April 15, 2014
Basically it has been all downhill since Abraham Lincoln died. Some declare that it was the John F. Kennedy assassination, but for me, it’s Lincoln’s death that has caused me a great deal of depression and regret. Which is strange, because surely I wasn’t even alive when Lincoln died, but still, sentiment is sentiment and it’s hard to lose that feeling of disappointment. Friends (the few I have) have commented that I’m such a sad boy, but in actuality I do find enjoyment in the little things in life, for instance I think back to my first real love, Lita.
We were briefly married, but it didn’t last long. Mostly due that we didn’t share any interests, besides the sex. When I married her, I was 35, and she was 16. It caused a scandal at the time within our social world, but in my point of view, love is love, and it is really no one else’s business besides ours. But alas, in our world, we don’t maintain on love alone. When I first met her she was employed in the May Company make-up counter, and at the time, I was very much into the new romantic look, so I would shop for my make-up there. The look I was going for was the Charlie Chaplin’s ‘Tramp’ look. I didn’t have the mustache, but I did purchase this old suit and I carried a walking stick with me at all times. When I walked around the make-up section, I felt like Alex from “A Clockwork Orange, ” with my cane resting on my shoulders as I peacefully paced around the area.
Lita showed me eye make-up, and when she got around the counter to my side of the world, I felt a charge when she applied the eye liner around my eyes. I grabbed her hand and then asked her if she would go on a date with me. She said yes, and I swear to God, I didn’t know her age at the time. Her ability to wear make-up totally made her look older than her actual age, but still, my history shows that this is not the case.
I have not previously been comfortable with women within my age bracket. I’m not sure why? I think it may have to do with the way young people look at the world. Some are sad, and most naively so. But for me the depression at my age is quite crippling, and this is one of the reasons why I was attracted to the presence of men wearing make-up. I wanted to disguise my aging, or at the very least, have the ability to laugh at the cruelty of the aging process. In my twenties, I never even thought about it, but once I reached thirty, it became a huge concern of mine. Younger girls always were attracted to me, and it may be due to my interest in their culture. But who knows? I never seriously considered ‘why’ they would be interested in me. I was only grateful that I got the attention that I desperately needed.
When we got married in Mexico I was concerned what her parents would think, but it seemed at the time that my new bride could care less what they thought, and that made me happy at that specific time. Nevertheless, time caught up with us, and we realize that perhaps the marriage was a mistake. I remember taking her to the Egptian theater to see Chaplin’s “Gold Rush, ” which by the way, has always been a favorite of mine. Since childhood, when I saw this film on a morning TV show, I developed a crush on his leading lady at the time. It never left me that feeling, and it was after the screening that I told Lita that it is perhaps best for us to obtain a divorce.
As I sit down trying to work on a book about Lincoln, I am thinking back about our marriage, which surprises me that I don’t even have a photograph of Lita or any of the possessions that we or I owned at the time. I gave her everything, and once the papers were signed I never saw her again. As with the make-up, I still add a little rouge here and there, and in the night, once in bed, I do think of my health, or lack of it, as time marches on.
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