When Your First Love is "The One" and You Are Too Young to Know

I grew up in a small town and was raised by a single parent who kept me very sheltered. I was a loner for the most part. Outwardly, I was shy but people who knew me well came to know me as someone who loved to have fun with a sense of humor and adventure. I loved to be around people but my single parent Mom kept a tight leash on me allowing me only to come home after school and work At 16 dating was out of the question.

I was 16 and of course I was becoming very much aware of the fact that I needed to begin finding a girlfriend because I knew it was time and I was ready. There were a lot of girls at my school I felt liked me but I knew it would be just about impossible to date any of them or go to parties due to my strict Mom who raised me in a very religious household.

During my junior high school years there was one girl who stood out in my opinion from all the other girls in my age group. I'll call her Trisha. In seventh grade while the boys were playing softball, the girls were on the concrete running the 50 yard dash and getting timed. I noticed Trisha and she was running like the wind. It was as if time had stood still and it was a special moment I still remember some 30 years later. I also remember a softball bouncing in front of me and then past me as I stared at her while everyone was yelling for me to wake up.

What was not so funny at the time was the fact that I acted like a grinning fool every time I got around Trisha. I could never find the right things to say even though I practiced what I would say to her when we were apart. During my time in the 7th and 8th grades I was not relevant to Trisha who eventually got involved with a really popular guy who was very good looking and much more mature than I could ever be.