Recollections - 1988

My first crush

Amazingly, even a nerd such as myself had his 1st crush as early as 10 years old … contrary to perceptions that my love (& only one) would be books, since classic nerds like me shun TV & anything un-nerdy …

But since these are secondary to the core story here … we’d better track back … ah yes … what I remember about my 1st crush.

Now, as you can be aware of the minds of boys at that age, they would shun all girls (not all females but mainly their peers) as icky, yucky & mainly gross. In classic Calvin-esque (quote Calvin & Hobbes) … the GROSS (Get Rid of Slimy Girls) club is the institution and any girl-hanging dude is tantamount to betrayal. Sounds familiar? I am smiling as I write this. Hehehe.

As I was not so much the trendsetter (more of follower), I was slow to pick up these vibes. Incidentally, the girl I took tuition with was the 1st to be nice to me … like inviting me as the only guy to a all girls party … made me a card (that was sweet, come to think of it) and (sort of) told everyone that I was her good friend.

Swell. As the ignoramus, I was over the moon for picking up a new friend (by doing nothing except being myself). And I returned a favour by plucking a flower for her. It was nice to think good things about someone I barely knew and I can probably classify this as a crush since I had a rush everytime she passed me. Amidst all the giggles of her friends too.

If my memory served me right, some snitch caught hold of this scoop and yours truly had to face the ‘tribal’ (more of malevolent) council … and was sentenced to an eternity of taunts for this … err … betrayal?

Now that was hard for a kid … and I guess we all knew the ending … me just childishly shrugged off the friendship.

But looking back … it’s funny to see myself in that situation and how I handled it. Not the best, and surely an experience to grow upon.