Monday, May 14, 2012

First Loves


You know, when you're crying so hard that your mouth stays open and soundless waves of nothing but spit strings and popcorn breath emanate? That was my sister, Elizabeth.

And you remember Tammy Faye Baker when the infidelity shitstorm hit and every tabloid from the southern Bible belt to Whitehorse carried photos of her with a mudslide of mascara ooking down her cheeks? That was my cousin, Karen.

I distinctly remember coming out of the movie theatre from seeing Terms of Endearment and seeing those two, teenagers at the time, looking like the love children of Luciano Pavarotti and Alice Cooper. What a satisfying bawlfest that movie was. If I don't cry or laugh at a movie I feel ripped off and I came out of that one with deep-seated orgiastic satisfaction. Debra Winger glowed with fragile beauty. Shirley MacLaine was hilarious and tremendous, all at the same time. And Jack Nicholson was the best he ever was, self-deprecating and sexy. My first movie love? Hands down, Terms of Endearment.

***

Christmas night 1968 and I was snugged into a quilt-layered iron bed in one of Grandma and Grandpa Hooper's spare bedrooms. Mounted on the headboard was one of those old-fashioned, pull-chain reading lights and it was switched on as I opened up my newest Nancy Drew Mystery, the best present under the tree, and began reading it with the enthusiasm one might bestow on a precious jewel. For a few thrilling years, Christmas and birthdays meant new Nancy Drews and those yellow-spined beauties were, without a doubt, what inspired me to read some of the world's greatest literature, and also to write.

***


I was having a hard time narrowing down musical first loves just now. There was so much music to love when I was growing up. Then I remembered sitting down in my parents' basement, cross-legged on their red indoor-outdoor carpet next to the stereo listening to David Cassidy's Cherish as it spun for the four-hundred-millionth time on the same turntable that later played Jesus Christ Superstar, The Guess Who and Supertramp. That hair, that perfect hair. Those liquid-chocolate brown eyes. Those slim hips. Hang on... having trouble breathing just now... David Cassidy, I think I must still love you, so what am I so afraid of?

***

Ian Oliver was the first boy I ever kissed and so I guess I loved him because when you're in Grade 8 it's easy to confuse a messy glom of chapped lips, fat sloppy tongue and adolescent body odour with love. Sometimes, but not often, I wonder what happened to him.

Then, one day a couple of years ago, the company I work for announced the appointment of a new president. Ian Oliver. I stared at the headshot that accompanied the announcement. I thought, maybe? The eyes looked kinda similar but it was hard to tell because 36 years had gone by. Still, stranger things had happened so I sent him an e-mail and congratulated him on his appointment . (I know, chutzpah, right?) While I wanted to outright ask him if he was the kid I kissed in some other kid's basement back in 1972, I had the brains to coach my question in a less obvious and more job-future-friendly manner. I told him he reminded me of someone "I went to school with" in Markham, Ontario. Luckily, or unluckily as your viewpoint might allow, the president of the company grew up in England or Australia or somewhere over the pond but definitely not in Markham so he was definitely not the Ian Oliver I locked lips with back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and David Cassidy played on my parents' stereo.

Thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh for another fun-filled blogfest. If you'd like to take part, click here!

54 comments:

  1. Wouldn't it have been great if the Ian had been the same one and not some English bloke? Well, maybe not, he could have carried a torch with him all those years and then what...

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    1. Clarissa, I was actually kind of disappointed when it turned out to be a different guy. Disappointed but rather relieved, all at the same time.

      Funny how some people can easily find their old boyfriends on Facebook. Me? Can't find a one. (Am now wondering if that's for a reason...)

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  2. YES....Nancy Drew.....I knew it, I knew it.

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    1. I had to go over to your blog and see what got your "feathers" in a fluff! I love it that we're both Nancy Drew fans! She had a big influence on girls of our generation, no doubt about it.

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  3. Nancy Drew was one of my favorite book series too!

    And, I only watched The Patridge Family to see David Cassidy dance...lol

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    1. Jaybird, every time I look down my blog I pause at that picture of David Cassidy and flash back to staring at that album cover for HOURS. that picture still spikes my blood pressure. Other girls loved Donny Osmond but I was a David fan. Always was, always will be.

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  4. when that little boy cries at Debra Winger's bedside at the end.... gets me EVERY TIME!

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    1. I KNOW. Me too! Like, crazy hiccuphing bawling ugly tears. Pass the tissue, will ya?

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  5. Oh yes, I had a short-lived Nancy Drew phase ;)

    Sharing my love!
    English Speaking Zone

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    1. I am beginning to think we all did. Thanks Barbara! Love your colourful flags!

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  6. I don't know how I missed out on Nancy Drew. The series was never around for me to find when I was a kid. Perhaps I'm too old? I do remember the Bobbsey Twins with a great deal of fondness though. David Cassidy? I definitely think I'm older. :)

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    1. Oh yeah? Older? So who was your musical crush, Rubye??? Inquiring minds...

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  7. I knew I'd get a laugh reading your entries! And David Cassidy appreciates that you didn't select Shaun Cassidy.
    Thanks for participating in my blogfest!

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    1. My little sister had the hots for little bro Shaun, which seems appropos, no?
      Always a pleasure taking part in one of your blog festivals, Alex!

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  8. I had Bobbsey Twins and Nancy Drew. I gave up on Nancy in a book that included twins, identical twins, a boy and a girl.

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    1. Not too many people I know read both Bobbsey and Nancy - it was usually one or the other, or the Hardy Boys. Funnily enough, I understand all those books were written by the same person... but maybe that's just a myth...I oughta google it sometime, you know, when I haven't got 5,000 other things to do first.

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  9. I too read Nancy Drew. I also eat quiche.

    I'm sure David Cassidy appreciates being mentioned in the same sentence as back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Me, I'm a brontosaurus. :)
    ~jon

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    1. I love it when you share your feminine side, Jon! And your brontosaurus side!

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  10. I saw David Cassidy in a stage production of "Little Johnny Jones" back in the early 1980s. It actually quite good and Cassidy did a fine job.


    Lee
    Wrote By Rote

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    1. Oh, lucky you, Lee! Did you squeal? Cause I would have!!!

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  11. I saw Terms of Endearment on a first (and last) date. I cried so hard the poor guy had to take me home immediately afterwards! And I just saw you're reading my book! Thanks so much. Also saw you just finished Still Alice. Wasn't it good! And worrisome!!

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    1. Terms of Endearment: SO not a date movie!!!!! heheh

      YES, of COURSE I'm reading your book! I'm halfway through and just loving it, Johanna! It's awesome! You should be so proud! I'd like to write a little something about it when I'm done, if that's OK with you.

      And Still Alice... wonderful book and, yes, worrisome. Ever since I feel like I've got early onset Alzheimer's. But it's probably just the dementia that eventually claims all the ladies in my family... woo hoo! What I've got to look forward to.... better finish my own book now while I can remember how to type.

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  12. Aww, I was hoping it would be the same Ian Oliver!

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    1. (Me too, Paula, but don't tell anyone... if you're gonna have a torrid affair with someone, it might as well be the president of the company!!!!!! KIDDING, DAVE!!!)

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  13. I've been trying to get my daughter to read Nancy, but she just refuses. I was a Hardy Boy, myself.

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    1. Unfortunately Nancy and the Hardy's simple unsophisticated adventures just aren't hip enough for modern kids, who are dazzled by video games and computers. I have to wonder myself if I would have been such a reader if there were other options... I hate to think that an entire generation will grow up not loving to read but I think life is going that way.

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  14. david cassidy... punch him for stealing every girl i loved!
    :)
    We all love something...right!
    Jeremy [Retro-Zombie]
    Howlin' Wolf Records: On-Line Magazine

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    1. Consider him punched, Jeremy! (Albeit it gently... more like a spanking than a punch... oh, sorry, distracted again...)

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  15. I DO NOT CRY at movies...but I cried for hours and hours after Terms of Endearment...with friends at the restaurant, back at their house through a game of UNO...and on and off for days afterward. One of my patients had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer at just that time. It just hit too close to home.

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    1. HEHEHEHEHEH! Sorry, Jan, just giggling at the length and depth of your crying... through UNO??? Hilarious... Sorry about your patient, though (boy I am tactful...). Still, Terms strikes all the right notes for a championship tearfest, whether you know anyone who is ill or not. *passes you a Kleenex*

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  16. I still cry when I watch Terms of Endearment, especially that hospital scene where Debra Winger's character dies. It ranks right up there with the funeral scene in Steel Magnolias!

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    1. OH! Steel Magnolias, my OTHER favourite tear-jerker! Yes, don't you love the funeral scene? So much emotion, so much grief, then WHAP, suddenly you're laughing your head off. It's the best! Shirley MacLaine and Sally Field, two of my very, very favourite actresses of all time.

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  17. I've never seen 'Terms', but Dances with Wolves has that effect on me! Saw David Cassidy in 2006 in Tacoma at the Emerald Queen Casino. He encored with Cherish. ;D

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    1. OH JoJo, so lucky to see David Cassidy!!!! Did you throw your underwear at him? Sigh...
      And see Terms. Really. Just have tons of Kleenex on hand. TONS.

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  18. I saw Terms a few years ago for the first time - good choice

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    1. Did you bawl? C'mon, you can tell us... I bet your eyeballs were magenta for a WEEK.

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  19. I agree with Nancy. I still cry at those same two scenes. Even more so now that I have a daughter of my own.

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    1. Hey Jenn - so with a daughter of your own, did you just LOVE the scene at the beginning of Terms, where Shirley MacLaine freaks out because her daughter is quiet sleeping in her crib? So funny. So true. That's exactly how I felt when my boys were babies. (How I miss babies... sigh...)

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  20. My first "love" was Timmy Cormier. I often wonder what happened to him as well, but since his first loves were cocaine and pot once he started high school, I'm guessing he's never going to end up as my boss, the postmaster general.

    Although... you never know.

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    1. Good old Timmy Cormier... sigh... he was such a hunka burning love. Stupid drugs...

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  21. Oh, Rock Me Baby! Thank you for sharing your memories.

    Evalina, This and that...

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  22. I collected those Nancy Drew books too. I wish I still had them. Thanks for sharing your firsts and for stopping by my blog. :)

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    1. Christine, you are so welcome! And thanks for the follow!

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  23. Hi Cathy! I was just looking at Nancy Drew CDs today for one of my students. This is a rockin' trip down memory lane. Beautiful!

    Denise

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    1. Thanks Denise! It's fabulous that you're sharing Nancy Drew with your students...hopefully they'll love her as much as we did!

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  24. It's gonna sound weird, but that is a cute kissing story, despite all the sloppiness, lol.

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    1. Thanks Cassie Mae! And, hey, thanks for the follow!

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  25. I read Terms Of Endearment. I laughed, I sobbed. I couldn't possibly see the movie for fear that I would not agree with the changes they had made to a book I love. Which means that I am in a small minority of people who have never seen a Harry Potter Movie (I saw a smidge on television and ran away), The Lord of the Rings or any number of other block busters. I also prefer books because I can stop, put them down and think about things. Yes, I know - weird.

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    1. I hear ya, EC. One of my favourite books, ever, in the history of books, is The Shipping News and the movie was TERRIBLE. Well, ok, it might have been adequate if it wasn't connected to the book but the book, sigh.... the book was stellar, as good as books can ever get or ever dream to be.

      If I ever come across a copy of Terms, I'm going to read it on your recommendation.

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  26. I was almost going to list the Nancy Drew books as my First Book Love. But I remembered the Enid Blyton books :)

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    1. So many books back then... some of my other loves included the Black Stallion series and Harriet The Spy. Not to mention Little House on the Prairie.

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  27. Ah, David Cassidy! He was a bit of a heart throb. I remember going to a concert of his standing in the pouring rain with hundred of screaming girls! I went with my friend, her mother bought tickets for us as a present to her for her birthday!

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  28. Sorry I'm late.
    I've seen a lot of Nancy Drew in the blogs!
    Great picks.
    Thanks for sharing with us.
    Heather

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