Greetings. This week, our friends at Silverbloggers invite us to take a trip down memory lane to our youth in search of our first love. Let me tell you...
I must have been in fourth grade when, during one of the breaks, I overheard a group of girls talking about the movie Lady and the Tramp, an animated film in which two dogs fall in love.
I listened to what they were saying and was dying to join in the conversation, but I was too shy, and besides, it was a group made up entirely of girls. I thought that for some reason they wouldn't feel comfortable if a boy approached them.
Of all the girls there, one stood out above the rest. She was the one who always spoke, and to my ears, her words sounded the most interesting. She was a little taller than the others, with dark brown hair and brown eyes. I really thought she was a very pretty girl.
From that day on, every time there was a school break, I would look for the group of girls in the schoolyard. Sometimes I would get close enough to hear their conversations, and other times I would just stand there watching them.
One day, I noticed that one of my classmates had joined the group. You could say she was my friend because we were in the same group for the group activities we did during arts and crafts class. Her name was Rosana.
One afternoon, while we were doing a craft project with plaster, I plucked up the courage to ask her who the girl was who joined them at recess. She mentioned the names of each one and the grade they were in until she got to Gisela, the girl I had noticed. She told me that Gisela was in sixth grade, two grades above me, and that she lived in the city center, a little far from where I lived, since I lived to the west. She told me that, like me, Gisela was a good student and got very good grades on her report cards.
With that information, it occurred to me that the best way to approach Gisela was through Rosana. So I wrote a short letter with my name on it, telling Gisela that I was a big fan of hers and inviting her to have a drink with me during the next school break. If she accepted, Rosana would introduce her to me.
In the next arts and crafts class, I talked to Rosana about Gisela and told her I was interested in getting to know her. She told me that Gisela and she were very good friends and that she would surely be interested in meeting me. That answer surprised me a lot because I thought I had nothing attractive that Gisela would be interested in. With nothing to lose, I asked her if she could give Gisela a letter, and she said yes.
Days went by and I didn't get a reply, but I didn't dare ask Rosana if she had delivered the letter and if she had received a response. Suddenly, one day during recess, while I was near the school cafeteria, I saw the two girls approaching. Rosana said to Gisela, “This is Irvin,” turned around, and walked away.
I was speechless. I looked at the girl, not knowing what to do. Suddenly, I thought to say, “Hi, you're Gisela, right...?” “Yes, nice to meet you,” she replied. I asked her if she wanted a soda, and she accepted. We managed to exchange a few words about how classes were going and things like that. The bell rang at the end of recess, and we went back to class.
During the rest of the school year, I was able to talk to Gisela three or four more times, always about the same things, about class, the subjects we liked, and similar topics.
When July came, classes ended. Gisela came to school and then never went back. Neither Rosana nor I heard from her again.
During those vacations, I spent a few days feeling bad, missing that excitement I felt the three or four times I talked to Gisela in the school cafeteria. I think that experience was the closest thing I had to my first love. Later, as the years went by, other emotions would come along that were more intense than those I felt in the playground.
If you want to participate in this initiative, click on the following link.
Thank you for your time.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version).
