(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It's Friday when we hear from StoryCorps. I got some tissues ready. Have you got your tissues ready? Because we have a love story that started in elementary school. Leslie and Alan Burger met as kids in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in the 1960s. But as Leslie told Alan, sometimes he could be hard to love.
LESLIE BURGER: Do you remember the first time you kissed me?
ALAN BURGER: Yeah. In the sewer pipe.
L BURGER: Not filled with sewage.
A BURGER: Yeah. It was still above ground.
L BURGER: I don't know if you were really serious about that kiss as much as you just wanted to tell your friends, but...
A BURGER: I never kissed and told.
L BURGER: OK. Good.
A BURGER: Why? Did you?
L BURGER: Well, I told my mother that I kissed you. I said, I think I'm going to marry him. And I was 12 years old.
A BURGER: Well, it's OK to make a big mistake like that.
L BURGER: Yes. Poor judgment. But I remember when you gave me that wonderful birthday present. It was a beautifully wrapped box, and I was very excited because we had had the kiss...
A BURGER: (Laughter).
L BURGER: ...And I thought this was, like, really progressing. And I unwrapped it carefully and opened the box. And there in the box was this snake that was wriggling and scared the hell out of me.
A BURGER: Yeah. It may have been one of my snakes I had to get rid of 'cause it bit my little brother.
L BURGER: Oh, so why not give it to your soon-to-be girlfriend?
A BURGER: Yeah.
L BURGER: Another wonderful gift you gave me - you came up to me very serious and perhaps...
A BURGER: Really?
L BURGER: ...To give me a kiss. And then you took a bunch of eggs and smashed them on my head. I had these disgusting eggs dripping down my face. I must have looked like an omelet.
A BURGER: (Laughter).
L BURGER: But I stayed with you anyway.
A BURGER: You did.
L BURGER: I think once I decided that you were going to be my boyfriend, whether you liked it or not...
A BURGER: Yeah.
L BURGER: ...I was going to persist.
A BURGER: That's probably true. I did those stupid things to you because you were the prettiest girl in the neighborhood, but a lot of other boys were interested in you. So, how do you stand out? And those things may have been...
L BURGER: Obnoxious?
A BURGER: Yeah.
L BURGER: But I would always forgive you because despite all the mean things you might have done to me, in my mind, those were always acts of love.
A BURGER: So it worked.
L BURGER: It did work. And the good news is you grew out of that phase.
A BURGER: I mean, by high school, things changed quite a bit. The '60s were difficult years. Nonstop chaos. Nonstop war. And you and I realized that we could be each other's anchor.
L BURGER: Yeah. Even though you were still a little nuts. But...
A BURGER: (Laughter).
L BURGER: ...I don't know if I could have had that with anybody else.
A BURGER: I think that's why you're so special.
L BURGER: And your ability to make others feel loved is pretty special.
A BURGER: Thanks.
L BURGER: Thanks for always supporting me.
A BURGER: Of course. With a snake and an egg.
(SOUNDBITE OF KAPTAIN & JULIEN VEGA'S "ON THE ROCKING CHAIR")
INSKEEP: Leslie and Alan Burger for StoryCorps in New York City. They've been married more than 50 years, and their interview is archived at the Library of Congress. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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