My Teenage Sonata - A Love Story

By Christine G. King

A song that is sung by Sam Cooke takes me back over 50 years ago to my first love. A handsome young man who even gave me a picture of himself and on the back he wrote, "I pray that we would not forget each other for our whole lifetime." In the song, it says about a lifetime remembering each other. Today 50 years later, I still sometimes wonder how different my life would have been if I had not broken up with him.

I did it because his sister-in-law told me he wanted to be intimate with me when I turned 16. I was upset because I had plans to finish high school, being the first one in my family to graduate. I did graduate high school and went to work and married another handsome young man who I met as a young teenager.

Through the years I kept in touch with my first love's mother. A few years ago his mother took sick, and I would visit her. She was a beautiful person.

My first love had also married and lives in another state. While his mother was ill, he came home for a visit to see her. I did get to see him and I was able to share the reason I broke off with him. It was a blessing just to talk to him. For now I wish life’s best for him, his wife and family. I pray through the years for happiness for them; yet I remember my true first love, my teenage sonata.

This is the second in our series of weekly love stories throughout the month of February.