Happy Valentine's Day

I'm being a copy cat. I saw this on a blog I frequent and I simply could not resist...It is Valentine's Day, after all.

My First Crush...I was in 5th grade and I was the new kid on the block. Dave Z. lived a few houses away and I worshipped him. He was in head over heals love/infatuation with Liz R. who was hot for his friend, and I would tag along with her just to be near him. I was the one pulling night crawlers out of the cold, nasty ground with a smile on my face into the wee hours with him long after she was back home on the phone with the other guy, but he never felt that way about me. I actually think he likes boys now.

Celebrity Crush...I am not a big fan of Hollywood or its denizens especially now, but I still like to look at Matthew McCanaughy... even more so because he's a dad now. That is very sexy. On stage, Chris Martin is hot too.

The Crush That Got Away...That would have to be Spike. He was the star scorer of the soccer team when I was in high school and I so desperately wanted to score some time with him. He was a junior when I was a freshman. I lusted after him from afar as a lowly underclass woman and I was quite sure he had no idea that I even existed. I would cut out pictures of him from our school newspaper and carry them in my Esprit book bag. Years later we were at the same wedding. His close friend ended up marrying my friend and after a couple of cocktails he confessed that he always had a "thing" for me.

First Kiss...7th grade...locker room...before lunch...M.Q. approaches me and goes in for the awkward 1st kiss and it was not half bad, although I don't think I wanted another one. It was a typical 7th grade romance...it lasted for all of an afternoon!

First Date... We always dated in packs even when we were "going steady." But I think my first "official" date was Homecoming with the Greek God. That deserves its own post!

First Love...30 minutes after I kissed M.Q. (first kiss), I fell for J. and bad. We were a "thang" for 5 years...or 4 years and 4 months too long with numerous gaps upon which I shall not elaborate. We were too young to have the feelings and to face the situations that we did, but I have no regrets. I learned a lot about life and love...do's and dont's.

First Date With My Husband...We knew each other for about 3 years before we started dating and in fact used to double date with our previous significant others. Then when we "discovered" each other...that we had those kind of feelings...we had a painfully slow start. It was just before Christmas break when he asked me out for our first official date (and we had our first kiss in September...that's more than 2 months), but it was worth the wait. He took me to a restaurant that overlooked State Street in Madison. It was appropriately named, Second Story. We had a romantic, candlelight dinner and when we left it was snowing. It was so beautiful and festive. We walked hand in hand to what is now our favorite campus bar...Paul's Club...for a night cap. We just went back this fall and it is not nearly as charming as it once was, but I am glad it is still there. We had a snowball fight on the way back to his apartment and then had to hurry home to get out of those wet clothes and warm up. It is a night I will remember forever.