I was just your average teenage girl growing up in the bay area of California in the nineteen sixties.

It was a turbulent time in our country.

There was war, protests, gay rights, and lots of drugs.

My dad was in the military and spent a lot of time abroad.

My mother was a lush and could barely speak two words without slurring them.

When my dad was at home, they were always fighting, and I could not stand my home life, I would go out and do as I please.

I was a top student in high school and a model citizen never looking for trouble or getting into any.

I was a virgin and wanted to stay that way until I met the guy of my dreams.

This all changed in my senior year.

One night in early January I decided to go to a party which I always had stayed away from.

There was plenty of liquor and drugs.

Everyone seemed to be having a good time, and the music by Cream played amongst the strobe and black lights.

Not wanting to be a party pooper, I decided to get in the spirit of the party and try some of the liquor but did not partake in the drugs.

I was having a glass of some of the punch concoction, and then the star quarterback of our football team Bret came over to me and started talking to me.

I could see the jealousy in the other girls' eyes as he was considered the catch of my school.

We went outside by his suggestion to get away from the purple haze and loud music where we could talk. We engaged in some small talk for just a few minutes, and then he leaned in and started kissing me,

As we kissed, he put his hand down my blouse and started fondling my breasts, I pushed his hand away.

He asked, “What’s the problem, Tammy?”

Feeling intimidated, I did not say a word and put his hand back down my blouse.

We stopped kissing, and he took me by the hand to a nearby blanket that was conveniently laid out in a private spot. (I was inexperienced but not stupid I knew precisely what he wanted.)

I thought to myself, is this the guy I have been waiting for to take my virginity.

Being a little high and wanting to experience sex for the first time, I decided to go for it.

He pulled down my panties and pointed to the blanket as he pulled out his cock.

I laid down on the blanket he plunged his cock into my pussy with a quick thrust.

The feeling was of pain, not ecstasy.

He pumped me back and forth, the grimace on my face must have told him that this was not fun for me.

It ended faster than it started, probably not even a minute before he spewed me with his cum.

He got up, kissed me on my forehead, and said, “See you around school sometime.”

I laid there motionless for thirty minutes or more, thinking this is sex?

This is all there is?

I felt so used.

The next school day, I saw Bret in the hallways he saw me and turned and looked away like I was not even there. The disappointment and sadness swept across me like a thunderbolt.

I knew I was nothing more than a one-night stand for him.

I saw a banner on my way home from school on a building that read "Make Love not War."

I then decided that Bret was a user and a loser, and I would find a guy who knew what to do and love me.

Two weeks later, I met what I thought was a nice guy, and he asked me out on a date. The date was no better than the night at the party except I was fed a nice dinner.

We went to his place, and it was the same as the night with Bret, he plunged into my pussy and came within a minute.

I hated to give up on sex, but the thought crossed my mind more than once.

I wanted to know what an orgasm was I wanted to feel loved.

I spent the rest of the year before I graduated in and out of bed with different guys, all being pretty much the same result.

I do not remember when, but I bought an egg timer and set it for five minutes before I had sex, and not one guy could reach that lofty goal.

I then set it for three minutes and the same results.

I was about to enlist in a convent.

The Flying Nun seemed to have a rather good life.

One day after graduation, I went to our local diner to have a hamburger and coke, and there I saw a poster advertising the Monterey Music Festival.

The poster showed bands like the Mama’s and the Papa’s, Jimi Hendrix, Simon and Garfunkel, and The Byrds.

I ate my burger and headed to buy my ticket, and I purchased the best ticket possible for six dollars and fifty cents.

On my way home, I heard on my transistor radio the song by Scott McKenzie San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers In Your Hair). 

I bought a headband with bright, beautiful flowers and a new peasant dress with flowers and psychedelic colors.

My mom hated my new look, and I remember her asking me, "What do you think you are some sort of hippie."

I just blew her off.

The day of the concert arrived.

I was so excited. 

I got there early, and people were camped all over the place. 

The music was unbelievable, I danced to all of it and was having the time of my life.

It was early afternoon, and I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned, and there stood a woman dressed much like me with a flowered headband and a peasant dress, and she said' " Hi, I am April can I dance with you?"

We spent most of the rest of the day dancing and smoking a little weed.

As dusk set in, we grew a little tired from dancing and decided to sit on a blanket.

We talked getting to know one another, and she was three years older than me and had a job in the city working for a large corporation.

I told her why I was alone there and how fed up with sex and guys I had become. How I was thinking of becoming a nun.

A flying nun at that.

“She handed me a joint said, “This will make you fly without becoming a nun.”

She told me, “Tammy, you just have not found the right lover yet."

I looked at her in puzzlement.

She took me by the hand, and we grabbed our blanket and walked back behind a stand of trees. April laid the blanket on the ground as we sat down.

She began kissing me, our tongues became tangled like one.

The Mama’s and the Papa’s were playing California Dreaming as we kissed.

This song will forever mean what a California dream is to me.

I had never been kissed like this before, I felt tingles and those were also foreign to me.

She pulled away and slid down my belly, gently licking me and running her tongue around my navel. She pulled my dress up and slipped off my panties.

I felt her tongue gently caressing my pussy as I became wetter. She flicked my clit with her tongue, and now I knew what the beginning of an orgasm felt like.

She was licking me. It sent shivers through my entire body.

I clinched the blanket with both hands as I came. My moans seemed louder than the music.

She made love to me, and I reached orgasm after orgasm. I never knew such pleasure, and I sure as hell did not need my egg timer.

She popped her head out from underneath my dress and asked, “Have you found the right kind of lover now?”

I got up without uttering a word. 

I put my head below her dress and made love to her as she did me.

Jimi Hendrix was playing Foxy Lady as I did. 

This was all new to me, and April coached me through the art of making love to her.

April and I became best friends and lovers.

*********************************************

We moved in together in the Haight Ashbury district in San Francisco.

We would spend our evenings drinking a little red wine and smoking some reefer.

April went out and bought a massive twenty-one-inch television, and it was even color.

We enjoyed some of the television shows like Twilight Zone and Laugh-In.

April would always say to me, "Sock it to me," which was our code for let's go make love.

I initially found a job as a waitress and eventually was lucky to find a great job working for a large banking firm.

We both had great jobs and loving life. My life and my sexuality had awakened with April.

Our lives together seemed to be perfect. 

The only exception was we had to keep our relationship a secret from our employers as being a lesbian was not looked on favorably.

*************************************************************

The summer of nineteen sixty-nine was the next major event in our lives. 

We heard of this concert in New York at a place called Woodstock.

We knew we had to go and bought ourselves a used VW bus.

We spent a few days painting peace signs and flowers on the bus, and some of our favorite sayings like make love not war, and flower power.

I still cannot remember how we did it, but we were able to get three full weeks off from work so we could go to New York.

We planned our trip, and to make the most of our time, we decided to take turns driving and sleeping in our love bug.

I would drive. April would sleep and vice versa.

We arrived in New York on June twenty-seventh and took in some of the sites. 

New York is a fantastic city, there is so much to see, and it never sleeps.

The next day we read that Greenwich Village had likeminded people, so we went there that night and went to a place called The Stonewall Inn.

We had a few drinks and met some friendly people there. 

We were enjoying ourselves and their company.

The next thing we knew, police came and started dragging everyone out of the bar, it turned to violence in the streets. 

April and I avoided the police and made our way to our love bug.

That night because of what the police did at The Stonewall Inn, it turned into protests, and we joined in the next two days.

These protests turned violent at times it was crazy. 

All this because of gay rights and expressing our love to the same sex, we just could not understand it.

Looking at our van's side, we were reminded of what we painted.

Make love not war.

We decided that is what we should go do make love.

We drove to upstate New York and found a peaceful little lake with some trees.

We stripped naked and jumped in the lake and bathed each other. I washed April's hair.

She washed mine.

I took the bar of Camay soap and made a nice lather as I washed her breasts.

Playfully rubbing her nipples.

We got out and sat on our blanket. I remember April saying to me as she stared into my eyes, "I love you, Tammy."

I took her into my arms and hugged her, and whispered to her, "I love you April."

We kissed and, I gently pushed her down on the blanket.

I started nibbling her ear as my hands caressed her breasts, my fingers pinching her nipples.

Slowly running my tongue between her breasts as I made my way down to her awaiting pussy, her scent filling up the air.

Her moans let me know of the pleasure I was bringing her.

We edged for what seemed like hours mixing our juices together the sensation of her clit against mine left me wanting her even more.

I have never felt this in love, and I enjoyed letting her know it. 

She had orgasm after orgasm.

We spent the rest of that day making love to each other, enjoying our relationship.

We had become one with nature and harmony in our lives.

The days flew by we finally arrived at Woodstock. 

The traffic was backed up for miles, and it took us some time to get there.

Both of us thought that Monterey was unbeatable, and we were so wrong.

The list of bands that played was a who's who of rock and roll. The Who were there along with Creedence, Janis, Canned Heat, just to name a few of the bands.

There were thousands of people there.

We parked our van about a mile away and walked to the concert.

Love filled the air along with the smell of weed.

We danced in the rain as the bands played by day made love as they played at night.

We were so grateful to have our love and each other.

These days and nights never to be forgotten by either of us.

Woodstock would become a historical event we learned later in life.

We got back to Haight Ashbury with just hours to spare before we had to go to work.

It took a couple days to come down from the high that we had been on the past few weeks.

****************************************************

Two weeks after we got back, April came home with some disturbing news.

She was highly regarded by her corporation, and they told her she was being transferred to a job overseas.

The job was a promotion and was going to pay her more money, but it was not an offer more of a take it or leave it.

To this day, we both think they found out about me and that April was a lesbian and their own twisted way thought by sending her away she would change.

We spent the next two days crying and trying to come up with a way for me to go with her.

April left and took the job. 

I was heartbroken.

In the next few years, I would fly overseas to visit her, and she would come to visit me.

All that did was break both our hearts even more.

We often thought we would have a chance to be together again, but something always came up.

Her parents were getting older, and they moved near April.

She needed to stay and take care of them both as they were very frail.

First, her father took ill and passed, and a few years later, in the fall of nineteen eighty-eight, her mother passed.

*******************************

Gay rights in America started turning, and I would march in the gay right parades every year.

I would play San Francisco by Scott Makenzie over and over some nights remembering Monterey and how I met April.

I remembered our time in New York at The Stonewall Inn and Woodstock and the love we shared.

Most nights ended with me crying.

I spent the next decade or so alone.

Occasionally, finding a woman who I thought might replace April, and it never worked.

I even went as far as trying a romance with a couple of guys, but all that did was have me get my egg timer out of retirement.

I became a top-level executive at my company, and so did April.

In the summer of nineteen eighty-nine, I got a call from April asking me how I felt about her and was my love still there.

I think it took me a minute to spit out, "I love you, and I always will."

She then told me, "Tammy, I have missed you so much. My love is so strong for you."

She then told me she was leaving her job and wanted to come home to me and would I have her back.

We bought a house in the bay area and proudly fly the rainbow flag from our home.

We married in January of nineteen ninety. 

This year, we celebrated thirty years of marriage.

Since nineteen ninety, we have marched in every gay pride parade in San Francisco and go to the Gay In at Golden Gate Park.

This year we also marched in the Black Lives Matter peaceful protest.

I still think back to that faithful day at the Monterey music festival and how it all began, and I am so grateful that it did.

My summer of love led to my lifetime of peace, happiness, and love.

On a personal note, I still have the egg timer, but all I use it, for now, are eggs.