L for LOVE

I have been in 'Love' so many times (or so I thought) that a friend of mine told me that 'I wore my heart on my sleeve'. She was probably right although, I didn't agree with her at the time! My first teenage love was a boy called Tony, we used to meet most nights and ride our bikes around the neighbourhood, generally Laughing and doing the things teenagers did in the sixties. Sadly my parents and his totally disapproved of this romance because we were of different religions. I was Church of England and he was Roman Catholic, the more they protested the more determined I was to see him.

Boy Soldier who went on to become Regimental Sergeant Major

  One day, we were sitting by the lake in a local park, my beau turned to me and told me he loved me and wanted to marry me but also, that day, he had enlisted in the British Army. He wanted to build a career by going through the ranks and hopefully, gain a commission. Then, when the time came we would marry and I would become an army wife. I didn't think  much about marriage then as I was too young, aged 14 and still at school. He asked me if I would wait for him and of course, I said yes, so off he went to training camp which was based in Germany. He came home on leave and I felt very proud of him, he looked so handsome in his uniform; The  only downside was that his lovely blonde curls had been cut off into a regulation short back and sides.

Sadly, as we both matured it seemed that we had little in common and drifted apart. I started a new career in a major city bank, and he married a girl who was also in the army.

He was based in several places but scarily, was in Northern Ireland, at the time of the IRA uprising;

 I found out that he had been badly injured in a booby trap bomb and sadly for him he was pensioned out of the job he loved so much, serving his Queen and country.He did recover quite well from his injuries and went on to having a successful career helping wounded servicemen into rehabilitation.

 I must say that whenever I see a man in a military uniform my heart flutters a little and my mind wanders back to when I was, 'just a teenager in Love'. 

A poem about Love by the America writer

Mary Angelou;  It's called 'Touched by an Angel'.

We, unaccustomed to courage

excites from delight lives coiled in shells of loneliness

until Love leaves its high holy temple

 and comes into our sight

to liberate us into life

Love arrives

 and in its train comes ecstasies

old memories of pleasure

ancient histories of pleasure

Yet if we are bold Love strikes away the chains of fear

from our souls

We are weaned from our timidity

In the flush of Love's light
We dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that Love costs all we are
and will ever be
Yet it is only Love
Which sets us free.

My sincere thanks to the   Lovely Denise for devising ABCW thus giving so much pleasure to many and also Roger the Lexicographer for doing what he does, ably assisted by Leslie who Lightens the work load.
Finally the band of Lively helpers who assist with the visits and encourage new contributors to keep on writing on ABCW.
Kind regards to all,
Di,
abcw team.