Ghosts of Relationships Past - Part 2

Wow, I'm so thrilled that you guys are just as excited about reading this stuff as I am about writing it! So, where was I...

Oh yeah, a little fling named Lee. But wait, my BFF reminded me of a humongous & terribly embarrassing little crush that I had in elementary school that is worth noting. I'm going to backtrack for this installment, but we'll resume our regularly scheduled story-telling momentarily.

Brad

I spent most of my elementary career pining for one boy and we'll call him Brad. Brad was the cute & popular boy that all the girls thought was dreamy. With his light brown chili bowl haircut, his Izod shirts, and his converse all-stars, what was not to love? And the fact that he tormented me by ignoring my existence despite knowing of my deep and abiding affection towards him, did nothing to dissuade my efforts to make him notice me. It was crushing to an 11 year old ugly duckling.

Our elementary school had honors programs for 6th graders and Brad's father had graciously offered to mentor a small group of us who were interested in learning more about accounting and economics. His Dad was the CFO of a company. (Side note: see #21 on this list for a ha-ha moment) I begged and pleaded volunteered for this opportunity and was delighted at the prospect of spending several weeks at Brad's side. I could tell by the roll of his eyes and look of horror on his adorable face, that he was not equally delighted. I would not be deterred!

Anyway, at some point during that school year, I had a sleepover at my grandparents home. They lived a couple of streets over from Brad, so, what a great opportunity to incorporate him into my festivities! I had 3-4 girlfriends from school over and we talked and laughed and ordered pizza for dinner. I'm not exactly sure whose idea the next part was, but here's where the evening took a wrong turn. While waiting for the pizza to arrive, I of course, was bellowing about how cute Brad was and how I wished he would toddle down the street to join us for pizza and maybe some spin the bottle. Somehow, the idea came up of actually calling him and inviting him. Brilliant! Oh yeah, until he said no. Well, I wasn't taking "no" for an answer. I decided that if wouldn't come to us, then I was going to him. I put a couple of slices of pizza onto a paper plate, grabbed an ice cold can of Coke and off I marched to Brad's house. My girlfriends followed behind cheering me on, ready to watch the carnage unfold. Of course, my courage waned with each step closer to Brad's house. By the time I got to his house, I only had enough resolve to run up to the doorstep, drop the pizza & Coke on his doormat, ring the doorbell, and run like hell.

The following Monday at school was awful. Brad told everyone of my lame dinner delivery and I was a social outcast for a while. That's tough on a fragile ego. I continued to pine for him silently and upon "graduating" from elementary school, I lost track of him as we went to different schools. That is, until our senior year of high school.

Brad, in a lame but ironic twist, had a friend of his call my BFF to ask her to his senior prom. How sad. By this time, I had completely forgotten the tears wasted on this guy and was gleeful and delighted to see him shot down by my best girlfriend. Score 1 for my team!

Brad went on to graduate with an accounting degree and is now a CPA. He ended up marrying a girl who was a few years behind me in school. She's the administrator of a program that teaches abstinence programs in our locals schools. Apparently, I was just coming on too strong, I guess. Who knew?!

Ok, now that I've got my elementary crush out of the way, let's fast forward 3 years to some serious puppy love, called Lee.

{to be continued}