Page 77 - Philly Girl

Philly Girl 61

Two Jesses

When I first met Dennis, I realized that we had very differ-
ent styles of communication. He was reserved. He thought
before he spoke. He was contemplative and quiet. He was
oriented in logic. He was cautious. But I was none of those
things. I was impulsive. I blurted out my thoughts. I was
creative and silly. I was steered by my emotions. My words
were two steps ahead of my thoughts, thoughts that were
often outside the box to begin with.
Our conversations needed a lot of tweaking. For two
years, we struggled with a series of verbal misunderstand-
ings between us. A profound physical connection kept us
together, but ultimately (but not ultimately!) we split up. It
was not amicable.
I moved on. My conclusion at the time was that I needed
a Jewish man (which Dennis was not). My expectation was
that a Jewish man would “get” me in some way that, at the
time, I felt Dennis did not. My post-Dennis dating life
became only Jewish men need apply, and they must under-
stand the “blurt.” I sought a fast talker, a fast thinker, some-
one who could keep up with me in that area. My vision quest
in San Francisco led me to one Jewish man after other, but
the best of the group was a 19-year old man named Jesse.
I was 30 at the time. But I don’t think we ever discussed
our ages. He worked at my local fruit and vegetable stand,
and he knew how to pick the perfectly ripe banana. He had
just returned from a year on a kibbutz in Israel—how Jewish
is that?—and before that he had lived in London. A mother