Valentine's Day Love Stories

Do you remember your very first love? I remember mine. His name was Edward but everyone called him Eddie. I was about three or four years old and he was an older man!
Yes ~ four years older than me ;-) His sister Barbie was two years older than me. I loved to hang out with her because we both shared the same birthday and always celebrated the day together with all of our many neighborhood friends.

But of course, hanging out with Barbie meant I got to see Eddie too. I have been a romantic since I was a little girl and Eddie was my hero, my knight in shining armor (other than my Daddy). If there were any neighborhood skirmishes, Eddie was always there to defend my honor. My very first love.
And I was completely smitten!

But then age has a way of catching up with everyone and I was off to school and Eddie was getting too old to play Prince Valiant any longer and my love affairs changed almost daily. You could say I was a fickle little flirt.

By the time I was nine years old the boys were coming to my front door. I was tickled ~ my Daddy was not. That's when Daddy decided it was time for me to take horseback riding lessons. In his infinite wisdom he knew that if I was actively involved in a sport I would have less time to flirt with boys.
And it worked ~ I fell in love with horses. It was all I thought about day and night. I was just like Velvet in Enid Bagnold's famous book.
But that didn't stop the boys from coming around and by age twelve I had my first love letter and a proposal to go steady.

His name was Dennis. He wrote me a love letter professing his undying love for me. Inside the letter was a little silver ring with a small heart dangling from it. I was instantly on the phone with my girlfriends. What would I say to him? I had a little crush on him too and I was flattered so we all decided I should say yes.
The romance was playground news! We were a couple!!

But what do couples do? Well, they have to go out on a date.
So it happened ~ my first date was looming on the horizon. Dennis called me on the phone and asked me out. Oh no, what would my answer be? How would I ever get the courage to ask my parents if it would be okay??? So I did what any flirty little pre-teen would do ~ I said maybe.

That wasn't an answer that Dennis was willing to accept so he took it up a notch and told his mother.
The next thing I knew his mother was on the phone to mine. After some significant pleading on the part of his mom, my Mom said she would consider the offer. Mom talked it over with Daddy and they decided the fate of my first date.
It was to be a Saturday afternoon affair. Dennis' mother would take the two of us to the local bowling alley and then afterwards to the ice cream parlor. The infamous first date was arranged.

It was winter and there was snow on the ground. I wore jeans and a sweater and my new parka with the fur trim on the hood. My hair was in a long pony tail. No make-up of course, but I was wearing his ring.
We bowled a couple of games. Somewhere during that time my crush on this dear young boy was already wearing off. By the time we went to the ice cream parlor I knew it was over.
I stopped being in love during my very first date!

Later that evening there was a sleepover at my house. Several pre-teen girls in their pj's were huddled around the fireplace in the "rec room" of my house. While consuming cokes and pizza the interrogation of the afternoon's events began ….
What happened on the date? Did he kiss you? Is it true love???
"No" I told them. It was over. I had fallen out of love. I was returning his ring.
Such is the fickle path of young love. The tender steps we take to the enduring love of later years.

Happy Valentine's Day!
Big Texas Hugs, Susan and Bentley