Well, it seemed appropriate for the first post. Pictures of Mac and me from 4th grade, the year we met. People ask us if we were sweet on each other back then ("back then" being grades 4 through 12), and whether we have any memories of each other. Well, to satisfy curiosity: Mac says he liked me in 4th grade. I say I liked him off and on throughout the years, but confess I had crushes on practically everyone at some point. (He did too, he just won't say that). At any rate, there was never a time when I didn't like him, because I think he has the rare gift of universal likeability. Here are a few memories we have of each other.
- Mac remembers going to a basketball game in 4th grade and me eagerly grabbing him by the hand when I saw him and saying "Come sit with us!" This evidently was before I turned all shy and awkward.
- I remember one time in 5th grade when Mac saw the pointy shoes I was wearing and asked to try them on. He attempted to walk in them and fell into a backwards pratfall, legs and arms flailing. He asked me, "How can you even walk in these things!?"
- I remember Mac asking me on the playground to marry his best friend. I also remember him calling me a name on the playground when I was being a tease (again not shy?), but I'm not allowed to bring this story up.
- We both remember going to the Sizzler buffet in 4th or 6th grade and him getting ice cream from the machine. At first he couldn't figure out how to make it stop, and once he did, he just kept it going because everyone was laughing at him and his 2 foot tower of swirly vanilla ice cream.
- I remember having a discussion at a basketball game in 4th (?) grade about candy hearts, and whether the sayings on the hearts contained in each valentine I gave out were intentional or accidental. I lied and said they were accidental (because I was embarrassed at how seriously I took the messages and amazed that someone had found me out). I seem to remember asking Mac why he would worry, because the candy heart message I gave him was good...which sort of blew my whole 'accidental' routine. I think the heart I gave him said something like "Why not?"
- I remember Mac's older sister staying at our house because she and my sister played 6th grade basketball together. I have a very vague memory of her standing in the doorway and telling me her brother liked me. That was in 4th grade.
- I remember making a group video project for a high school history class. Mac was in my group, and we did a scene in a 'restaurant' (which was really the teacher's lounge). All we had for food in the scene was raw hot dogs. I ate one in an attempt to impress Mac and make him laugh. I don't remember if it worked.
- A favorite memory: In 5th grade, Mac decided to take a fist-sized rubber ball that had been cut in half and suction it to his forehead. He had a nice, fist-sized, bright red hickey on his forehead for about a week.
- This makes Mac laugh: I distinctly remember in 5th grade or so, when he began to transition from quiet guy to class comedian, and I remember the most popular guy in class taking note of it. I said to myself in all earnestness, "Oh no, we've lost him for good." ("We" being the quiet, unpopular kids...or probably just me).
- This makes me cry: Mac distinctly remembers when I began to transition from fun, talkative, happy, flirty 4th grader to silent, inward and morose. When we met again at 30 years old...he asked me what happened back then, and told me it had always bothered him. That little conversation is probably a good chunk of the reason why we're together today.
