I have a history of making impulsive decisions. Fortunately, it was a huge win when I made the most significant decision of my life in near record time. Decades later, I gained insight into my impulsiveness, but I’ll never regret that fast decision I made on May 9, 1970.

It started when I bought a motorcycle.

It was my first year after graduating from the University of Connecticut in 1969. I was a high school English teacher in a small Connecticut town. I was still learning to be an adult, but I enjoyed working with the students and liked the other English teachers.

But I was antsy. I missed the campus activity and social life. Being an adult was OK, but I was often bored.

I had traded in my dependable VW Beetle the previous fall to buy a red 1970 MGB roadster, so you’d think that would have kept me amused. The MG was a splurge on a new teacher’s salary, but I wanted something more exciting.

I purchased a Suzuki Hustler, a 250cc single-cylinder lightweight motorcycle. The little Hustler was easy to ride, quite fast, and so easy to handle that I only had to look in the direction I wanted to go.

The following Saturday, I rode my new bike to UCONN to show off to friends who were still undergraduates. My buddies couldn’t hang out because they were going to hear a mutual friend’s band at a local club. So they invited me to go with them, but they were taking dates.

One of the guys said he’d call a couple of dorms to see if anyone would agree to go out with me. Fortunately, at the first dorm, a woman named Marge said she’d go if I bought her dinner because she wasn’t on the weekend meal plan.

I took her to Kentucky Fried Chicken.

We had a great evening. When I took Marge back to her dorm, I walked her to the door, kissed her quickly, said “Good night,” and left. I was terrified.

I knew I was impulsive. I knew buying a car in the fall, and a motorcycle in the spring were hasty decisions. I also knew I had fallen entirely for Marge and could ruin any chances I had with her if I told her how I felt after one date.

I couldn’t stop thinking about Marge but was sure I’d scare her away if I came on too strong. So I decided to cool it.

For three days.

That Wednesday, I drove my MG to the UCONN campus and found Marge when she returned to her dorm from class. We went for a long drive. I said what I should have said at the end of our first date. I told her I had a wonderful time, liked her, and hoped we could go out soon.

Fourteen days after our blind date, Marge and I went to a dinner dance at the Sonesta Hotel in Hartford. Then, in a quiet moment, I took her aside and asked her to marry me.

Marge said, “Yes!”

Friends and family thought we were both crazy. My father tried to talk Marge out of getting married so soon because he was sure I was too immature. She didn’t listen.

We were married with both families’ blessings on August 29, 1970. Now, more than 52 years later, I still know that was the best decision of my life. Three children and five grandchildren agree.

What was behind my lifelong impulsiveness? I was diagnosed with Adult ADHD in early November 2016, six weeks before my 70th birthday.

I never regret having ADHD. Without ADHD, I likely would not have purchased that motorcycle and never had our first date.

P.S. Marge has stories about why she agreed to go on a blind date with me that night and how she felt when I dropped her off and left quickly. But those are her stories; she tells them much better than I do.