First Crush?

I went to church tonight with my niece who is 7 and nephew who is 9. The priest was late and they were teasing each other while waiting. Suddenly my niece blurted a name and said he was my nephew’s crush but instead of denying and getting mad he actually smiled and nodded and said that he was her crush too… (Hmmm mutual feeling???) then he added that my niece also has a crush and she did not deny either and instead had this impish smile as she mentioned the name of her crush…

Geez having crush at that age!

They also added that “Di ba may crush ka din nuong bata ka?" (Didn’t you also have a crush when you were young?)

I had to look back quickly and remembered some things…

First, that we were asked to write about our crush when I was in first year high school (we were asked to write about a lot of things back then) and I remembered I had to “make up” somebody because I could not think at that time who my crush was!

Second, I went as far back as I can remember and remembered how I hit a boy when I was about 5 years old during the wedding of my godmother. No, not in the church but still in their home while they were preparing to go to church. Some old ladies there were teasing me to this boy and I was irked that I went near him and hit him! He cried of course and complained to my godmother but I answered that I only hit him because they were pairing me with him... and I think my godmother only laughed at me then (no scolding!)

Then… there was a time when I was in Grade 3 and a new neighbor transferred to one of the homes in our compound. I have always been a curious child and so I was there trying to welcome them. The lady had 3 children and I met two of them before when they were still surveying the place but only one was with her there that time… a boy about my age and we played outside while they were moving stuff inside the home. Suddenly he kissed me and I bit him in the arm… again of course he cried as he ran to his mother. She asked why I bit him and I answered that it was because he kissed me. And she laughed and said that he is like that with girls he liked. He also kissed their “Indian” neighbors before. Well I did not like being kissed so I was not consoled by her comment. However, I could not recall not leaving their place after that… it seems like we still continued to play but I was always in the lookout for another bite… truth was over the years he would have his “kissing episode” and he got a lot of hits from me. I was one tough kid then ready for a fight if provoked! I think something is wrong with his brain… he just had kissing episodes and you don’t really know when it was coming… unfortunately I seem to be the only target then… Ewww! Got that my other older niece...hehehe (double Ewww, maybe even a triple???) He eventually outgrew the episode but there are a lot of stories in between… I stand by my story though that I think he is NUTS… since one time I saw him with big scars on his legs – one long straight one and lots of small punctures on both sides. When we asked him what it was and he said that he made it so it would look like he had a big wound and the small punctures on both sides would look like stitches – so that he can fool his teacher since he was absent a long time. Geez...Gross!

Then, the priest came so I stopped my thought…
Well until now…

I was looking back in my elementary days when I was in the public school where I had boy classmates… I did not like them looking at me but I would always sing a song with my seatmate in grade 3, who was a boy (it was always like that they pair a boy with a girl since the chairs were for 2 persons). That time, my father taught me the song “And I love you so” and I prepared two copies of the song – one for him and for me. We would sing our own stanza and there were parts we would sing together. We always did that song when there is no teacher in the classroom and our classmates would clap after we sang it. Now I don’t think he had a crush on me (nor I on him) but I think he sang with me because he feared that I would get mad if he did not sing with me…hehehe… or maybe just like me…he enjoyed singing!

I am still thinking who my first crush was…

Instead I remember several neighbors’ mothers who would tell me that they want their son to marry me when I am older… and even older neighbors who said they will marry me when I am older. Hehehe… there were a lot of them then, I wonder what happened to all of them!

Anyway, I am still thinking and it is finally giving me a headache…
So I decided to stop…
I wonder if my niece and nephew will ever remember their crushes a few years from now.
I remember their smiles in the church and I can’t help but smile myself!