Unrequited Love...

or, Hope Blooms Eternal

...So after another halcyon summer, I set my face for fourth grade, and further adventures, romantic and otherwise.  Of course that begs the question of how I was to have further romantic adventures when I hadn't had any previous romantic adventures...only disappointments.  

In fourth grade there were once again two: Rita, a short, athletic blond, dimples of course, and really smart, of course, who was attractive as much for her personality as her looks; and Nan Starley, a kind of geeky girl, super smart, and a piano player; but also taller by two heads than any of the boys in 4th grade.  I ruled Nan out early because of the height thing, and more's the pity.  She continued to be smart, and didn't gain much more height, so that by high school she had become the brilliant, talented, kind, graceful swan she was meant to be.  She was Young Woman of the Year at Orem High her senior year...made me wonder what might have happened if I had gotten in on the ground floor.  The what ifs...

But Rita was a worthy object, and things looked like for once they might be going my way.  My fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Smith, was also athletic (I think she minored in phys.ed.), and for our big performance for our parents, we were going to do this synchronized jump-rope extravaganza.  There would be individual jump-roping and negotiating two jump-ropes at once...but the centerpiece was to be an activity where the boys would line up in one column, girls in a column adjacent, and two by two we would pair off, (isn't this cozy...boy-girl, boy-girl), take your partner by the hand, and together negotiate three jumps over the twirling jump-rope before exiting and returning to your line.

It just so happened that, though I can't remember her last name, it must have been close to the L's, because she was paired up with me. That meant for every rehearsal/practice (and there were many scheduled) I would get to hold her hand at least once by teacher decree. The boys couldn't accuse me of liking one of the flea-ridden girls, because I had no choice; meanwhile I would be in Fantasy Land for several moments each week...and this time, NO WARTS! 

Fickle fate...we hadn't gone through more than two or three practices (each one a bit of heaven) when I came to school one week and Rita was nowhere to be seen.  I had a bad feeling, confirmed soon after class started:  Mrs Smith announced that Rita's family had moved across town (there was never any proof it was so she wouldn't have to be my partner), and we would have to reassigned partners for the paired jump-rope demonstration.  The extravaganza was a blur for the rest of the time.  I don't even remember who my partner was.  I am sure she was fine, but she wasn't Rita (or even Nan), and I felt a great kinship with a Bobby Vinton Song popular around that time:  

    Blue on Blue

So much for fourth grade.

I don't remember too much about fifth grade, crush-wise.  There was a girl I thought was kind of cute, though she didn't have dimples, didn't play the piano, and was only moderately smart.  She was one of a pair of identical twins, and for good reason, the school never put them in the same class.  They did not shy away from dressing the same and using their twin-ness to confuse people.

I remember in the spring we were assigned to work on a bulletin board together.  There musdt have been something else going on for others in our class, because we were just two of a few kids in class at the time.  At any rate, we started some kind of friendly joking, and by the end, she was try8ing to put staples in my back with the stapler.  I remembered my misguided attempts to get JaNae Anderson's attention in 3rd grade, and hoped this meant Sharon had some affection for me.

NEXT WEEK: The Teen Angst That Is Junior High