, my younger sister, Cathy, and her friend, Amy, came up to Kent State for "Little Sibs Weekend". As I get older, my memory gets fuzzier, but Cathy and Amy were right around 17, I think, and they would have been juniors in high school.

That weekend really wasn't meant for Little Sibs activities. I actually don't even know if any existed... after all, we had an off-campus party to go to!

Before we went to the party, I gave some strict rules. No drinking. No drugs. No talking to any 'boys'. No leaving the party. Before we left for the party, I had put my dorm room phone number on a piece of paper and tucked it in Cathy's back pocket. Sort of like, "If found, please call..."

This was 1993, which meant no cell phones.

The party ended up being two parties - one in an upstairs apartment, and one in a downstairs apartment, just separated by the stairwell. Good times going between both. Lots of people and lots of space to lose two teenagers at their first college party.

I vividly remember a card game going on in the upstairs apartment with a bunch of guys. Cute guys. One on the end in a baseball hat and navy shorts with white polka dots.

I don't recall much else about the actual party, but my memories start back up when... I open the downstairs apartment door to go upstairs, and see my sister, Cathy, and the dude from the card game and his friend, Brian. All giggles and smiles.

Dude from the card game is wearing one of Cathy's very large hoop earrings, and he has traded his small hoop for it, which Cathy is wearing. Brian tells me that Cathy is going to leave with them... they are heading to downtown Kent to the bars. Nah, it didn't matter that she was only 17... she was going to use his ID... which was a fake.

Surprisingly, I did the responsible thing, and put the kabosh on that field trip. I was very dramatic with barking the orders of leaving the under age girls alone. I yelled at them, I yelled at Cathy. But...

Somehow, me and card game dude ended up talking all night. He told me I was beautiful, and I was even more 'beautifuller' in his baseball hat, which I was wearing around throughout the night.

By this point, I was falling too madly in love with my future husband to care about the whereabouts of Cathy and Amy. In the end, they didn't go far... not so sure which college boys they ended up sucking face with that night, but no matter.

Fast forward to the next morning, which had Cathy and Amy heading back to our hometown because Cathy had to show up for her post at Dairy Queen. (Ends up that she showed up, and they fired her. Second sister of mine to be fired from Dairy Queen. Hmmmm... me? Never fired.) 

I was depressed. Pretty sure that I would never see the card dude again. I knew his name, but Matt White? Kent State was a campus of 27,000. How would I ever find him? Keep in mind, there were no campus directories to access, no Facebook, no internet. He would be gone forever. :::sigh::: 

However, by that evening, he had called me. (At some point, the night before, he had asked how to spell my last name. I was the only Mayle at KSU that year. M-A-Y-L-E. Holla!)  He had asked me to meet him at a downtown club/bar. (I found out later that he had also invited about 5 other girls he had recently met to the same bar. Arrogant SOB.)  We sucked face a couple of times. And, I didn't think the 'relationship' would really go beyond that night.

He called the next day and invited me on a 'real' date. To a gymnastic team awards banquet. (Matt competed at KSU.)  I agreed to go. Why he asked, and why I agreed to go, neither one of us knows, still today.  Because, trust me, that was all sorts of weird.



Our first 'date'. I actually think he brought the camera,
because his Mom wanted a picture of me.
{Notice my Put-In-Bay and Ray's Place posters in the background.}


I still recall Matt strutting up the street to pick me up at my dorm. My friends and I watched him the whole time out the window, unbeknownst to him.

And... the rest? ... well, that is history. I ended up marrying the most awesome husband and father.

Thankfully, he has left that strut (and all of the other girls he had invited out) behind. A little bit of me will do that to you.