Yesterday, out of the blue I got a text from my 6th grade girlfriend.  I love hearing from Mary, because she usually just scolds me for things going on in my life and she ALWAYS seems to go back in time to remind me how big of a jerk I was to her at 6th grade camp when I broke up with her because I liked a girl from another school named Heath.   Honestly, I was a jerk to her that week, only because a few days before Vinnie Barbarino did the same thing on an episode of Welcome Back Kotter and I wanted to be just like him.   We did kiss and make up at the end of the week in front of an auditorium full of kids, just like Barbarino did.

Mary told me she was in the hospital getting ready to have surgery and was in pain, but is expected to be home soon with a speedy recovery.  I texted her back asking if there was anything I could do or if she needed anything.

You know those cute little posters or pictures you see titled PUPPY LOVE that are at Hallmark or any store that women go to all the time? You know, the picture of the two 10 year olds holding hands or kissing for the first time?  Well, that was me and Mary.

When we were 11 years old playing HORSE on her basketball rim above her garage, I somehow managed to get a kiss from her for the first time from her or any girl.  I said to her, “If I make this basket, can I get a kiss?”  AND I did.   We both have the same memory of it, because when we kissed on the lips for that brief quick second, the bells from the church a block away started to ring.  So, we truly heard church bells when we first kissed.  Then, moments later she somehow stuck gum in my hair and her mom had to cut my hair and the top of my head had a little piece of hair sticking up for a few days, so for the next year or two, I was poked fun of by my friends and called ALFALFA, like the kid in Little Rascals with the hair popping up.

When we would walk home from school in elementary, I couldn’t be nice to her in front of my friends, because boys weren’t nice to girls at that age yet.  You know, like in the movie Grease at the bon fire!  But, when I would be with my friends walking home, Mary would be up ahead of us by about 40 yards and she would stop and pretend to tie her shoe so I could catch up to her and walk the rest of the way home with her and not let down my friends by doing it on purpose.

Then, one time when we were like 12, we were playing JACKS on the side of her patio in her backyard.  She promised me she wouldn’t tell my friends that I was playing JACKS with her.  After all these years, she never did give me up to anyone.    We were sitting down on the pavement, when for some reason, we started talking about “french kissing” and what it was and that it was gross that adults did that. Then, somehow all of a sudden we said, “lets try it.”   Have you ever tested a 9 volt battery with your tongue?  Well, that’s exactly what we did.  We touched tongues for no longer than 1 second and then started laughing because it felt gross and we promised each other to never ever try that again.   

Mary called me  yesterday and told me how much pain she was in and I asked if I could do anything or get anything and she jokingly said, “I want a cafe mocha at Starbucks.”   I asked what hospital she was at and she wouldn’t tell me because she said she felt and looked terrible and there would be no way she would want visitors.

When we hung up,  for some reason, I just took a wild guess she was at the new Sharp off the 163.    I called the main number and I was right.

About an hour later, I knocked on her door at the hospital and walked in with her Cafe Mocha grande from Starbucks and laid it down on that tray and gave her a kiss on the cheek and gave her a hug.

Mary will be just fine and has surgery today.    Mary isn’t an ex girlfriend, she was my first girlfriend.   When I think of old girlfriends, I tend to smile when I think of  “most” of them, but I smile bigger when I think of Mary.