So I bit the bullet and got on Facebook. I’m probably going to do MySpace also so I can pester the 22 year olds! Anyway while seeing who from my past was on Facebook I was amazed to find an old flame from college.
Dave (yes… I know, another David… but I’m swapping him out for the old one) Oberhart was a guy I dated when I was 19… or 20…. honestly I can’t remember! But we were both at the University of Iowa in college. Looking back I can’t remember how we met or what we did on our first date but I do remember the first time we made out.
See, Dave is blind. He lost his eyes to Glaucoma, I think. Lets see if I can remember how he tells it, “Before I knew what parts of a woman were important, so not a big visual memory”. Now that never turned me off about him. Actually I found it intriguing. Things we took for granted he handled differently and how a unique individual lives is fascinating. Hell, identical twins do the same thing to me, intrigue me.
That first night together Dave used a line only a blind man could get away with, “Let me see what you look like.” And he used his fingers to trace my face and then down my body. It was the most erotic experience I’d ever had fully clothed! Of course, with Heather, as soon as you turn her on all reasons NOT to have sex leave the building… so we consummated that relationship right then and there. (I think…. GOD, that was a long time ago!)
Dave had (and still has) a light-hearted sense of humor. His dorm room shared a bathroom with his friend who helped him in little ways to fully function at the University. I learned a lot about the blind community and about an individual who grabbed as much out of life as he could.
After he lost his sight he pushed the limits and began skateboarding in pools (hey it was the 80’s, people! We had less lawyers then.) And when I met him he was a brown belt in Tae Kwan Do. In a fight he’d have to wait to receive the first punch but could aptly defend himself from there after.
Dave was the brave man who let me hold his penis while he peed just so I could experience it. Fascinating to me, with him standing there saying, “Wow, I feel so out of control.”
I learned if you are alone with the seeing-eye dog (Otto)… do not fill his water bowl just because you “think” he’s thirsty. And don’t do it twice or you’ll have to clean up the mess when he pees in the room!
I told Dave he had the same eyes as Eddie Money (he still looks like him judging from the Facebook pix) and his reply was, “Really? Are his eyes glass too?!” He’d often turn to me and ask, “Are my eyes on straight?” Which was hysterical because of the earnest look “in his eyes” and the fact they looked so normal I always forgot they were glass. So are the eyes truly the windows to the soul or is it all those many facial muscles around the eyes that send those expressive feelings out to the world? Mmmmmm?
We had a lot in common back then, Dave and I. We both liked Science Fiction… Star Trek and Sci Fi Books. And when a sequel to a series we both loved came out I tried to read it to him so he wouldn’t have to wait for the audio book. I learned I couldn’t follow a plot while reading out-loud as I paid much too much attention to my inflection and pronunciation!
We broke up because he had an ex (The Klingon, he called her) who was harassing him and I couldn’t handle the drama in his life when he wouldn’t HANDLE the drama. Plus we were young. And the drinking age in Iowa was 19! Off to dancing in the bars!
But now I get to rediscover this fascinating individual, catch up on his life, spread the effervescence that is me all over him… all because of Facebook. Hey I bet a blind man can’t see cellulite! I wonder if he could feel it though? Fun intriguing questions!
Here’s the conversation I had with Eithne…
Me: I went on Facebook and met a guy I dated in college.
Eithne: Oh how sweet! Are you reconnecting?
Me: We exchanged porn stories we wrote.
Eithne: OMG girl! Where is the Romance! Sheesh!
You’d think after a 6 year friendship she’d know me by now!