Sunday, March 8, 2020

Eighty Memories for Eighty Years: #21 Falling in Love

For me, falling in love happened the first time in Grade 4 when there was a cute boy in the room. Falling out of love for the first time happened in Grade VII when that same boy,  partnered up with Patsy who was in a grade younger than us, and years later ended up marrying her.

I was never in the running there though I thought I was in love.  He would never have known I thought he was cute.  I kept that secret close to my heart.

In my case, I thought I was in love a second time in Grade IX when a boy whom I thought was handsome kissed me in the front seat of a car overlooking that great view of the river valley from Crescent Road.

This is my favourite manual about
what to expect when choosing a partner.
The book should be read before people fall in love.
I have no idea why he didn’t ask me out a second time.

Well, I have a bit of an idea – best explained by the metaphor, if I were walking along the street with a boy, I was sure to keep my wallet in the hand nearest him so that he couldn’t take my hand.

Oh, falling in love can happen so many ways.

When I was in my first year of university falling in love happened for my third time: lots of good conversation, many nights dancing the hours away, and lots of laughter. And deep feelings of trust and respect. But that part of falling in love didn’t progress as far as marriage.  We had a geographically induced separation and I kept dating and fell in love again.

This time, the commitment involved bringing a lot of children into the world.

Well, this has been the hardest post to write so far.

But when trying to plot out eighty memories about eighty years, there has to be an acknowledgement that one of the joys of growing up and growing older has been falling in love.

Arta

3 comments:

  1. I woke this morning with a Christopher Marlowe poem on my mind. I looked up the title, and as I read through the words, I could recall "helping" Rebecca memorize it using an interpretive dance for cues.

    "Come live with me and be my love, and we will all the pleasures prove, that valleys, groves, hills, and fields, woods, or steepy mountain yields..."

    Thank you for choosing dad. I say this selfishly out of gratitude that you gave me life, giving me the opportunity to "all the pleasures prove."

    ReplyDelete

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