Saturday

I talked to my childhood yesterday...

I was standing there- just having been pushed into the kiddie pool by my best friends husband (don't worry there will be revenge) when he walked up to me and said 'I know you'. Well, loads of things ran thru my mind 'ee-gads- did I once work with this guy?', 'did I once hire this guy?' to the random 'do I owe this guy money?'.....He must have sensed I was clueless (although it didn't help he wore his dark sunglasses the whole time rendering his eyes covered) so he followed up his opening line with "I am Jarrod Hurst". Well, folks- you know how you have a few names from your past just BURNED into your memory? Names you have always known-and will never forget? As soon as I heard him say it I almost fainted-I swear. I smiled and said something stupid like "oh my GAWD- are you serious?"....now this is a pretty dumb thing to say, since most people know at least their own name I would think.
So there I was staring at this man and wondering what to say next. "WOW, this is so weird...so um, how in the world did you recognize me?" I said. "Oh as soon as I heard someone call you Marcy I knew immediately"...He did? He knew immediately? The last time we saw each other- and I remember it vividly was the last day of 6th grade. My mom picked me up in her white Z28 Camaro and his dad was picking him up in his Datsun mini-truck (with a shell on it). We separated in the parking lot as we walked to the separate cars. "Hey have a cool summer" he said..... "Yeah, you too". And that was it. That was the end of the not-really-but-practically romance of my 6th grade year. Jarrod was my assigned square dancing partner in February, my handball partner at recess and my first sorta-kinda date (Roller rink with his parents) in May. I thought he was just dreamy with his thick brown hair, raspy voice and smirky grin. He was a charmer as I remember- and all the girls, teachers and parents thought Jarrod was adorable. I felt pretty lucky to be his not-really-but-sorta-girlfriend for those few months of my 10th year on this planet. Pretty darn lucky indeed. And I never, ever forgot about him. And apparently- he had not forgotten me either. More shockingly he could even recognize me too...
We chatted a bit. It was strange. He was married and has 3 girls. He was an electrician. He was bald. He looked nothing like the little boy of my past. But he still had the same raspy voice and smirky smile- because those things never change I guess. He seemed like a pretty happy person- and I was glad about that. After a while he had to run off to chase down his little toddler....and we ended our conversation. It was a large block party thrown by mutual friends so people were kinda divided into different 'camps' all day. When I left the block party he saw me walking to my car and yelled "Have a great summer!" and I smiled and said "yeah you too". Talk about full circle folks...I couldn't make this stuff up.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

That was a great story. It got me wondering if I would recognize Danny Lopez (he looks like Mario but I'm sure Mario isn't from Duluth, MN). I know he wouldn't recognize me-my own mom doesn't.

Now, had I just been pushed in the pool, I would have said, nope it's not me & ran in the other direction. b/c in the dress rehearsals in my mind, I always look so dang hot when I see an old friend. In reality, I always look like I was pushed in to a pool.

Ann Harrison said...

Time can fly and it can stand still.
What a great story.

Anonymous said...

When I saw your tweet about this I was keeping my fingers crossed for a post about it... and you didn't let me down! What a sweet story with such the Hollywood ending!

foolery said...

Great story. If it had been my life I would have climbed into his father's old Datsun pickup that I had bought from him after high school and was still driving. I'm glad it's your story, not mine.

Also? AARRRR! I think BlogBlur is a GREAT name, and as long as Katie Couric is MILES away from it, it'll be a fabulous time. AARRRR! Welcome aboard, Matey!

Anonymous said...

wonderful writing.
True but still magical