The Many First Crushes of Teri Brown

We’re talking about first crushes on Teen Fiction Café this week and I’m not sure I qualify… because I had a lot of first crushes. Every time I got a new crush it wiped out the previous ones as if they hadn’t even existed. Here’s a few that stick in my mind: (Remember, I was an early bloomer)


Kindergarten: His name was Glen and I noticed him on the very first day of class, with his hot red raincoat and his yellow lunch box. He had short brown hair and didn’t cry when his mom dropped him off. This was a very short lived crush because after three days, we climbed the monkey bars together, and I realized he smelled really, really bad. Looking back, I don’t think he was completely potty trained. But it was sure intense while it lasted!

First Grade: We moved from rainy Washington to sunny Arizona and Mike blew me away with his amazing blue shorts. (Remember, this was the early seventies when colors were really… colorful.) Unfortunately, he decided that my best friend Elisha was far prettier and he crushed me by saying that she lived in a rich house and I lived in a poor house. (Ah, the insults of early childhood.) I couldn’t help feeling smug after spending the night with Elisha and learning that she lived in a ratty little trailer out in the dessert while I lived in spacious Spanish-style home in town. (Cattiness is learned early)

Third Grade: Back to rainy Washington which is where I met Gerald. Ah, Gerald. I think this is the first time I wasn’t impressed by the color of the boy’s clothing and looked into their face, because Gerald was from that most attractive and rare gene combinations… the brown-eyed blond. My best friend also had a crush on him and we created a song to woo him with. (Okay, I am totally red faced here) Anyone remember that old Charley Rich song, “Hey, Did you Happen to See the Most Beautiful Girl in the World?” Yes, we changed the words and sang it to him in a huge pipe on the playground. I don’t remember exactly what happened with Gerald, but that really wasn’t the point. The point was in sharing these feelings with my best friend. In a way, I’m kind of glad I moved away again. My best friend and I did some really cheesy things together. Once in PE we performed a dance we spent hours creating to the song Love is Blue. God knows what kind of trouble we would have come up with in junior high.

I had many crushes after that, but none stick in my mind like these first three do. And so young! I know from my children’s experiences that crushes can happen quite young. (Nice to know I wasn’t a total freak!) How old were you when you had your first crush?

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