Young 'Love'

Do you remember your first crush?

I do...

Back at St. Bartholomew Catholic School in Chicago

Jeffrey Bartel

We were in second grade, and adorable.

He was just a little guy, pale, blonde, blue-eyed

(The complete opposite of what I prefer now)

Every girl had a crush on him.

He sat next to me in class...

We would pass looks back and forth, not paying attention to Miss Labrandi

One time we were coloring and one of my crayons rolled off my desk...

He popped right out of his seat and walked around the row of desks to pick it up for me

Awww, how sweet.

One time, our eighth grade buddies came to visit us...

We were sitting on their laps talking...

So you really like her?

Jeff nods

And you really like him?

I nod

Aawww, isn't that cute?!

Oh geez, this makes me want to barf now

Last I remember he moved out to the suburbs...

There was also the neighborhood crush, Billy Guess.

He lived a few doors down and went to the other catholic school in the neighborhood

I really liked him for 8 years...but back then we were just kids, no idea what was going on...

I moved away shortly after my 13th birthday so we didn't have to go through the awkward stages of puberty and high school together

I visited a couple times during high school, by that time everyone had started calling him 'Bill' which seemed really odd to me...

Later I heard he went to a private college in the suburbs

Why the hell am I writing about this?

Memories of these childhood crushes randomly popped into my head last night as I was trying to get to sleep.

This happens a couple of times a year and then I think about maybe tracking Billy down

Then I realize it's probably been 10 years since I've seen or talked to him!

Would it be a little creepy?

Hmmm

I have friends that have had the same best friend since they were in grade school and/or hang out with people they went to high school with

To me, that's absolutely strange!

Or do I have a problem hanging on to friends long-term?

Is it me? Or them? Or both?!

I have moved around a bit...I can't imagine living in the same town with my mother (or even within 50 miles of her!)

Does anyone else randomly think about their childhood crushes?

How long have you known your oldest friend?

Maybe I'm just weird.