Crossing Bayou Teche
A Memoir by Melanie Grossman
A Catholic School girl from a rural town in the heart of Cajun Country meets a young man who serendipitously travels through St. Martinville, the small town along the Bayou Teche (rhymes with fresh) where she grew up. This area is part of French Louisiana with its traditions, cuisine, music, and way of life. He is on a road trip with a friend, on their way to California in search of unspoiled and authentic America. They are college students from the East Coast, and he is studying to be a doctor. She is 17. Thus begins their love story encompassing an interfaith relationship, vastly different cultures, and a lifelong adventure, including an elopement, travels to India with the Peace Corps, navigating the world of academic medicine in Boston at Harvard’s competitive teaching hospitals, and other lifestyle and cultural challenges.
01
Chapter 01
I Met A Cute Boy Today
June 22 1960
Dear Diary – Today I met a very cute boy at the swimming pool. His name is Bill. He and his friend Michael are juniors in college and they are traveling around the country this summer. He’s from New York, and he’s Jewish!
The stranger walked out of the men’s bathhouse. He was tall, blond, and muscular. When he saw me at the other end of the public swimming pool, his look was one of startled recognition, though I had never seen him before. He walked with purpose to the edge of the pool, flashed me a smile, and in one decisive movement, dove into the water. He tore across the full length of the 25-yard pool with a smooth and practiced stroke, one that I had never seen in my 17 years of life…
