Dawn Portman

Chapter III:  

Dawn Portman

The light bulb went off in my head.  DAWN!!  Boy, why didn't I think of her sooner?  Dawn Portman and I had been friends for about 3 years, but it had been a while since I had heard from her.  She had graduated a year before I did back in 1997 from Milford High School in Milford, MI.  We were both 19.  When I thought about asking her, I smiled.  Dawn was someone that I knew I'd have a good time with.  Someone who I could trust without a shadow of a doubt.  It was like an angel was on my shoulder and whispered her name into my ear.

I had met Dawn through Lonny, who was my neighborhood friend.  Lonny's Mom worked with Dawn at McDonald's in Milford and I remember it was in the Spring of '95, or late winter.  Melissa and I were together at the time, but he wanted me to come along to grab a bite to eat with him and his Mom.

I remember introducing myself and thinking Dawn was cute and seemed very nice.  We got to talking, but I have no clue what we talked about.  Lonny kept teasing me on the way home and asked me over and over again.

"So, did you like her?  Did you like her?"

My reply was.

"Yes, Lonny, she seemed very nice."

Lonny continued.

"You think she's cute, don't you?"

Little known fact.  Lonny was 10 years old at the time, so you can imagine a 10 year old bugging and questioning a 16 year old over and over again about liking some girl.

I caved in.

"Yes Lonny, she's cute.  But I'm already in a relationship and I'm happy with Melissa."

Little did I know then, until this past year, Dawn and I actually knew each other in 6th grade yearbook class.  It was my first year in Highland Middle School in Highland, MI and she was in the 7th grade.  We had to of known each other then, because we were standing next to each other in our yearbook class photo (below).  None of the students are in alphabetical order.  It took me 18 years to remember this, but as I was looking through my old middle school yearbooks several months ago, and saw our yearbook class photo, I thought.

"I can't believe this!  I knew Dawn back in 1991, four years before we'd actually meet."

CONTINUE. . . 

'Angel Eyes"
By The Jeff Healey Band
Year: 1988
One of my top 10 favorite slow songs