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Forty years later and I�m still in love with her.
A few weeks ago I had the great pleasure of attending my high school�s 40th year reunion. Tacoma�s Stadium High School�s class of 1965 was a great group back then and remains a great group to revisit. I was looking forward to seeing certain people when someone special that I didn�t expect to see walked into the room and took my breath away. I was mingling with some classmates and laughing about our teenage misadventures when �she� walked into the room. I was totally unable to act casual and conceal my excitement. I gazed in amazement and then ran across the room to throw my arms around her. I can�t begin to express how great she felt and, yes, even how good she smelled. Her warmth and softness brought back memories of our cruising together up and down 6th Avenue, Tacoma�s main cruising strip of concrete. I had spent so many hours snuggled up tight with her in my 1948 Chev as it wandered down the street with its bad front suspension or my 1954 Olds with it�s worn out and burping exhaust system. She kept me warm on cool nights, and being seen with her defiantly raised my status in the local hot rod community.
She looked great but was definitely showing her age; frayed at the edges, a few stains here and there, a few repairs and her original royal blue color a bit faded. I barely noticed; she was as beautiful as the day I met her. �She� was an original Steeds Car Club jacket and she still made my pulse race. She was being worn by my friend Loren Ezell, a past member of the club that, like me, just can�t grow up and stop dwelling on how much fun the Steeds were and how great we all looked in those matching club jackets. Each jacket had our name on the front and the club�s logo on the back; a blown Chrysler Hemi engine with a snorting horse head coming out the front of the engine. It was great remembering when 15 to 20 guys wearing these club jackets got together every Monday for our weekly meeting. Our Steeds jackets weren�t the greaser type that you see in old juvenile delinquent movies; they were a very �Ivy League� style and what you�d expect to see the Kingston Trio wearing. On some occasions we�d even wear white shirts and ties under our jackets.
I tried to talk Loren into selling me his jacket but he, being an ex-Steed & Stadium graduate, and, therefore, having almost a three digit I.Q., was not willing to give up his jacket at any price. I spent the rest of the evening admiring that high school beauty from across the room and dreaming of once again having my own Steeds Car Club jacket to wear.
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