Back story before the back story: I have been overweight most of my adolescence. Before beginning high school, I lost a decent amount of weight and also had a few birth marks removed. I was not picked on at all for the first time in a long while and actually got positive attention from people. I had some little crushes and flirts that are now incredibly embarrassing but this boy, M, was the first person that I was in a relationship with.
Things are a bit fuzzy on how exactly we met and how everything turned out to be. There are two events that I remember: 1) a friend of mine was going to an Aerosmith concert with a bunch of his friends (including M) and asked me if I wanted to go 2) another friend knew a nice guy who I could take to homecoming. All of my friends went to homecoming, some with just friends and a few with their boyfriends. It was a hodge-podge of people but we were all somewhat friends or friends of friends so it worked out well. It was my first dance (for most of us, actually) and I had my big girl heels on and a cute little green dress.
(Pardon the terribly blurry pictures here. The lower right picture is a dance later on after we had been dating a while. See, awkwardness had subsided by then!)
We had a really good time and hung out and became friends after that. Again, this is where it gets fuzzy as to a first date or what came next. I do remember specifically that he asked me out by bringing a rose to school and giving it to me during lunch. I cut out a horoscope for that week (November '97) that told me this could be a pretty promising relationship. It was sweet and so much fun! We used to wrestle a lot and tickle each other which left us both with bumps and bruises. We went to all of the dances (even the really lame ones) and I went to his intramural basketball games. We went to Cannon Beach for the day and played on the swings and in the sand like little kids. We ate salt water taffy and took geeky pictures of each other. I remember going to the zoo at least once and the Rose Festival at least twice.
It's funny how things get so fuzzy once time has passed but still I get little shots of clear memories and feelings. Hmph.
(16th birthday party with all my friends huddled around the ice cream cake. We had no plates!)
My crew in high school was pretty great now that I think about it, if not a little incestuous. (Inside story: some of the guys and girls in our group rotated through each other. I was never one of them though!) We went to football games, Red Robin afterwards, planned little excursions and liked hanging out with C's house all the time. It was why I always look back fondly on my high school times while others were hopeful to get out.
M and I dated for over a year which by high school terms is pretty long. Our parents liked us and we ended up staying friends even after we parted ways. He was overprotective when I dated assholes and I was there for him when his mom passed away. Even after over 10 years, we still manage to keep in touch.
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