First love

As promised yesterday, I am using "blogstarters" to give me inspiration to write here on a daily basis.

Today's blogstarter is: Tell about your first love.

Love is a difficult concept for me.  I am not always sure the difference in infatuation, like and love.  For most of my elementary and middle school years, I was in one of those three with a girl named Kelli.  She always seemed to have a boyfriend (one of which eventually became her husband), but I followed her around, sent her notes and bought her small gifts.  An innocent pastime bordering on friendly obsession. 

My freshman year of high school I really fell hard for a girl named Ginger.  She was a senior, smart, fun and basically just totally awesome.  We never dated as such, but the few minutes we spent together at school and at school-related activities made my freshman year.  She cried on my shoulder about boys and I was always there to listen.  She grew up and became a successful massage therapist.

By the time I got to college, I was ready (or so I thought) to really start dating and finding "the one."  I had my first real kiss my freshman year and dated several people those two semesters.  The fairly lengthy first reciprocated boyfriend-girlfriend relationship I was in came during my sophomore year.  S. was (and is) a wonderful person.  I can still remember the first time I told her I loved her.  We were at a church retreat her home congregation was having at some camp in Alabama.  We lay out under the stars and I was pretending to tell her a story about another couple and eventually got around to telling her I loved her.  I remember she cried which was unexpected.  We were voted cutest couple that semester, but by Christmas I was (as I always seem to be) scared of commitment.  A lot of our friends were settling in with the people they would eventually marry and I was terrified.  I broke things off with S. and eventually she married a great guy, has a great career and is expecting her first child.

I have loved a couple of other people since that time, but those experiences are still a little fresh to write about and, after all, this entry is about first love.

Have a great day!