Heartbreaker
When I was 9 1/2, and in 3rd grade (my mom held my brother and I back in school a year, for reasons that I shall not go into in this post), we moved from Fairbanks, Alaska, to Stockton, California. I know, you feel sorry for me. Rightfully so. Stockton had no snow, which sucked, but on the other hand it had my grandparents, and the sun peeked well above the horizon even in the dead of winter, so it wasn’t all bad.
Anyway, when we first moved to Stockton, we stayed with my grandparents in their mobile home, until we could find a place to live. That wasn’t as bad as it sounds, because they had both cable AND a swimming pool, neither of which were available to us in Fairbanks. The mobile home park did NOT, however, allow dogs. At least, not big black lab/st. bernard mix type dogs, like my beloved Samantha. So, while we looked for a place to live, Samantha stayed with the daughter and granddaughter of a friend of my Grandma. They lived on a farm, complete with horses and irrigation ditches and everything one might find on a farm. Samantha was spoiled there by the granddaughter, Darcy, who was about my age (maybe a year younger, but also 3rd grade), and had curly hair that reminded me of Shirley Temple. She fell in love with Samantha, and actually offered to trade me a horse for her, but my mom was having enough trouble finding a rental that would take a big dog, she didn’t need me to make it worse, and besides, not even a horse was replacement for Sammy. ANYWAY, Darcy and I became friends.
One day, after we had moved to our new place, and had gotten settled in school a bit, Darcy came over to visit. We took Samantha out for a walk and to play outside, and lo and behold, Darcy knew a boy on our street, Mike. (Looking back, I don’t remember if she KNEW he lived there, or if we just bumped into him.) So, we ended up hanging out with Mike. Turns out, she and Mike were boyfriend and girlfriend, which to me, in 3rd grade, would have meant maybe holding hands and smiling at each other, or sitting at the same table at lunch or something. But to them, it meant making out in the side yard of his house, while I got to sit there with Samantha, and pretend like there was ANYTHING to do. Gah. And by make out, I mean kissing only, but I do believe that there were tongues involved, and certainly I know that there were mouths wide open and all over the place on other mouths. Ugh. I don’t remember how long that went on, but I had pretty much decided that this California place was a bit racy, as none of the girls I knew in Alaska did such things, at least not to my knowledge. Perhaps I was leading a sheltered life, I’m not sure.
Fast forward perhaps a month or two, and there’s a boy in school who likes me. His name was Don, I think, and I almost think he had a receding hairline in 3rd grade, but probably he just had a high forehead. He had a best friend, Phillip, who was VERY cute. SO. One day, Don came over to me, and asked me if I would go out into the PE field with him, he wanted to talk to me. OK, I said, but only if my friend Karen could come along as well. So, Karen and Phillip came along, and out we went. Don turned to me, and pulled a little jewlery box out of his pocket. Inside was a little heart necklace. He gulped, and said, “It’s yours, if you want it.” My head started swimming. What to do? 1st off, he wasnt the cute one, he wasn’t Phillip. 2nd, all I could think of was Darcy and Mike, and OH MY GOD, NO WAY IN HELL was I going to OPEN MOUTH KISS some nasty boy just because he gave me a necklace. Poor Don. I didn’t know what to do, so I turned around and ran away.
Don never talked to me again. I can’t say I blame him, either.
13 Comments
Ml
Awwwww, very SCARY for you (after all you were only in 3rd grade) and very sad for Don. Thanks for telling the story…you tell it so well! 🙂
Py Korry
Well…I’m glad you didn’t run away when I said “Hey, we ought to get together again” after our first date! 🙂
Beenzzz
I probably would have done the same thing. Don’t feel bad, you were just a little kid. That was sweet of him to give you a gift though. 🙁
Shelliza
You were just kids. Wonder where he got the little heart necklace from. That’s too cute, though.
Dot
I love your story. My heart was beating there at the end. I would have ran too. When I was in the second grade and we were waiting in our car at school before a little awards ceremony. My best friend Jeff was in the car next to us and yelled out the window in front of our parents that he loved me. I sunk down so far into that seat with embarrassment. But secretly I loved it. We remained friends for two more years til I went to another school.
Gina
Wow! I must have been sheltered too, because the kissing like that seems pretty racy at nine to me too!
I was a miserable failure with boys until high school. I blame the very small number of boys that were in my class of thirty or so, and when I hit middle school, nothing “expanded” I was still stuck with the same people. As well as the fact that I was taller than all of them, as well as being a bit too smart for most of them. 😉
Poor Don, though. He must have been totally crushed.
Cherry
Great story!
I think in 3rd grade I would have run too. But in Kindergarten I was totally running after the boys trying to kiss them (on the cheek of course). But by 1st grade they were more fun to play games with, that is until about 5th grade and then they were fun to hold hands with. Tee hee!
Maya's Granny
And all I can say, young lady, is it’s good to know I raised you right!
Probably by now Don has figured it out.
Lalunas
ahh Don’s first broken heart. Well he sure picked a cutie to fall for.
Wendy
3rd grade? wow – I don’t think I even liked boys at that point, so I seriously doubt I would’ve thought about kissing one! I would’ve been a little freaked too – poor Don – I think I had my first *real* kiss at 14 – ah, you started breaking hearts early… 🙂
L.
Awwwww……
I`m imagining one of my sons getting rejected like that, and it`s making my heart hurt (but of course, both of my sons, even the 11-year-old sixth grader, think girls are “stnky”).
Did you ever Google Don to see what he`s doing now?
hellomelissa
oh, man, h will be in 3rd grade next year! i know he and his sweetie since kindergarten have kissed on the cheek, but if i ever found out TONGUES were involved i’d freak out. really cute story, j… took me back to my own 3rd grade boy troubles (steve swango, he liked swastikas) on the playground.
Heidi
J- That is cool that even way back in the third grade, you had the balls to bolt! Seriously. Love your alphabetic list, too. Happy B-Day to your hermano! You have such a great little network!