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!
