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Tuesday, February 12, 2013

halls of higher learning

On the few occasions that I have been at my kids' largish high school during a passing period, I've been a bit overwhelmed by the sheer mass of teenaged humanity.  My own high school was relatively small, just a little over a hundred students in my graduating class.  So while at my kids', I've mainly needed to just focus on getting from point A to point B, not really taking time to observe the general behavior.

A few weeks ago, I was in another local high school during a passing period.  Now, that school is just slightly bigger than the one I attended.  It was a much more familiar scene.  Not so much a mass of teenaged humanity, but the air was thick with pubescent hormone driven activity.

Like a lot of people, my first love came about in high school.  Living in a small town where everybody knew everybody, I knew of my boyfriend quite a few years before he was a boyfriend.  In fact, for some reason, I have a vivid first memory of watching him shoot a free throw during an 8th grade basketball game.  It would be about another three years before I took much notice again.

I was a high school sophomore and he was a junior.  We were both on the track team, and track was a sport where boys and girls practiced together - being separated by the events we did rather than by gender.  I was a sprinter, he was a hurdler and jumper.  Close enough.

We became good friends at first, getting through practices and cheering each other on during track meets.  It wasn't until early in the following school year that we began "going out".



I've always liked the quiet ones for some reason, and "DJ" was no different.  He excelled at sports, but unlike a lot of "jocks", he was rather shy.  Academically he.... well, he excelled at sports.

Soon I was head over heels, and he and I were part of the passing period PDA show.  In all, we were together for about 2 years - half of my high school "career" - which seems about 10 years in real life.




Also, like a lot of first loves, our ending wasn't without messiness.  Those final months were a roller coaster of break-up, make-up, break-up, make-up...  but we eventually got over ourselves and moved on.

Our first loves, although they usually happen when we are quite young, can be pretty powerful.  I even think they can be more powerful than those that come later when we're "mature" and have other goals and  responsibilities.  Either way, they certainly shape our future relationships.

In fact, I know that Magnum can thank/blame DJ for setting the stage for him.  But that's for a whole 'nother post...

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From the NaBloPoMo prompt:
"How old were you the first time you fell in love?"

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7 comments:

LL Cool Joe said...

Ah yes, first love is powerful. Nice story.

Anonymous said...

My first love was named Gilbert. Seriously. We were in daycare together and he would sing "You Are So Beautiful" to me. Years later, after traversing the world with my Air Force dad, I walked into what would be my new high school, and there he was. We talked for a shy 10 minutes or so, and that was the last I saw of him again. His dad was being transferred. Guess I'll never know what might have been...
My other loves definitely shaped my future relationships. As hard as they were to go through, they set me up to marry Mr. Right. And almost 23 years later, I can still say that.
I hope we get to read that whole 'nother post about Magnum...

Abby said...

We've all got our stories...

agg79 said...

Lauri was my first love back in the 1st grade. Of course living next door to her helped. I just knew we were going to get married some day but then we moved off to New Jersey and lost track with each other. For some, that first love can be epic.

terri said...

High school love was so dramatic, both in positive and negative ways. It definitely provided me with some of the most joyful times in my life to that point. But the lows could be SO low.

lotta joy said...

The first time I fell in love was at the advanced age of 8. I wrote DR. KILLDARE and requested his photo. HE SENT IT!!! I still have it. I had dreams, I tell ya. DREAMS!!!

Abby said...

Couldn't have summed it up better myself!