When my brother was a freshman in high school, he was on the varsity wrestling team. Which meant we had a group of upperclassman boys who would come over and hang out at our house. I was in seventh grade at the time and I had a gigantic crush on this senior named Troy Skogland. He made me swoon. I’m pretty sure he knew.
First, because I got all googly-eyed whenever he was around. And second, my brother might have told him.
Anyway, I was going through an origami phase at the time. Troy would fold those little colored papers with me in an attempt to make a fish or a dove or a dolphin. I was convinced I was in love. With him. Not the origami. I’d catch myself daydreaming about a moment in the future. When I was all grown up and pretty and Troy would come back from college and see me and we’d fall in love and live happily ever after.
In case you don’t know, my husband’s name isn’t Troy.
It’s Ryan. And I wouldn’t trade my Ryan for a thousand Troy’s, even though I’m sure he’s a nice guy.
Ah, but this is not the point of my blog post.
The point is to talk about love and all its many forms.
Crushes.
Puppy Love.
First Love.
True Love.
What do you think about them?
For me, I thought myself in love with other guys before I met Ryan. But in light of what I have with my husband, I look back and think, “Nah. That wasn’t the real deal.”
Let’s Talk: Tell me about a crush you had when you were little. I’ll admit, I had a thing for Jonathan Taylor Thomas (other wise known as JTT). Has anyone ever married their crush? Do you think you can have multiple true loves in a lifetime? Does your view on love change as you get older?
Heh. I had a TON of crushes. First one I had was when I was in 7th grade and it was on Prince Harry (you know, the second son of Princess Diana). Talk about aiming high 😛
I had four in high school. I was one of those girls who had long term crushes on boys. The first two were part of “high school royalty” and I’m pretty sure I made a fool of myself with one of them (you know, the whole sticking a note in their locker anonymously thing). I’m mortified just thinking about it, LOL.
Later in high school, I had a crush on a guy in my youth group. Man, I fell hard for him…even had a lingering crush through college just before I started dating my husband. I think he knew and maybe felt the same way but he was shy when it came to girls (I only ever remember him having one girlfriend that lasted like two weeks). The ironic thing? Pretty sure he had a crush on me the summer I got engaged. 😛
But now, I know it would’ve never worked and I’m so blessed to have my husband. My first true boyfriend and love 🙂
Love becomes more practical as we age. It’s more about direction and less about drooling…
And I was TOTALLY in love with JTT, too, Katie 😀 I had his signed picture at one point. I probably watched Man of the House 20 x’s.
I was the queen of crushes. Turns out I didn’t go on a date until after I graduated from high school (so embarrassing!) but the boy on my first date just so happened to be Mr. Right and the rest is history!
Loving these comments and stories, everyone!
Probably because I’m in love with love. Which is why I write romance!
Me? I fell in love with my crush. I had a major, major crush on Ryan before he ever asked me out. I’d get all fluttery in the stomach whenever he came in to deliver a package at my work place.
I fell in love with my crush…and because of our age at the time (14) I would say that it began as ‘puppy love.’ I am one of the few who is married to her high school sweetheart. 🙂
I would say that our love grew out of a deep friendship. We have had a lot of ups and downs over the past 16 years-including a tumultuous 4 years of high school-and I know we would not be where we are today had we not been such good friends. Our love grew from our close friendship….from our need to share both the good and the bad that life served up.
We both believe very much in commitment. We believe that when two people love one another and make the commitment of marriage, that it takes great effort on both parts to keep a marriage strong. Not to make love sound like it’s all work, but I don’t think a marraige can slide by on love alone. I do not think that my view of love has changed as I get older, but I think I continue to see my own love in a new light. As our family grows, I see my husband more and more as my partner. We are in for the ‘long haul’ together. 🙂
I LOVE this comment, Linsday! I’ll just say AMEN to everything you wrote. 🙂
I had a crush on Bobby Sherman of the Monkees back in the early 70s. I figured I had a shot since he was short–because I was even shorter. Of course, he was several years older than I was at the time and had no clue I existed, but those factors didn’t phase 12-year-old me. =)
As one who’s been married 24 years, I believe love changes as a long-time married couple matures. There’s steadiness, comfort, and a level of trust that develop and deepen over time.
However, I believe a person can experience the thrill of a new love later in life. There’s a widow and widower at my church in their 80s who married this summer. The look in their eyes as they behold their new partner rivals anything I’ve seen in a younger person falling in love for the first time, proving romance is timeless.
No love for me…yet. Maybe someday, God willing.
Oh I’ve had crushes, many, many! But now I try and not let instant infatuation sweep me away, but look at it a bit more serious eye.
It’s all a waiting game right now. I’ve been told I should enjoy it. 😉
It will happen Casey. Sooner or later, a wonderful, Godly man is going to snatch you right up. If I had a little bro, I’d set his sites on you. But alas, I do not. 🙂
LOL! Thanks Katie, I’ve learned God’s timing is always perfect. And hey, your comment sure does make me giggle and grin. Probably ’cause I’m in love with love too. Somebody’s got to have a little brother somewhere. ha! 😉
Oh yes, I had crushes on basketball players in high school, the boy-next-door, Harrison Ford….sigh.
But I didn’t have a crush on my husband when we dated the first time. I thought of him as a friend. All that changed when we dated the second time around. He became my True Love.
I do believe there can be more than one true love in a lifetime. We have a couple at church who were both married for 50 yrs. Their spouses passed on…they met, and married each other. Both were in their 70s when they married. How romantic!
Thanks for the post!
how were they 70 when they got married and were married for 50 years that would mean they would be at least 120 years old
I believe they REMARRIED in their 70s, both after being married for 50 years previously and losing their spouses.
It’s the remembering of those first loves that makes reading romance novels so delicious! We all remember those feelings of invincibility and love without life’s problems. LOL Then we come to screeching reality where bills, kids, braces, and the neighbor’s dog that barks all night and bites Aunt Earlene. But even I remember my first love(s). Yet it’s the last one who holds my heart and has for over 41 years.
Oh my…yep, JTT, Shawn Rider, Matthew Lawrence, Devon Sawa, Justin Timberlake…woot. I was convinced if only I could meet one of them, they’d see me for who I really was…and appreciate how “different” I was. Ha. Makes me giggle just thinking about it!
It’s funny…I didn’t even like my husband in that way when he first asked me out. He was my friend, but I admired him over any of my other guy friends. I think for me it was good to be friends first, because I WASN’T googly-eyed…I was just myself. He got to know the real me, flaws and all. And he still liked me, asked me out. He admits now that he loved me before he asked me out…but after 4 months of dating, I knew I wanted to marry him…it’s like God turned a “love” switch on inside of me.
And none of my real-life crushes (aka people I actually knew) compared to Mike. He is one of a kind, and he’s all mine! 😉
At the time, no one could convince me that there was anything “puppy” or temporary about it. And a bad ending can result in years of soul searching. They are a yard stick which one uses for the rest of their life.
Tee hee! So cute about you with the origami!
It’s embarrassing how many crushes I had when I was younger. I have a stack of journals from the age of 13 all the way through college to prove it. Yes, I do think you can have more than one true love, maybe not at once, but during a lifetime, b/c I don’t think we’re aware of true love until we endure many seasons (ups AND downs) together. The deeper I go with God, the deeper my love for my husband. There are four different Greek words for love, with “agape” being the most complete b/c it’s unconditional. In my own experience, that is what I feel *true* love is.
It’s painful to read my ramblings in my journals about my crushes, but then again, all of that brought me to where I am today, so maybe it’s not so bad. ?
I have a stack of journals too! Sometimes I cringe that I’ve kept them…but I think it’s interesting to see the person I was and see where my life has gone.
Your post made me smile, Katie.
I thought of some of my crushes.
And how some of those crushes crushed my heart.
Isn’t that the way it is sometime?
And then, some of them actually turned into the real thing — or what I thought was the real thing back then.
Can you have more than one true love in a lifetime?
I have to say yes, because I just watched a friend — who was suddenly and heartrendingly widowed several years ago — remarry this past summer. And I know she loved her first husband (I knew him when they were “them.”) And I have no doubt she loves her new husband too.
Both true loves.
That’s exactly what I was thinking of, Beth! I’m actually going to write a post about this, because this is a HUGE theme in my 2nd contracted book, Wishing on Willows. Can a person have two great loves of their life? Your comment just got that ball rolling…..
Thanks, chica!
Oh, now I’m intrigued about book #2!
We’re tracking each other again … I’m onto book # 2 … too.
*sigh* clay. jake. a.j. kyle. kelly. jerry. stuart. oh the list goes on. i had crushes all the time. boyfriends? 4 before my husband. and no, i don’t think i truly loved them. not in the way i love allan, that’s for sure. there was a true fondness for those other guys…and the relationships i had with them made me appreciate what i have with allan even more, so i know there was a reason for those crushes. i’m better for them and better off, too!