Looking up my Past

 I want to talk now about Garnett Ryland III.  He was my first real boyfriend, when I was 13 and 14.  He was a year younger than me, and extremely adorable, with dimples, great features, curly hair and million-dollar smile.  We met at school, and He was shy, as was I, but we stuck together all year and finally kissed when I was almost 14.  I was crazy about him. He was in our musical summer camp, and we saw each other almost every day.  When we parted I thought of nothing but him, and the next summer, we reunited for the summer, me living in the Welford’s 17th century house, and him nearby.  But after than next summer, we never met again.

I wish I could say I met someone nearly as nice, but maybe not.  I was demoralized, because I was on the opposite coast, and we had no way of really staying in touch.  This was way before cell phones and digital devices.  So, we’ll never really know.  It wasn’t just because of the distance, but because no one took our puppy love seriously.  

My parents certainly ignored it and were busy with my mother’s cancer and my dad’s work.  I really think our love was worth saving, but no one else did.  I ended up married to Sadiq, whom I really didn’t love and probably wouldn’t have liked if I’d known who he was.  I could have married anyone, because, I had lost my belief in things working out for me.  

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