Unrequited Love... by Sara K.

Do you remember your very first crush?  I do... I was five years old, and I was madly in love with Ponch.  Every time CHIPS came on, my little heart went pitter-patter... (My sister liked the other guy, but I never went for the blonde pretty-boy types. ) My love for Ponch was intense, but it did not last forever.  Ponch was quickly replaced by none other than Handy Smurf.  Really, I had a crush on a Smurf...didn't everyone?  He was, in my opinion, the most well-balanced and handsome of all the Smurfs-- brilliant, yet, humble and so darned handy...  What can I say, I guess I'm a sucker for a guy with a pencil tucked behind his ear at all times.  (But, oh, how I loathed that hussie Smurfette and her constant need for attention!)  Handy sort-of fell by the wayside after I watched The King and I with my grandmother and instantly fell for Yul Brynner... Somehow it seemed like a forbidden love, and I kept it very secret until I was a teenager.  He was so otherworldly with those pointy ears...

Of course, all others paled in comparison to the true love of my young life: Michael Jackson.  He was still human at that point, and I loved him.  I had a poster on the wall which I dutifully kissed each night before bed.  I made my mom buy every magazine in the grocery store with even the slightest mention of him.  (I don't have to tell you that I was devastated when his hair caught on fire during the filming of that Pepsi commercial... )   I even had a Michael Jackson doll.  He sported tiny white glittery socks and glove, and he was close enough in size to date Barbie.  By some amazing stroke of luck, my mother managed to get tickets for the Jacksons' Victory Tour.  My sister and I wore matching mini-skirts and Michael Jackson t-shirts.  Our seats were in the second-to-top row, but it didn't matter.  We both screamed the entire time.  Eventually I worked up the courage to write him a letter professing my undying love.  He never wrote back.  I was only seven then, and my heart is still broken, to this very day...

 

I confessed all of this to Emily tonight over a peppermint mocha, and I swear I detected a little tear in her eye as she acknowledged an old flame for Richard Dreyfuss.  Ah, such is life!  With my long history of unrequited love, I can't help but to feel incredibly fortunate and thankful to have met my sweet Andy.  He possesses so many of the qualities I so adored in my early loves.  I just wish I could convince him to wear a sparkly glove or at least a pencil...  Oh, and if I could just get Progress to love me, too!  

Please forgive me for this silly post...  I promise the next one will involve some actual Progress!  I wish everyone out in blog-land a lovely Thanksgiving /week!

Comments

[Julie]

you have to watch Ponch on Armed and Famous. It's a reality show on Wed and he's a real cop in Muncie Indiana

[jenny holiday]

I really have to tell you ...I truly was laughing so so much from this post!! Really GREAT !! lol! I had to come back to tell you! ...I even made Aaron come in here to read it! He couldn't stop shaking his head at "girls".

Reminded me of my little sister's absolute TRUE LOVE for Michael Jackson.....she was 5...(I was 8, and going to marry John Taylor from Duran Duran) My grandmother took us to get posters of our love's for our rooms. I instantly grabbed "Seven and the Ragged Tiger" (I had been dreaming of it for weeks) My sister....well,....Michael was sold out ...poor thing.......she decided PRINCE was close enough! Raised eyebrow and all, my grandma went up and paid! LOL....I laugh so hard at that to this day!

Love your blog and world!!

You and Apple are truly too darn fab for your own good!

Happy Holidays!
xoxo Jenny

[Trudi]

Great post! Sad to admit, but I also loved Michael Jackson, but, even sadder to admit, I soon moved on to Nick from Duran Duran. I also had a number of TV show loves, but unlike you who loved the dangerous Ponch, I always went for the non-threatening nerds - John from Chips, Potsy from Happy Days and I even had a thing for Gopher from the Love Boat. Yikes!

[salute this]

Yul Brynner is the hottest. I was so in love with him, still sort of am. I watched the King and I for him.

[Amy]

OH! My love for Robbin Williams is still alive today ;-) Bless his furry little heart.

xoxo,
Amy

[Jenn]

Oh I love...er loved Ponch too! I colored my Roller Skating Ken's hair black so that he would look more like Ponch.

I actually had a chance to meet him...I mean Eric Estrada once. But my class, a bunch of six year olds who didn't understand my dire needs, thwarted my efforts. I was teaching at a wealthy school in another state and Eric Estrada was family friends of one of my former students. He came to school to pick this child up at the end of the day. I had planned to walk my class out a little early so that we would oops bump into them, but I couldn't get the timing right. Those darn six year olds needed help with zippers and backpacks. I could see him come in to the school down the hall. As we finally lined up I watched him walk out of the school and out of my life forever. Missed opportunity!

[ambika]

Ponch was totally hot. I know I've had a thing for a cartoon character but I just can't remember who...And it was *not* He-Man.

[Melissa Lobdell]

Oh, so sweet to remember those crushes now! But, just to let you know, I was married to Michael Jackson during the Thriller days -- and I have the Cabbage Patch love child to prove it! xo-Melfie

[el]

My older sister had the same Michael Jackson poster. She loved him too. I was a bit putoff by the poster-the eyes seemed to follow me wherever I was in the room.
I liked Milli Vanilli, Rock Hudson (the doris day movies) and Rick Astley instead! I thought they were such better choices! (haha)

[April]

Magnum P.I. did it for me! I still get a little charge whenever I see Tom Selleck. Later I developed a long-term lust for Harrison Ford. I also enjoyed Prince Phillip from Disney's Sleeping Beauty.

[kirsten]

i always wanted smurfette to hook up with handy smurf, but it looked like she liked hefty better sometimes.

[digigdui]

I was in love with Grover, from sesame street. Hmm, and that's pretty amazing for a boy, isn't it!

[Jennifer]

I have to say, I had a thing for Ponch myself as a kid. And the prince from Cinderella.

[kerry]

i used to have a mini crush on one of the gi.joe cartoon characters. my best friend tiffany and i would watch every episode just waiting to see him.

god. i was so young.

[emily]

ummmm...best.
post.
ever.
no question.

i heart you so much!

[risa]

i was totally in love with scott baio as chachi (happy days)and as charles (as in charles in charge). how embarassing!