Descriptive Essay - Original Writing

It was a long summer’s evening in Colorado Springs, July 03, 1975. The air was warm and still, radiating through my chest and embracing my tanned arms and legs. Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend” and Rod Stewart’s “Maggie Mae” were spinning on the AM station of my friend Paul’s Earl Schrieb freshly-painted turquoise-blue Karmann Ghia. “When you’re down and troubled, and you need a helping hand…” I felt accomplished to have memorized each song and with a convincing smile confidently sang the works out loud.

Paul closely resembled Jim Croce: dark Italian skin, long chestnut curls, olive eyes, and a handlebar mustache. He had a New York accent, which felt familiar to me, having lived in New York, and both my parents had New York accents. Paul was attentive, taught me how to cast silver jewelry using the lost wax method, and understood my humor. He listened patiently as I explained my situation at home. My mom did not let me out of her sight, and my dad had forbidden me to date Goyim, (non-Jewish boys).
One evening, when I was a young teenager, my dad came to the door of my bedroom and told me he was forbidding me to have shiksa (non-Jewish) girlfriends. I asked “why not?” He said, “because your girl friends have brothers and boyfriends who are goyim.” My dad didn’t want me associating with them because of the danger that I would fall in love and marry one of them. He did not want goyish grandchildren. He explained that he had traced our family tree back to the…