My first BIG crush was a guy named Dan. He was a counselor and I fell for him on the bus on the way to summer camp. He stood up to give a welcome speech and suddenly I was a twelve year old in love. It must have been a great speech because within minutes I knew he was smart, strong, kind, funny and in my eyes fascinating.
However, when said his last name I was shocked to discover I already knew his brother Ted...his brother and my brother had been classmates in college. Ted was not like Dan. Ted made fun of me. Ted was annoying. He was not cute, kind or fascinating...at least from my twelve year old perspective and I just couldn't believe the two of them could possibly be related. And the mystery of that made Dan even more interesting.
I spent most of my time at camp shadowing the counselors...specifically Dan and Robert. Robert had also been a classmate of my brothers, and was equally as cute as Dan but I had met him when I was five and was no longer in awe. I have to say I took advantage of Robert's presence because I was completely comfortable talking and joking with him. I could barely communicate with Dan because the minute he made eye contact I was tongue-tied. I wanted Dan to think I was cool and I had no idea how to impress him. It was my first summer camp and my first big crush.
Dan didn't break my heart. A later crush did that damage. He was just the first one who made it skip a beat and started that romantic dream...some day I'm going to marry a guy just like him. Thirty years later I have no idea what became of Dan. I know that he married. I remember meeting his wife when I was 14 and pretending not to be jealous that she got to him before I had the chance to grow up. Robert and I both grew up and became good friends and he has a wonderful wife and a beautiful family.
I'm still single. I've had quite a few crushes since then. Smart, strong, kind, funny, fascinating guys still make my heart skip a beat and one day I'm going to marry someone like that. I still get tongue-tied when I fall in love and my friends think that's hilarious because they usually can't shut me up. When I was twelve I was full of hopes and dreams with no idea where they might take me...what do you know...I haven't changed at all.
Dare I say it? It dates me terribly. My first crush was on movie star, Tex Ritter (yes, John's dad). We used to have free movies in the little village where we lived, projected on the outside wall of a store, and Tex was the star in many of them. He had a girlfriend (never romantic, just a friend - who probably loved him, but they never kissed in the sunset) named Helen. I had never heard the name before - hey, I was 5. But I thought that was the most beautiful name in the world. Until we moved to another town where there was a mean little girl named Helen!
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