How I met my guy friend...
By ElicBxn
@ElicBxn (63826)
United States
March 19, 2025 9:11pm CST
I am a science fiction fan. I discovered it through Star Trek, back in the 1960s, but I had pretty much finished all the SF in both my school library and the library branch near my home.
After I was an adult, I was able to go to a few science fiction conventions, mostly media but a few 'straight science fiction' and those who hate media called it then. (I have no idea what they call it these days.)
Then I discovered Doctor Who. My then roommate (RIP) and I started a club for other Who fans. One guy in town organized a couple of conventions with actors from the show as guests. I think I was 33 when I was at this one con.
So... at that time I did not look my age, I had been passing for younger for most of my life. Maybe it didn't help looking younger and, back in school, actually being younger than most of my classmates. So, most of the con was starting to wind down, I was hanging out on the balcony inside the con hotel with this guy we'd never met and some of my friends.
I knew most of these friends for some time. I also knew their general ages, and I knew I had several years on some, who honestly looked older than their ages. I know smoking can do that to a person, but I also knew these girls didn't smoke. The oldest of the group was like 3 years younger, the others were about 4 and 5 years younger.
So, this guy and I were getting to know each other, and he's... not exactly being forthcoming about himself. He points at one friend, the youngest one actually, and says: "I'm older than she is."
And I replied: "But I'm older than you are."
And it repeated with all of them, but I was still saying I was older.
We all got into our cars to go eat dinner and we head out. We find a place, we were close to downtown so finding a place and parking was hard. As we sat around dinner I said something in German.
Do I speak German? No, I got 4 weeks at the high school I left to go to the Catholic school because of bullying, but... my great grandmother was German and a few German phrases had continued to me, not sure about my siblings.
This... this was the breakthrough. The guy, J, looked surprised and said: "Do you speak German?"
I told him that no, I didn't really speak German despite taking 4 weeks. (Those 4 weeks well expanded my functional German, beyond 'Thank you beautifully' and what you say when a person sneezes. I could say 'I'm sorry' and 'That's a shame.')
Then he said that the German teacher at his high school was from Austria.
Now... how many teachers of German in a city the size of Austin in the late '60s and early '70s are going to be Austrian?
So, I said, "Oh, you went to McCallum."
Would you believe... everyone around that end of the table just stopped.
He sputtered. I asked when he graduated. He graduated in 1973. I told him I graduated in '71.
I am almost exactly 18 months older than he is. The reason I was 2 grades ahead of him instead of 1 was because my parents sent me to a private first grade.
I still remind him sometimes...
Honestly, I never wanted to leave Austin, but sometimes it is kind of small. What about you? Do you still live in the town you grew up in? Do you run into people from the town you grew up in? (I was in Nashville, petting the nose of a horse and the girl driving the carriage had been in Austin just before going to Nashville.)
5 people like this
4 responses
@DaddyEvil (144557)
• United States
20 Mar



2 people like this

@DaddyEvil (144557)
• United States
20 Mar
@ElicBxn My mom, before she passed away at 71, still didn't have a lot of grey hair. She had auburn hair, too.
I believe you. Until I started admitting my age, people would guess me ten or so years younger than I really am.
2 people like this
@ElicBxn (63826)
• United States
20 Mar
@DaddyEvil my wife was that way too. I was happy she could pass as younger, I just wished people would have stopped thinking I was her mother!
2 people like this
@DaddyEvil (144557)
• United States
20 Mar
@ElicBxn I understand. People always thought Pretty was my girlfriend or wife instead of seeing our family resemblance and realizing she is my daughter. That always embarrassed me but she thought it was funny. 



1 person likes this

@BarBaraPrz (49092)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
20 Mar
No, the town I grew up in to the age of 12, was swallowed up by Mississauga, and the town I lived in as a teen has changed tremendously, too. And I've lived in many other towns since, including Vancouver and Hamilton which are cities and they too have changed since I lived there. Even the street I'm currently living on has seen residents changing in the past few years.
2 people like this
@kaylachan (76398)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
20 Mar
No. I live in a different city, same state. Haven't run into anyone I know from back home in a good long while, but a lot of my clasmates moved here.
2 people like this
@ElicBxn (63826)
• United States
20 Mar
@kaylachan I think a lot of the blind community here in town is because it is where the blind school is too. I suspect a lot of the ones who left had family back where they came from.
2 people like this
@kaylachan (76398)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
20 Mar
@ElicBxn I went to a school for the blind. So my classmates were from all over the state. Many moved to where I live now, because it's supposed to be more blind friendly.
2 people like this

