Facebook is really great for reconnecting with old friends and finding out what your buddies are up to. What it is also great for: shattering every illusion you ever had about your first love–just like it did for me this weekend.
I first spotted Jeremy when I was a sixth grade student at a public magnet school in Fort Worth, Texas. He looked exactly like Jay Underwood, the guy who played Tia’s loser boyfriend Bug in “Uncle Buck,” which is to say that he was incredibly hot. I never spoke to him — NEVER — but I rode the hour each way to school with him every day. And, it turned out, his mom was my English teacher. She was firm, but friendly — and she was my only link to the strange but beautiful creature that was her son. Sometimes I would stick around after class to see if he would stop by.
I never spoke to Jeremy, until the very last day I lived in Texas. My dad is a nuclear engineer, and growing up we moved a round a lot — from nuclear power plant to nuclear power plant. I used to joke that we were the modern-day Joads (a joke that only works if you are a Grapes of Wrath fan). We were moving from Ft. Worth to New Jersey, and I finally worked up the courage to tell Jeremy how I felt. I wrote him a letter telling him how interesting and unique I thought he was. I told him I was moving but that I’d like to write letters to him, if he wanted. I slipped the notebook paper to him as I was getting off the bus on my final interminable ride home. Keep reading »
