Doubletakes and Milkshakes

When you live out state from Detroit it is possible to be left with the impression that it is one really rough place.  In the era of my first date with Deb it was really rough because Detroit had gone through some rough times. Recent race riots, title of murder capital of the world and some pretty strange politicians would leave a young person like myself to think a little about all of that as I drove to meet what would be my bride. As far as I knew I thought of her as living in Detroit but I noticed on the directions I had to go through Detroit and end up in a place called Grosse Point Park.  I remember as I was driving on US10 (the ditches) I might just open the window and see if by chance I could hear some gunshots.  A testimony to a naive young man.  I thought better of opening a window because a stray bullet could get me and I was kind of looking forward to this date with this Tiger fan I was looking forward to meeting again now for the last three weeks.

The directions said to turn off of I-94 on to Chalmers, Go right to Jefferson, then left to Bedford.  Chalmers was one of the sadder streets in Detroit. Every other house with the windows out. Some burnouts and some other reasons for me to have my eyes wide open as I drove the 2 miles on Chalmers.  I started to just hope that this girl I was driving to meet had one of the houses with windows. A striking thing after I turned on to Jefferson was that in a moment things changed and in front of me were rows and rows of some of the coolest houses,  older designs, leaded glass windows, curved sidewalks and stately brick homes I had ever seen. I turned on to Bedford found the address, nervously parked my car in the drive and pushed my finger on a bell that chimed in a way that I had only seen on Leave it to Beaver.  The door was answered by a nice looking teenager who asked me to come in.  I said "hi Deb", you ready to go to the game.  She said she would but her name was not Deb it was Kris.  Deb was sitting next to her father in living room so I could go ahead and come in and meet the family.  Oh that is just great news I thought.  My heart by this time was going at a high rate.  I am not going to tell about her Dad now. That will come later.  I am going to tell you about a the third man on the couch.  His name was Frank and the Vermeulen family had worked together to help restore him from a troubled life laden with about every problem you could have.  To this day I think this is one of the reasons that people love my wife. She has extended her hand to anyone and everyone who has a need. And I still rememeber this Frank sitting on the couch.  I think we learn most things from our families and Frank still sticks in my mind as  a symbol of the foundation of this spirit that resides in my wife.

So by now my afternoon was filled with doubletakes.  I had not been shot, her house had windows, her family seemed caring and by now I had noticed that in the past few years things had improved as they say in the" looks" department.  In a short time we were in the car and headed to the Tiger game.

I could pretty much tell by ride to the end of her street that things had a nice chance.  It seemed that this girl had the confidence and wit to stay up with about any situation with which she may be confronted.  She told me to park my new car in front of an old apartment building near Tiger Stadium.  A little kid offered to watch the car for a "dolla". Deb advised me that if we did not want to take the bus home to give the kid his money and when we got out of the game he and the car were still there. I could not beleive it. 

So I end with milkshakes.  After puchasing tickets from a guy on the street we settled in to some seats in the left field upper deck.  I thought there might be some nice conversation but instead there seemed to be more attention being paid to the game.  I rememeber her saying at one point it would be a good time for a squeeze play and sure enough Ralph  Houk, the Detroit manager called that play.  In about the third inning I asked if there was anything she would like from the concession stand and she said she would like a milkshake.  I came back to the seat  a moment later and told her they did not have milkshakes.  She said then to get the only thing they had that looked like a milkshake. I went back up and as far as I could tell the only thing that even resembled a milkshake was this stuff they were pouring and when they were done it had a milky looking foam on the top.  I asked the guy for two milkshakes. He poured a 16 and a 32 ounce.  I brought those full glasses down to the seats and to my great surprise she grabbed the 32 ounce size.  It was at first a surprise to me that he would poor them in a cup that had Stroh's on the side.  But as I sat there in the warm  night and after we were about half way done with those milkshakes the sense that this realtionship was going someplace I think came over us both.  She leaned over in the 7th and wispered in my ear "I like a guy who knows how to order a good milkshake".  To this day she has never told me if those beers were what she really wanted.  At least that way I would have to take credit for the sin.  I think Stroh's has gone out of business but we are still in business some 39 years after this first date.

We had such a good time that night we decided to go out again.  I said " how about tomorrow night?' but she said she would not be available for another couple of weeks. Smart girls always work this way. As interesting as our first date was the second one could be recorded in history and the strangest date of all time.  Tell you about that next time.   

Stan the Man