MEMORY MONDAY - FIRST BOYFRIEND

Well, this is an odd one for sure, but mostly because it makes me remember how naive I was, and because the whole thing was just weird. His name was Charles (Chuck) Snyder. Not only were we in the 5th grade together (this is his yearbook picture for that year), but he also lived a couple of trailers up from us in the trailer park. I remember when I was 11, I was really into my girlfriends and didn't really give a crap about boys, but I had a kind of a "crush" on Chuck. He always wanted to play "grown ups" with me (that should have been my first clue) at the trailer park and when my best friend Julie Spencer wasn't allowed outside, I acquiesced to play with him, for lack of anyone else around. Coincidentally, my friend Julie also lived in the trailer park. Well one day we were at the swings or something like that, and Chuck wanted to play "grown ups." He asked me if I knew what sex was and if I had ever done it before. Now, you have to understand that at this time in my life I was painfully shy and lied about everything just to fit in, so I told him I knew what it was (lie number 1) and that I had done it lots of times (lie number 2). It's true what they say about lies getting you into trouble, because what followed surely would have led me down a path that I could never have escaped, had it continued. Okay, enough digression. He then asked me if I wanted to "do sex" with him. I said, sure, whatever. He told me to meet him in the woods (behind the trailer park) at the fort (a spot by a tree with some rotten old boards). I agreed and went on my merry way. Not having known what sex was, I wasn't worried, I mean, how bad could it be, right? So the next day after school, I go to the fort and meet up with Chuck. He tells me we should kiss first. I didn't think anything about that. I kissed my brother and my parents, nothing weird about that. So I kissed him, you know, a little peck on the lips. He then tried to hug me. I hugged him back because friends can hug, at least I hugged my girlfriends. Then he tells me we have to lay down, so we did. Just as he touched my arm, we hear his mom yelling for him to come home. He made me promise to meet him again tomorrow. I said I would. So the next day, we meet again, but this time there are all kinds of kids hanging out at the fort. I told him we could go under our trailer because we didn't have a trailer skirt and it was fun under there. He agreed. We shimmied under the trailer and we kissed again. He told me you were supposed to take your shirt off for this. I didn't understand why, so I didn't do it. He took his shirt off and it freaked me out. I had a pretty good view of the trailer park from under the trailer and right when Chuck was about to undo his pants, I saw my friend Julie's mom drive up with her in the car. I got so excited I told Chuck I didn't want to play with him anymore, and ran up to Julie's house. I left Chuck in the dirt--literally. After that day, Chuck wasn't very nice to me anymore and he never asked me to play again (the lech).

I love the fact that I can remember this stuff. These Memory Mondays are good exercises in memory strengthening. At my age, I find it hard to just remember my childhood in general, but when I actually stop an think about a particular moment or event like this, I find I can recall so many details. It's really a great idea!!