Memories of Falling in Love the first time, Puppy Love, Vacationing with High School Buddies . Cocoa Beach Florida, a Love Song
Pic: Monique Merrow, Cocoa Beach, Florida, August 1977
“I have just fallen in love for the first time in my life!” - I guess this is what folks talk about when you can hardly think of anything else other than the one who has touched you in such a miraculous way. Meeting Monique had been that incredible puppy love experience for me.
Sure, it may not be the kind of everlasting love you hear about in prayers, poems and folklore. But something had dramatically changed in me, a high school graduate, immature in many ways of life and clumsily dealing with exterior concerns like pimples.”
That summer, 1977, after graduation from De La Salle (DLS), I took a vacation with 'Yat buddies, David and Scott, to Florida to join Marshall on fun beach adventures and a trek to Disney World - we took my sporty Mercury Capri that was almost as seductive as the Mustangs hoping to lure and chance upon some gals to flirt with on the shores of Florida.
At this age, I was certainly more interested in trying to date but combined with a shy disposition, I had also begun to consider a religious vocation, so I hadn't dated much at all during high school – never went to the proms, etc.
We happened to know the Holy Cross Priests in New Orleans, whom we befriended as they had a House of Studies on Audubon Street near to St. Charles Ave where David and Scott resided. Fr. Ed, my Chaplain at DLS, used to invite us over to socialize with their seminarians, and we enjoyed playing pool on their table.
I used to meet occasionally with some of the Holy Cross Priests to discern about considering a religious vocation, but eventually realized that God was calling me to a vocation as a lay person.
The priests had a Community Residence in Cocoa Beach, so we had made plans to stay there for next to nothing while visiting with Marshall. It just so happened that Marshall's Jewish grandmother was Secretary and Vocations Outreach Coordinator for the Holy Cross priests!
Anyway, Br. Ray was the proprietor for the residence, and he greeted us and in his simple, down to earth way … and we were surprised when he noted to us that he had seen some nice looking girls yesterday on the beach nearby, whom were staying at a hotel nearby.
We all said to Br. Ray, “I thought you had the vows of celibacy!”
Br. Ray deftly noted: “Guys, It's like going to a fancy restaurant … I can look at the menu, but I just can't order!”
During our trip to Florida, we all met Monique and tried our best to impress her. Little did I know that Monique seemed to like me the most, but I was awkward in relating to her in front of my buddies.
On the morning before we left for our return to New Orleans, Monique asked me to come out by the beach while David and Scott overslept a few too many beers from the night before.
Monique and I had a great time talking in private and exchanged some gifts – I gave her a crucifix ring and she gave me a neat seashell with a prayer inside that she'd written for me that I eventually put into a song.
While we never saw each again and mainly corresponded off and on for a few years, that was my first puppy love. And Scott, whom I had dormed with during my first college semester at LSU, used to hear me recall Monique and how I had fallen in love with her.
So while I can never really sing that “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do” Neil Sedaka song about Monique, I did eventually have to give up any hopes to be “Reunited” as the “Peaches & Herb” song goes.
I also used to think that Monique left me “Just When I Needed You Most,” like the Randy Van Warmer song noted, but I finally came to the realization that I needed to grow up.
While I eventually married, Cookie, a dear 'Yat friend whom I had met in college at Xavier University per the Social Work class we both took, it was neat to briefly platonically re-connect with Monique when I was able to find her online per her brother, Curtis, whom I had forwarded the first musical CD I had done with the “Monique's Prayer” song on it.
"The Lord's Peace"/Monique's Prayer
Song by Keith John Paul Horcasitas 1977
Prayer by Monique Merrow
Lord, as I look around, the world is looking for peace
Help us to know that You are our peace
Breathe the spirit of Thy calm into my heart
Lord, help me to believe
That faith is what binds us together
And keeps us at peace with ourselves
And Lord
During times of rush and many duties
Search for me and find me
Bring me
Into Your world
Of quiet and faith, laughter and Love
There is no mystery on this journey to hell. You are witness to the crimes dealing out the death sentences... each justified by one of the seven deadly sins.
Enter a glamorous world controlled by one of San Francisco's ultra-wealthy socialites an
Corporal Travis dreamed of partnering with a police dog, but Fate handed him a faery and something unexpected instead.. As his normal world spirals into chaos, he is thrust into a centuries-old conflict with stakes higher than he ever imagined.
Pic: Monique Merrow, Cocoa Beach, Florida, August 1977
