My First Crush

He was a little cutie. I was an awkward little girl with a shy nature and a big imagination.

I remember the first time I ever saw him. He was in my homeroom and my second-grade reading class. I remember thinking how cool he was, how he would actually talk to me, play with me in the sandbox, how he would offer me a cookie from his lunch pail.

Valentine's Day was a very important event in elementary school. We would make mailboxes out of shoeboxes and decorate them with shiny red heart stickers and crayons. Then we would fill them with candy, stickers, and cards with cartoon characters on them. I put lots of hearts on mine--crayon drawings, construction paper, and stickers of all kinds. I think I even stuck some glitter on there.

I was especially proud of my cards that year. They had Care Bears on them. I wrote my name on all of mine myself. I was so proud of them.

The day of the party arrived. I put a card in each of the boxes (we made cards for ALL of our classmates, not just our friends, so that no one would have an empty box). My little boyfriend opened his card from me. It was a cute one with Sleepy Bear on it. I don't remember what it said, though.

I wished him a Happy Valentines day and kissed his cheek. Then I blushed as red as a beet.

He seemed to like it, though. For the rest of that year, we remained friends (as only second graders can).

Well, we grew up and moved on. But I have never forgotten him. Our senior year, we exchanged senior pictures.

Those were the days, my friends.