Second Grade Realizations

I was in second grade when I had a crush on a boy that I remember. Or maybe just the first crush that liked me back -- just for a little while. He wrote me a note on a slip of paper saying he liked me. We were in the Halloween carnival together a few weeks later, so it was in October. I remember roller skating with my Girl Scout troop the night I got the note and we'd been chosen as our class' carnival king and queen. I was skating on air - what a funny feeling and memory.

(I have a second grader right now - look out world!)

Just that memory, of my nascent opposite sex attraction, keeps my wheels turning. Obviously it was just who I was, who I am. Not something I wanted or chose. How can we deny other people's experiences? Especially when they're so similar to ours in the core ways? Love is love is love is love.

This is me, about Jane's age. (Undated photo)
And the same stupid cropped-in-the-front bangs.
She is her mother's daughter.