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Article I wrote for a href=”http://www.rareaustin.com/”Rare Magazine./a Junior High Lovebr /br / p class=”MsoNormal”1980 I was a mad lover. I had some serious game. I had sweet Scott Baio feathered hair, apparently some wicked pick up lines, and b style=”"four different ho’s in four different area codes./b That’s right. I had managed to land four different babes in completely different parts of the country. Too bad I was thirteen at the time, finding love for the first time and lacking the appreciation to take in these finer moments. This was the year that John Lennon was shot, Ronald Reagan was elected President and people were flocking to the theaters to see The Elephant Man. I was clueless about these significant things, just as I was unschooled in the ways of love. It was a magical time, when love was truly pure and simple, never complicated and always optimistic. Looking back I’m amazed at how resilient a young teenager can be through love and heartbreak. Was the heart built to bounce back easily and we have made the process complicated. Maybe we were designed to handle found and lost love much more easily and too much talk, movies and daytime tv has made it more difficult. Perhaps we’re over thinking it. You decide. Let me recap 1980 for you./p p class=”MsoNormal”o:p /o:p/p p class=”MsoNormal”Ho 1. 912 st1:city st=”on”Savannah/st1:City, st1:place st=”on”st1:country-region st=”on”Georgia/st1:country-region/st1:place. Susan./p p class=”MsoNormal”This was no doubt the first girl that I fell for because of her brain. Sure I was shallow in my pre-teen years and went for petite blonds, but I outgrew that and matured at 13. Susan was smart, always had the answer in class and seemed to be a shining favorite of our teacher. She was a role model student at st1:place st=”on”st1:placename st=”on”Myers/st1:PlaceName st1:placetype st=”on”Middle School/st1:PlaceType/st1:place. It was my first year with this group of kids, I didn’t really fit in with the “old south”. I was still a daydreamer, punk st1:state st=”on”st1:place st=”on”Kansas/st1:place/st1:State kid. It only took a few months to call Susan mine. I did it the way any crafty, puberty stricken kid with girls on the brain would have done it, through her friend. I don’t know if Libby and I were truly friends or I was just using her to get to Susan, but it worked. It was just a few dropped hints to Libby and some prowess at The Presidential Test on Physical Fitness and Susan was mine. Perhaps she was impressed that I had memorized “Rappers Delight”, the long version… I’m not sure. I enjoyed the time we spent together playing st1:street st=”on”st1:address st=”on”Four Square/st1:address/st1:Street on the playground and exchanging glances during choir, but it all came crashing down one fateful day. I had skateboarded over to Susan’s house, as I often did, only to be met at the back door by Libby. I knew immediately something wasn’t right. Libby asked me to “hold a minute” as I stood in the middle of the lawn. Moments later, she opened the door, tossed my “Jeff” bracelet out onto the lawn and said that Susan didn’t want “go with me” anymore. After sifting through the tall zoysia for a good 15 minutes, I grabbed my skateboard, threw on my giant radio headphones and started skating home. I’ll never forget. “Please Don’t Go” by KC and the Sunshine band came on the radio. I started to cry… then it started pouring rain and I really started to cry. It was hard to say goodbye to the first girl you cared about beyond her appearance. I wonder how successful she became, does she still rub her wrist where the bracelet used to be and feel and “empty space”? Was this all just bad karma for using Libby? I’ll never know. A few weeks later we moved./p p class=”MsoNormal”o:p /o:p/p p class=”MsoNormal”Ho 2. 713 Spring Branch, st1:state st=”on”st1:place st=”on”Texas/st1:place/st1:State. Lisa./p p class=”MsoNormal”Having a relationship with Lisa was the best and worst thing that could have happened to me that year. I was a shy new kid in a booming suburb of st1:city st=”on”st1:place st=”on”Houston/st1:place/st1:City. Keep in mind, the TV show st1:place st=”on”st1:city st=”on”Dallas/st1:City/st1:place was just hitting it’s stride and anyone and everyone at my new school seemed like they had money, wealth and power. I looked ordinary in my rolled up no name jeans, sporting nautical themed clothing that made sense on the st1:placename st=”on”st1:state st=”on”Ga./st1:State/st1:PlaceName st1:placetype st=”on”Coast/st1:PlaceType, but not in st1:city st=”on”st1:place st=”on”Houston/st1:place/st1:City. The class sizes at this school where over 60 students+ and I felt lost. Everyone looked pretty and seemed dialed into the prosperities of the time. I barely remember talking to Lisa, but one glorious day her friend passed me a note asking me if I wanted to be Lisa’s boyfriend. I played it cool as she was watching me read it, then slowly and smoothly reached behind my ear for my number two pencil to check YES, folded it up into a tight triangle and flicked it perfectly back. All of the sudden, I was somebody and this school. Everyone was a stranger, but they were very forward in asking about my relationship with Lisa. What had I just done? I really thought about it… and Lisa… and realized I was in over my head. Lisa was the epitome of an extra right off of the tv show st1:place st=”on”st1:city st=”on”Dallas/st1:City/st1:place. She looked like part with long, wavy blonde hair, extremely glossy mirror like lips and fur, fur, fur. Just like any good Houstonian, she wore fur every day, regardless of the weather. I was so intimidated by her st1:place st=”on”Hollywood/st1:place glam look, I used to walk home as quickly as possible, pretending not to see her, because I didn’t know what to say or how to act around her and her cover girl friends. I broke it off, soon after, with a note, through a new friend. I felt stupid and humiliated, because she seemed so grown up and I still liked after school specials. Luckily, about 2 months after my st1:city st=”on”st1:place st=”on”Houston/st1:place/st1:City arrival, it was time to go spend the summer with my dad./p p class=”MsoNormal”o:p /o:p/p p class=”MsoNormal”Ho. 3 913 st1:city st=”on”Kansas City/st1:City, st1:place st=”on”st1:state st=”on”Missouri/st1:State/st1:place. Mia/p p class=”MsoNormal”It was odd building summer relationships. That’s all they were. I lived somewhere else all year and for two months of very summer I would live with my dad. The best thing that can happen to a young man with raging hormones is to have sisters. I have three sisters and they brought around plenty of girls for me to harass. Just like any pervy younger brother, I would lurk around, flirt with their friends and wait in the weeds for a weak one to wander off from the herd. There was no alcohol involved in breaking down a woman’s resistance like later in life, so then the only means of breaking their resistance was pure exhaustion. After an evening of playing neighborhood “Kick the Can”, Mia’s energy was low from running and hiding all evening. I got her to settle down with me in the back yard hammock, hold hands and eventually kiss. I was always a gentleman and not one to kiss and tell, but let’s just say it went farther than a 13 year old should. I didn’t go all the way but it was hot enough to make me look like I was smugglin Twinkies in my shorts. We acted like nothing ever happened after that night and never revisited it on future summer visits. It was probably because I REALLY cared about her and knew I would be leaving any day, just as I did every summer. What a great summer, got to meet George Brett the very same year they finally topped the Yankees and win American League… and she “touched it”. Wow. /p p class=”MsoNormal”o:p /o:p/p p class=”MsoNormal”Ho. 4. span style=”" /span512 st1:place st=”on”st1:city st=”on”Georgetown/st1:City/st1:place, Tx. Laura/p p class=”MsoNormal”As I returned to school in the fall, my mother had moved…again. This was my fourth place to live in 7supth/sup grade. I’ll never forget that day I first got off the bus. I was the new kid…again. There she was. The first girl I saw on my first day at the new school. It was cheerleader tryouts for the next year, so the current cheerleaders wore their uniforms. She had her hair up in pigtails, blue and white streamers hanging down and a cast on broken arm the she had taken the time to decorate in blue and white. I was smitten and remember having the movie moment conversation with myself thinking, “she will be mine…oh yes, she will be mine”. I must have been pretty smooth in penny loafers and pastels. I was just brave enough to flip up my collar but didn’t do it with confidence. It was the year before I got my braces so the kids quickly gave the name “Bucky” to the new guy. That’s o.k., because within no time at all I was going steady with Laura. It didn’t mean much. I don’t think we even had lunch together, cliques were starting to form so we would hang out with our respective friends. I made friends quickly with an endorsement from Laura. I lacked the maturity to have a meaningful relationship. I’m sure I thought I would be in another school by the time 8supth./sup grade started, so I probably subconsciously kept my distance. I recall many birthday parties we attended that year. Laura and I wouldspan style=”" /spansit and wait for Journey to play. We’d head to the dance floor to show that we were a couple. The hormones, Dr. Peppers and pixie sticks from the snack bar would possess me and kill my ability to control myself during a slow dance to “Open Arms”. I’m sure I thought “air-humping” was a smooth move. Before I knew it, I’d have a chaperone tapping me on the shoulder. She soon dumped me for “moving to fast”. Hey, at least there was a reason and an explanation. That was the first and last time I was ever given a reason, so I owe her that debt of gratitude. /p p class=”MsoNormal”o:p /o:p/p p class=”MsoNormal”Sweet junior high love. I miss those days. These relationships were all fleeting, precious, and wonderful. I doubt any one of these girls could recall my name or photo, but somehow they kept me afloat and helped me survive 4 moves in one year. Truth be told, I was just scared to death and awkward, just like everybody else. Maybe my lessons learned from that year might be helpful to someone out there, single and wondering what’s next for them./p p class=”MsoNormal”I’m approaching 10 years of marriage. I found the smart one. I again had that “she will be mine moment”. She’s helped a painfully shy guy be accepted into a new world over and over. The best part of being married is that I won’t ever get the “moving too fast” lecture.” But “Too often” …that’s another thing.supo:p/o:p/sup/p p class=”MsoNormal”o:pbr //o:p/p p class=”MsoNormal”o:p /o:p/p