Going steady was a thing when I was in high school in Chicago Illinois in the 1970’s. I do not know if it is still a thing, or even if it was thing besides at that school. I never ran into the concept again after this time. My only memory of this is in the ninth grade which puts the age about 13-14 years old.
Going steady was a male driven event at that school. The boy had to ask the girl to go steady. There was no option for a girl to ask a boy to go steady. This offer had to be accompanied by a ring. The ring needed to be a real ring that had actual value – not a dime store piece of junk.
The ring had to be returned if the going steady phase ended. As I recall, a couple of weeks was a long time to go steady, so the same ring often ended up on many fingers of different girls. It was an investment on the part of the boy, and taken seriously. Was your ring a good one? No? Break up with him!
Did no one ever ask you to go steady? Oh dear. You were really a loser. And if you got asked, were you going to say yes? The pressure was excruciating.
The reason I remember the exact year was because I went steady twice in the fall of ninth grade. I was only at that school during that fall, so I remember it very well. I got rings from two different boys, and in my case, only the first one took it back. It was a family heirloom. Getting the ring back was crucially important to this boy.
The second offer to go steady came right after the first. I realized he was not for me within days and tried to return the ring. But he was “in love with me” and refused to take it. The ring was an opal set in 14 karat gold and looked a lot like this one you can get from Amazon for $159.99! I think mine was actually nicer than this.
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Leaving me with the ring did not stop this boy from going steady with another girl within a couple of weeks. I was friends with her and she thanked me for breaking up with him. I never spoke to this boy again. Later they ended up getting married at a very young age. I think they are still married to this day. So apparently going steady sometimes had long lasting results.
As for me, I moved away from that school; and never went steady with anyone again. I held onto that ring for a good twenty more years, but with my nomadic lifestyle, somehow it got away from me after that.
Enter and Win SBI Shares!
This is my entry for the "Share Your World" contest offered by @reonlouw. This week's question is:
Tell us about an interesting/different/unique courtship ritual or wedding ceremony in your country or culture.
I do not know if my story is interesting or unique, but it is the only courtship ritual that came to mind. I was the "fat girl" for most of my life. My small success in going steady was one of few highlights in my dealings with the opposite sex. Most of the time I had my nose in a book and anything else of this type passed me by. I'm pretty sure you can beat me with a story about the courtship traditions in your culture, so please enter this contest too.
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