First Loves, Puppy Love, Crushes

We have spoken about a number of topics here, and inevitably, we've worked ourselves up to this very intimate topic.

First loves, puppy love, crushes and the like ...

We were kids in Rochdale, and many of us made it to our teenage years and beyond in the old neighborhood.

So, of course, we had our first inklings, twinges, whatever you want to call it, of Cupid's arrow while in  Rochdale.

It could have been a teacher, it could have been someone that was in your class, or someone that you admired from afar, but those twinges were there, no doubt about it.

I certainly had mine ... I was a shy kid, and any girl who looked at me or talked with me at all ... well, all of a sudden, I was smitten.

That is my second grade photo, and yes, I had a major crush in that class, but I won't reveal who it was because I do not want to embarrass her.

And as for other kids around my age, my sister was younger than me, which means we had a steady stream of pretty young ladies entering and exiting our apartment all the time.

If I only knew what to do at that time ...

With girls in my own age group ... well, forget about it.

I admired many of them, but other than a mere wink and a nod, I never really had any relationship with any of them, but I did like quite a few.

In fact, at a Reunion a few years ago, I got up enough gumption to tell one of those that I admired that I had something of a crush on her way back when ...

And I did this with her husband standing right there.

We had a good laugh, and that was it.

I wonder if she knew way back when that I had a thing for her ... she and about 20 other girls at that time.

But those yearnings were not to last, because by the time I could have acted on them positively, and perhaps went out with these girls, I was gone, moving to another place where I virtually had to start over.

Anyway, who were your crushes, did you ever let on to them that you liked them, did you have any first dates in Rochdale, and yes, I know a lot of you followed through and actually dated and married fellow Rochdale people.

You can talk about all that at the Reunion, and perhaps meet up with one of your early crushes, and let them know just how you felt way back when.

The deadline is September 15, and we would "love" you to attend!