Birdie with a prom date. This is the only remaining "date" photo to be found in the Martin & Clark archives! We found this one tucked in Birdie's baby picture book.
REBECCA –
Sometimes people ask: "Did you ever take time to date?" Oh, yes! We were typical, crazy-about-guys high school and college girls; although we had very different preferences when it came to guys. Birdie went more for substance. I went more for the heart of the matter – looks.
BIRDIE –
You make it sound like my dates were ugly!
REBECCA –
No! That’s not what I mean. Your dates were always cute, although, I will have to say that there was one who I thought was borderline ugly.
BIRDIE –
He was a friend!
REBECCA –
He asked you to marry him!
BIRDIE –
But I said no.
Talk about your dates. I remember one who kept bringing you violets from his grandmother. Violets everywhere!
REBECCA –
He was so precious!
BIRDIE –
I don’t remember his name. I called him Bambi because his eyes looked just like the Bambi in a book I had as a child.
REBECCA –
Every violet he brought me died. I can’t remember his name either because for all these years you’ve called him Bambi!
BIRDIE –
Then there was fraternity man ...
REBECCA –
Yeah, rack that up to a bad experience. He flunked out of school. ... But, he was very cute!
Then there was the dentist-to-be who you dated!
You could have married a doctor! Then I could have been your best friend, and we could have met for lunch, and had our nails done, and you could have paid!
BIRDIE –
I think about him every time I have to pay the dentist!
REBECCA –
Birdie wore flat shoes on dates with him so she wouldn’t be taller. There was another girl in the dorm that was crazy about him. She was so mad when he called and asked Birdie out.
I vividly remember Birdie’s first date with him. You know how college girls used to have this thing about cutting each other’s hair? Well, Suetta, a hall mate, cut and “fixed” Birdie’s beautiful long hair before that date. She darn near destroyed her! (See Chapter Three for the photo!)
BIRDIE –
She ruined me! And when you saw it you said: “Wow, that looks great!” You sent me out with hair like that!
REBECCA –
What was I going to say? “Run! Put your head in a barrel! You can’t go out looking like that!” That would have been a real confidence-builder! Anyway, that relationship survived even the hair.
BIRDIE –
Things went downhill (literally) when he reached down to pick something up while he was driving, and drove the car we were in over an embankment.
BIRDIE –
Then there was the guy we both fell in love with!
REBECCA –
Ahhhh .... Mr. Atlas!
BIRDIE –
He really was Mr. Atlas! The Greeks named him Mr. Atlas for the University. He was movie-star handsome, so, no one really cared if he was smart. He was in my bowling class.
Then Rebecca transferred to my bowling class ...
REBECCA –
You make it sound like I came because of him! The school merged the two classes.
BIRDIE –
How long did it take him to ask you out?
REBECCA –
He asked me out after class but ....
BIRDIE –
I rest my case.
REBECCA –
He wasn’t tall enough for you.
BIRDIE –
It gets better ... or worse - depends on which side of the story you are on. When he came to pick her up for the date – he was driving a brand new, sparkling clean, shiny white corvette! Can you imagine the insurance cost for that college boy to drive a new white corvette?
REBECCA –
It waaaas pretty.
BIRDIE –
There were others.
I didn’t have a record of selecting daddy-approved guys. He would eventually say: “Don’t you think it’s about time you break it off with that ole’ boy?” .... I guess he told me that one too many times!
REBECCA –
When I was little, I had been sick for about two weeks. My daddy was beside the recliner singing to me “Daddy’s Little Girl." He said: “One day you’re going to grow up and some boy will come along and you won’t be daddy’s little girl anymore.” I said: “Not me, daddy.”
BIRDIE –
Not blaming our daddies! Ha! Joking aside – we both dated a lot of wonderful guys. Along the way, either of us could have settled down and lived normal, happily-ever-after lives ... I guess.
REBECCA –
I think that would have been easier ... maybe ... it depends ... well, maybe not. Who knows?
BIRDIE –
Somewhere along the way, a sense-of-mission began to compel us and, well ...
REBECCA –
We just got too busy and too old!