Life at 60

Reaching the age of 21 has become a significant node of passage in America, mainly due to this now being the universal age of alcohol purchase emancipation. But in 1979, I had already lived in multiple states as well as Air Force bases where the legal age to purchase alcohol was 18, and had taken full advantage of that access for three years, so this held no huge meaning for me. My 21st birthday was only memorable because of my determination, which was realized, to stay up all night out on the town. At 12:01 am, I went into a bar on the strip in  Biloxi  and ordered a Singapore Sling, then sat in the corner by myself, a state of being that would remain during the rest of the night as I traveled to other bars along the coast, making a meandering jaunt toward Mobile, then back toward the base as the sun began to rise. I remember stopping at the beach feeling enormous waves of loneliness and self pity for my lack of meaningful relationships. Had I known that night of the enorm...

After a few weeks together, Terry flew back to Pennsylvania for a week of vacation. That week, I not coincidentally had three women offer their goodies to me. What is it about someone being technically non-available that turns women on? That question may never be answered. The old Bob would have added three notches on his belt. The new "lost in love" (to quote a title of a popular song of that time) Bob turned each and every opportunity down, though I did try to give them (of whom 2 were in committed relationships) soft landings for their egos. When I drove in Terry's black Mustang to the Mobile airport to pick her up, I saw her flight land just as Firefall's "Love That Got Away" was playing. I took this as a sign that my sexual infatuation was more than that. Pro tip: Some things in life are just coincidence. Terry had broken up with her boyfriend there, so the decks were cleared for us. We decided to move in together, renting an apartment farther from ba...

Moving to this new complex allowed me access to a swimming pool for the first time in forever. I began spending all of my free time there, and despite my lack of melanin my skin began to turn at lest a light hue of brown. Weightlifting, riding a bike which I received from Terry for my birthday and the countless laps in the pool had shaped my body into one that would compare favorably to almost any other fit male. And as a result, the attention from females ramped up. In 1981, we had not an inkling about AIDS, other venereal diseases were something only dirty people got, and the outworking of the sexual revolution was a certain boldness of the part of women when they felt attraction toward men. All of this amounted to  trouble for me, since I had already dipped my toe into the water and now was being pushed into the deep end. I met a guy named Casey whom I hit it off with. He was ex-military as well, along with his roommate, who had in their apartment a prime early 80's aphrodis...