Valentine's Day Love Stories

Do you remember your very first love?  I remember mine.

His name was Edward but everyone called him Eddie.  I was

about three or four years old and he was an older man!  

Yes ~ four years older than me ;-)  His sister Barbie was

two years older than me.  I loved to hang out with her because

we both shared the same birthday and always celebrated the day 

together with all of our many neighborhood friends.  

But of course, hanging out with Barbie meant I got to see

Eddie too.  I have been a romantic since I was a little girl and

Eddie was my hero, my knight in shining armor (other than my

Daddy).  If there were any neighborhood skirmishes, Eddie was

always there to defend my honor.  My very first love.

And I was completely smitten!

But then age has a way of catching up with everyone and I was off to 

school and Eddie was getting too old to play Prince Valiant any longer

and my love affairs changed almost daily.  You could say I was a

fickle little flirt.  

By the time I was nine years old the boys were coming to my front door.

I was tickled ~ my Daddy was not.  That's when Daddy decided it was time

for me to take horseback riding lessons.  In his infinite wisdom he knew that

if I was actively involved in a sport I would have less time to flirt with boys.

And it worked ~ I fell in love with horses.  It was all I thought about day and

night.  I was just like Velvet in Enid Bagnold's famous book.

But that didn't stop the boys from coming around and by age twelve I had

my first love letter and a proposal to go steady.  

His name was Dennis.  He wrote me a love letter professing his 

undying love for me.  Inside the letter was a little silver ring with a

small heart dangling from it.  I was instantly on the phone with my

girlfriends.  What would I say to him?  I had a little crush on him too

and I was flattered so we all decided I should say yes.  

The romance was playground news!  We were a couple!!

But what do couples do?  Well, they have to go out on a date.

So it happened ~ my first date was looming on the horizon.

Dennis called me on the phone and asked me out.  Oh no, what

would my answer be?  How would I ever get the courage to

ask my parents if it would be okay???  So I did what any flirty

little pre-teen would do ~ I said maybe.

That wasn't an answer that Dennis was willing to accept so he took

it up a notch and told his mother.  

The next thing I knew his mother was on the phone to mine.  After

some significant pleading on the part of his mom, my Mom said she would 

consider the offer.  Mom talked it over with Daddy and they decided 

the fate of my first date.

It was to be a Saturday afternoon affair.  Dennis' mother would 

take the two of us to the local bowling alley and then afterwards

to the ice cream parlor.  The infamous first date was arranged.

It was winter and there was snow on the ground.  I wore jeans and a 

sweater and my new parka with the fur trim on the hood.  My hair was

in a long pony tail.  No make-up of course, but I was wearing his ring.

We bowled a couple of games.  Somewhere during that time my

crush on this dear young boy was already wearing off.  By the

time we went to the ice cream parlor I knew it was over.

I stopped being in love during my very first date!

Later that evening there was a sleepover at my house.

Several pre-teen girls in their pj's were huddled around the

fireplace in the "rec room" of my house.  While consuming

cokes and pizza the interrogation of the afternoon's events

began ….

What happened on the date?

Did he kiss you?

Is it true love???

"No" I told them.  It was over.  I had fallen out of love.

I was returning his ring.  

Such is the fickle path of young love.  The tender steps we

take to the enduring love of later years.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Big Texas Hugs,

Susan and Bentley