When I was a teenager I spent my summers on Orchard Beach in the Bronx. My mom and dad worked and we were old enough to take care of ourselves. So many days it was off to the beach. The cool section for teenagers was section 13 and I wanted to be in the cool section.

As I was standing on the beach boardwalk he walked by with a girl on each arm. As they say, he was tall, dark and handsome and I was impressed. Later he left the two girls behind and he approached me. He was in college and I was a sophomore in high school. So it was really cool that a college guy was interested in talking to me.

After that meeting we met again in my neighborhood and started dating. He was my first and only boyfriend.

He was moody but I thought I could “make him happy” Duh!  His moodiness would become worse and he took his unhappiness out on me. But I stuck it out because I continued to think I could fix it. Of course, I was wrong!