My First Purple Rain. A Love Story.

One of my earliest most memorable memories was when I was about 10-yrs old at a sleep away camp. One day, while playing on the swings, a girl about my height..caught my eye..and I just had to go over and be next to her. As I came within earshot, I heard her voice whisper something sweet with an accent I’ve never heard before ( it was British as I soon discovered ) Cupid hit me hard.

A few days went by, and I soon discovered that the whole camp was going on a day trip into town to see a very special movie. That night I thought to myself, this was my chance to ‘ask her out’..since I heard that was what the grown up kids did…and this was my one and only chance to experience my ground-breaking moment of adulthood.

The following morning I grabbed my week’s worth of “canteen” money..found her playing on the slide..took a big gulp..and asked her if she would watch the movie with me. She replied in her royal British tone “But of course.. sounds smashing!”. I was smiling ear to ear. Shortly after, we were all escorted onto our yellow school buses that would whisk us away to a small main street that had a tiny movie theater playing two films. All the kids our age got off first and were given tickets to go see the muppet movie on the left.. while the older kids and counselor got tickets to see some sensational ‘adult’ movie on the right.

As we went in together holding hands, I asked my counselor if I could buy some candy first. He looked at both of us and knew it was a special day for me. He nodded with a smile.. then told us to just go find a seat through ‘those doors on the left’. He then left briskly not to miss the previews of the other film everyone seemed to be really talking about.

So there I was left standing.. British girlfriend in one hand, m&m’s in the other.. I suddenly had a wave of joy come over me. This was my moment to grab life by the balls, and live a little. I turned and looked at her ( sparkle in my eye ) and pulled her into the doors on the right.. we found our seats and were giddy with anticipation..

That afternoon we watched Purple Rain.
That afternoon we learned what love was.
‪#‎RIPPrince‬