So Glad to See You, Garfield!

I talked with my Mom on the phone last evening. Well, it was evening for me and afternoon for her as she lives three hours behind in Las Vegas. The purpose of the call was to let her know that I was doing ok and I was settling in. (Bringing that last batch of stuff over effected me a little more that I thought it would.)

So she says to me that she has some glassed and mugs that she wants to send me. These are things that she has held onto through her moves. For instance, there are a couple of smoked glass mugs that my father had bought with a big "O" on it for our last name. Another is a couple of Return of the Jedi collector glasses that we had bought at Burger King over 20 years ago. I can't wait to sell those to some Star Wars geek on Ebay!

There was one mug that I prayed she had in her posession. The mug has the cartoon character Garfield painting my name, Jim, on a wall. The personal significance of this mug is that it was a gift from my very first girlfriend. I thought I had lost this mug in my eleven moves since graduating from college. Mom goes to a room in her apartment, opens a box and lo and behold, Garfield is starting back at her. Serendipity, Baby!!!

No why do I care so much about this mug from relationship I had when I was 13, maybe 14? I guess because it was my first taste of love, of the sparkes that fly between a young boy or girl. It got me thinking about the other "firsts" in my life.

The first girl I truly fell head over heels for: I took her to my prom. She was absolutely beautiful. If I close my eyes, and let my memories go, I can still smell her perfume. I don't know the name of the brand, but I can still smell it 12 years later. She gave me a little "sand flea" sculpture that says "Born to Play." It's on my bookcase right now. Things never worked out between her and I. She had issues and I didn't really know how to communicate well with women then. (Not that I know completely now, but I am getting better.) Lots of unrequited love.

The first "girlfriend" I had at college: I was a sophomore and she was a freshman. She and her roommate made me this thing they called the "Swoon Fan" to hold back all the girls who would "swoon" at me because of my guitar playing. (I am guessing that "swoon" is a Southern word.) We didn't date long, but the fun memories are still there and the fan is in a box of mementos in my closet. (When she reads this she'll probably laugh that I still have it.)

The first woman I experience "Love at First Sight" with: I didn't know what that feeling was then, I just knew that she was someone that I had to have in my life. Again, things never really worked out. We both always seemed to be going in two different directions. That and I again was not totally comfortable talking with women about I how felt about them. So more unrequited love. I have the books she gave me on my bookcase still. And a daily habit of looking to the sky, in the direction where she lives, and saying a prayer that God sends her some angels to look after her.

(It always ask for at least 2 or more angels. You can never have too many angels looking after you. My sister is in Iraq right now. God must be tired of my requests for batallion after batallion of angels to keep her safe. I know it is more paperwork for the Big Guy, but my sister is worth it.)

The first girl I wrote a song with: I also fell head over heels for her too. Damn, she was beautiful and boy, could she sing! But she was dating an asshole baseball player and transferred to another school. We kept in touch via letters and phone calls and she said, "Spider, I Love You!!" But again, it never worked out. More unrequited love. (Sensing a pattern in my life, aren't we? Perhaps a pattern I need to change!?!) With her, I still have the song we wrote together and recorded in my bathroom. My composition professor says I need to market that song because it would be a hit. Who am I to argue with a man who won a Grammy?

My first long term relationship: Well, this one recently ended. 5 years we were together. Lots of shared memories, both good and painful. One gift of hers that I still keep out sits on my dresser right now. It is a heart shaped box on which she attached two dolphins (my spirit animal). Inside are 101 heart shaped pieces of paper with "I Love You" written in 101 different languages. Pretty romantic, eh? I keep this, even with all the painful memories of the relationship, to remember the good times we had. That and because you never know when you may need to say "I Love You" in Flemish, Navajo, and Klingon! (She was a geek like me)

I guess I keep all these to remind me of the myriad forms in which love appears. And to remind me that love will appear again. When that "love at first sight" thing happens again, I'll recognize it now for what it is and not let that person slip through my fingers. Or perhaps, it will be "love at second sight." I am not worred about it at the moment.

I'm just glad to have the Garfield mug back in my life after years of thinking it was lost. Somehow drinking tea of of that mug means more than any other mug I own.