Love 101

Strange, but I can't remember his face.

Maybe that's not remarkable, since I'm going back 50 years. But when I was in Grade 3, and he was in Grade 6, he meant everything to me.

His name was Bobby. I saw him at recess, playing in the boy's school-yard, seperated from the girls' yard by a slim line painted on the concrete. His hair was dark brown, he had strong eyebrows and he played and ran and dodged with a careless grace that made my heart leap. Once, just once, he grabbed me as he swung past me, evading some horse-play, and I drifted home for lunch on air. I confided my feelings to my mother, who informed me, with an amused smile, that I had a "crush".

At the end of that school year, on the very last day, Bobby rode his bike exultantly down my street, with his last elementary-school report card sticking out of his back-pocket, pedalling for all he was worth into the summertime, and out of my life. I never saw him again.

Okay, I've spilled my guts; how about you? With Valentine's Day coming up, I want to hear about your very first love. Maybe that love is still in your life. Maybe he or she is looooong gone, just a memory from school, summer-camp or a back-pack trip across Europe. Maybe you still run into your first love every now and then...does the torch still flicker somewhere in the farthest reaches of your heart? Your secret is safe with me (and you get to use your blogging alias, of course!)

Here's what an unexpected reunion of old lovers looks like: they're Deenie and Bud, aka Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty, in "Splendor In The Grass", one of the best films ever about the pangs of first love that doesn't last:

The price of Kleenex shares just edged up a notch, now it's time to bare your soul....

Katie