You would have to say that I'm attracted to bleached blondes with glasses named Nancy. Actually, both this Nancy and Nancy Ludwig had abandoned their glasses for contacts.
This would have to rank as one of the strangest relationships I have ever been in and is probably the result of having been infatuated with Nancy Ludwig.
Here's the story: During my last years at Northeastern and my years at Picker, one of my fascinations was Ancient History (actually it still is, but not to such a great extent). It started with an urge to figure out what Alexander the Great really did. Conquer the World? Not quite, but that's not part of this story.
I read everything I could beg, borrow or buy about ATG (Alexander the Great). I don't want to bore anyone with the complete list of what I read, but most of what I read followed the general 'party' line that he was a military genius. Until I read an article by Badian whose premise was that Philip II, ATG's father, created a precision military machine complete with expert generals and all ATG had to do was point it and shoot. That kinda got my ire up.
With this in mind, I talked to a professor at Yale (retired actually) that I knew through my mother (who did 'under-the-table' housework for them). He put me in contact with the Ancient History Department at Yale. There ensued a few weeks of me running in and out of the department, borrowing books and even once giving an evening lecture on the Battle of Guagamela (That was the closest village, Arbela was a larger city but nearly 30 miles away from the scene of the battle). There was a cute blonde as a secretary in the department. I talked to her whenever I was by there, but, frankly, she was too beautiful and, I thought, out of my league. Her name was Nancy Wesphal.
I'll have to preface here that in all that time, she was always at her desk typing (remember this was pre-computer days).
Then came that fateful Thursday where I dropped off a book and was going down the corner for lunch before heading all the way back to North Haven to work. On a lark, I told Nancy was was going down the corner for lunch and did she want to come along. As used to I was with outright failure, I didn't expect anything. However, this cute lady just held up a finger, finished what she was typing (she was damn fast at typing) grabbed her pocketbook out from under the desk and stood up. In her heels, she was just about an inch taller than me. I *think* I said something brilliant like 'nice heels', causing Nancy to laugh.
Nancy was a delight at lunch. I always liked talking to her and somehow she got me babbling. Just envision a blue-eyed blonde with a cute nose and full lips smiling at you. Yeah, like that. She laughed at the right jokes and even seemed interested in me. Then I got myself in deep with making a remark about possibly asking her out. At which point she just shrugged and said, "You'll just have to try." Which was a good indication of her sense of humor. And I did ask her out and we had a date for Saturday.
I was a basket-case, so would you if you were going on a date with a supermodel. However, it was a wonderful date. I have to admit when you go out with someone who wants to go out with you, the experience is great. You know what I mean. I forgot the movie we went to see, I *think* it was Jabberwocky, had dinner before and a couple of drinks afterwards. Then I started to sweat as I took her home. I was worried--should I try to kiss her? How should I kiss her? What do I say? To be honest, I was head over heels over her already. This wonderful lady already had in mind what was going to happen. She lived near Yale, so there was very little parking around. I assumed I'd double park, get a quick peck on the lips and she'd get out. When we got to her street she told me to drive a couple of blocks away because 'there's always parking there.' I walked her to her apartment where she gave me a quick kiss and invited me up. I stayed the night.
Then began a 5 year relationship that was strange to say the least. At times we'd be inseparable, other times not see each other for weeks. Once I actually asked her to marry me and, I didn't really get an answer. Things fell apart when she went to the University of Montreal to pursue her advanced degree. We each visited the other a couple of times, then I met my current wife. I called Nancy in Montreal to break her the news. Then I discarded all the pictures I had of her. No reason to keep them.
To end this, just one quick 'Nancy' story. I know the truth of this because although the encounter was random, I also knew the guy she put down.
Nancy went to the local Auto Parts store to pick up an oil filter for me. While in line, this guy, one of those typical over-confident slimeball types, tried to pick her up. Now you know how tall she was. She towered even more over this guy. "I don't go out with guys who aren't all grown up," she remarked. The doofuss replied, "But I am all grown up!" At which point, the beautiful blonde looked him up and down and said, "Not all of you." and walked away.
I guess to this day, I *really* didn't know Nancy past what she wanted me to know. Or maybe it was just that didn't understand how she felt and what she thought. It was wonderful dating her and I wish her all the best.