Girls & couches: I mean, girls and my couches thru the years

This past weekend, I had out my old laptop and was looking at some photos, and at my different sofas thru the years, and girls that sat on those sofas. 

Since I don’t have anything worth blogging about at the moment… let’s take a quick look back.

1. Rebecca and my denim corduroy couch, early 1990s

This is Rebecca, who I went to high school with in the 1970s and worked with in the early 1980s.  We became good friends, and a few years after I left our hometown to find my fortune in the big city, she came up to pay me a visit.

This was my second place in the city, my first “real” apartment with my own furniture and no roommates. 

(Sadly I had to give up this apartment and find a new place when the owner went on the lam for various criminal activities and deserted the property.)

Anyway, It’s been 25 years since I last spoke to Becky, I can’t believe we didn’t keep in touch.  The last I heard, she married a minister and moved to the South.  I hope she’s happy.

 

2. Rossi and the same corduroy couch, circa 1992

 

This is Rossi, who I dated for approximately a year.  She was a doll!  But she had strict rules on how men should behave, and over time it drove me nuts.

Do you remember that Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Kindergarten Cop?   We were at the show, I was laughing my fool head off at those kids in the movie and Rossi nudged me and whispered “Real men don’t find this funny.”  I said “That does it” and got up and walked out. 

(Since we came in her car, it’s not like I left her stranded. I walked 3 miles home.)

She called me the next morning to break up and I asked how the movie ended.  I didn’t hear from her again until 10 years later, when I ran into her at Macy’s.  I asked how she was doing, she said “Unhappy, Doug!  I married someone who’s obsessed with toy trains!  He’s a boy, not a real man!”

3. Skye and that corduroy couch for the last time, circa 1995

Skye worked in my company’s Oakland office (near Pitt University) where the “downtown people” like me frequently visited for weekly staff meetings and such.  She was super-smart and very funny, and we enjoyed making each other laugh.

Skye met her husband Michael a couple years after we dated, became a Bible school teacher (which surprised me greatly) and raised a family. 

Sadly, she died from cancer in 2018. She was only 55.  RIP, Skye.

 

4. New artwork, a new couch & a new girl: Renee and the blue leather couch, 1998-2001

The first time I met Renee was at a dinner party hosted by my boss Kathy G (who was friends with Renee at the time).  I had a little too much to drink, and was doing celebrity impersonations of people like George Costanza & Tonya Harding for Kathy’s guests.  The following Monday, Kathy said “Doug!  my friend Renee is crazy about you!”   Uh-oh!

 

(I wasn’t too keen on dating my boss’ best friend, but agreed to meet her for dinner.  When the check came and I insisted on paying, Renee crumpled it into a ball and put it in her mouth.  Craziest thing I ever saw and I liked crazy.)

We wound up dating almost 3 years, but ultimately parted on good terms.  We just didn’t have enough in common to pursue something longer lasting.  I’ll always have fond memories of Renee and wish I could’ve been more her type. 

(And I sold the leather sofa to my middle sister Donda in 2001.) 

5.  Saving the best girl (and best couch) for last:  my niece Sophia and one giant dark green sofa, 2010

 

This dark green sofa came along in 2001.  The little girl (my 5 year old niece at the time) came along a few years later, in 2004. 

Sadly, the couch is gone.  I practically lived on it for 17 years and wore out the frame and tossed it out in 2017.  As for this 5 year old munchkin, she’s now 5’9” and almost 18l!

But I’ll always have fond memories of both.