Young Love

As the children age, I find I am traveling through a bizarre time warp which carries me through memories of myself at their ages. Things I hadn't thought about or even realized I had remembered suddenly come back to me out of nowhere.

Recently, Younger Son (age 9) has been talking (a LOT) about a young lady he's apparently been totally smitten with since third grade.
He is distracted by thoughts of her...
He talks about her endlessly...
He dreams about her...

It's adorable.
But I fear the heartache that's almost sure to come.

He's already worried about the other boys who talk to her.

I tried to diffuse the situation by explaining that I liked lots of boys before I met and married his dad. "You know, there are lots of girls you're going to meet in your lifetime. You might meet someone you like more."

But he replied, "I can't imagine anyone being any better than she is."

::awed silence::

I told him that was the most beautiful thing he could ever say about a girl.

So I had to ask.
"How does she feel about you?"

"I don't know. We're kinda shy around each other."
But she did giggle one day as she handed him some paper...

Hm...

It made me think back to my own fourth grade crush.
His name was Craig. He was one of the "cool" boys. I'd known him since Kindergarten!
(Ooo! Long term relationship!)
One day after recess, before the teacher came in the room, I made my move. Just as Craig sat in his seat, I pounced into his lap, wrapped my arms around him (so he couldn't squirm away), and planted a big kiss on his cheek!
He turned beet red, peeled my hands off him, and pushed me down on the floor. Huffing and puffing angrily, he stomped around the room trying desperately to wipe the cooties off.
When the teacher entered, Craig marched straight up to him and LOUDLY told the teacher what I did.

That's right.
He tattled on me.

But once Craig realized how LOUDLY he had spoken, and how MANY of our classmates had heard, he turned even more red.

And so did I.
Jerk.
It was supposed to be a secret.

It didn't help that the teacher was trying not to laugh.
Nor did it help when the teacher replied, "Well, it sounds like she likes you."

Craig didn't like me much after that... as if he had ever liked me before that.

And I certainly didn't like him after he tattled on me.

So, I shared this story with Younger Son hoping that he'd pick up on how fleeting love can be in fourth grade.

Instead, he wanted to know when I started liking the next boy. And how long did that last?

The answer was the very next year. His name was Tommy.

But, then I stopped talking.
And I told him to enjoy feeling the way he's feeling.

Because that's a nice feeling.