Introspection on a Tuesday #1 – First Loves are Never the Last

Question #1 :: What do you remember about your first love?

Her name was Whitney.

She was the smartest kid in Mrs. Hawk’s kindergarten class. I knew it was true love when the class was playing Duck Duck Goose, and she picked me to be the Goose. She was too quick, and I never did catch her. Later, during recess, I picked a dandelion from the ground, gave it to her, and told her she had pretty hair. She said “thanks”, then pushed me on the swingset. Later that year, she invited me to her birthday party where she had an ice cream cake… and that just blew my mind. You could make a cake out of ice cream?! We were god friends all through kindergarten.

Sadly, we moved away before 1st grade.

Some years ago, when I was searching Facebook to see if old friends were out there, I discovered that Whitney died when she was 21. I never figured out how. Though it was just a kindergarten crush from eons ago, knowing that she passed away hurt way more than expected.

But why stop at “First” Love? I mean, let’s not pretend the list is long.

In 10th grade, I started dating Jen. She was the first non-familial person I said “I Love You” to. She lived right across the border into Vermont. She ended up moving to Maine before Junior year, and put the kibosh on my hope for a long distance relationship, which upset me at first… but I can now safely say was a bullet dodged.

Hindsight being what it is, Jen was… not an amazing girlfriend, to put it ever so mildly. But at the time, I was happy not to be alone. I won’t go into detail because I’m long since over it, but I was pretty messed up for years afterward.

Last I saw, she got married at 21 and divorced at 23; then she hit her quarter-life crisis and moved to New Zealand.

But the reigning champion maintains to be my wife, Jessica. She’s riding a 17 year winning streak into 2024 with no end in sight.

Simply put, she is My Person.

Relationships evolve, and each contestant needs to evolve with it or risk losing it. I won’t be naive enough to say there were no hardships or roadblocks, but we’ve continually evolved our relationship since 2007.

It’s why I don’t think this list of loves will ever go beyond 3.