The Guy I Married, Dated, & Then Briefly Hated

I was in the first grade when I got married...and I don't remember it.  That's how much that marriage meant to me.  I was reminded about it years later by a classmate.  She reminded me that I had asked her to be my maid of honor that day so that I could get married on the playground at recess.

This wasn't the first time I had fallen "in love," that was Doogie Howser.  And in retrospect the fact that Doogie Howser was the first guy I was infatuated with may have led to the many years after continually choosing men that were unavailable to me in one way or another...

Anyway, while he wasn't my "first love," he was the first attainable boy I "loved."  I'm pretty sure in fact if I were to dig my first grade class picture up out of a box somewhere his face has a heart around it.  Sorry to my mom for putting a heart around the face of the boy I liked each school year on the class pictures she had paid good money for.

Said husband & I would go to CCD (it's a Catholic thing...I had to Google what it even meant.) together from 2nd grade through our confirmation in 10th grade.  Other than that though we did not interact.  Basically we got divorced the following day & only spoke when it came to "working" together in class or at church.

Five years later however our love would get a second chance when we were in the same 6th grade class.  About a half dozen of us were sitting in a classroom having a pizza party, probably for Knowledge Bowl or something (yes... I was in Knowledge Bowl), watching Remember the Titans.  That's when it happened.  I was passed a note that said "Will you be my girlfriend?  Check yes or no"  Obviously I checked yes.  George Strait would be so proud.  We would then spend the next four months as a couple who did not speak & had only one "date"... a high school basketball game where our friends FORCED us to sit by each other.  Somewhere there is a diary entry in which I think he's "cheating on me."  Okay then 12 year old me who doesn't even really speak to her boyfriend...  Four months after the infamous note we would break up because he wouldn't stop calling me "pookie."  Maybe that trauma is why I don't love pet names now...

The following year we entered high school, because in my small hometown high school was 7-12.  For pretty much all of high school we just coexisted.  Sometimes having the same friends, classes, or being in the same clubs/organizations.  Towards the end of my junior year however, and parts of my senior year, I HATED him.  My best friend & I ran for student council president & vice president.  So did he and another girl in our class.  We ran because we loved student council & wanted to do big things.  They ran because they wanted to beef up their college applications.  They won.  He was also the class president & I the class vice president... which was also a subject of annoyance for me for quite some time because even though HE was the president, I did everything... including plan our 5 & 10 year high school reunions.  There was a brief two week period in between our junior & senior year where we DID get along because we were on a German class trip to Europe & our differences in America were set aside on foreign soil.

I don't still hate him in case you're wondering.  I'm petty sometimes but not that petty.  I'm pretty indifferent about him actually & don't think I've seen him since high school graduation as he didn't attend our 5 year reunion & neither of us attended our 10 year reunion.  According to Facebook however he now lives in Arizona & is an engineer for a solar panel company.  We aren't even Facebook friends.  I simply stalked him for the purpose of this post.