Mad About Boys

I fell in love for the first time in first grade. His name was Robert, same name as my biological father. It was his name that drew me to him, but he wasn't keen on me and asked the teacher to move him away from me because I was harassing him. If you call aggressive pressure to get him to kiss me "harassing" then I guess he chose the right verb.  This unrequited love for Robert at age seven was my first "Nah! Not interested" but it wouldn't be my last.

I have always been mad about boys, but for the first eighteen years of my life, not one boy was mad about me. The inattention and indifference I received from the opposite sex did not discourage me, however, from falling in love over and over again. But all prior loves faded into obscurity when I walked into my seventh grade class that first day and saw perfection: Mike Nickels.

Mike Nickels was the cutest boy I had ever seen.  His eyes were bluish gray and they always looked as if he'd just gotten out of bed. No, they didn't have sleep gunk in them; they were sexy, seductive eyes, movie star eyes. His mouth was heart shaped and I wanted so much to kiss them, but from my past history I knew that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.*

So here I am center front row during our seventh-grade picture taking outing. The object of my affection is two rows up, but there is just one itty-bitty problem. I love Mike. I really, really do, but my heart is capable of multiple affections. My heart is fickle; it's not monogamous. I want to be faithful to Mike, but when I'm around Bobby Ellis and Gary Estes and Garry Perkins and Johnny Yount (not pictured here) my heart cheats on Mike. But infidelity will never be an issue here; none of these boys know I exist.

*After high school, Mike asks me for a date. 

That story later.

This post is the latest in a series of posts that begin 9/23/15. That post is called Acorn in an Apple Suit. But in reality the story really starts way before that because this year's blog is a cartoon of my life.