The Girlfriends' Cyber Circuit

I finished up The Boyfriend List at the gym this morning. What an amazing book. I can't stop thinking about it, and I wish I had written it. I also can't wait for the sequel. I wondered if every girl relates to Ruby the way I did. Does a person react differently depending on what type of person they were/are in high school? (I only recently learned that people who are geeks in high school actually know they are geeks! It broke my heart. A sad, long story that I'll share another time.)

My high school life was not filled with the action Ruby encountered, but I was Ruby in so many ways. I dated or wanted to date so many of the same boys Ruby did. I had a Finn, an Angelo, a Shiv and a Jackson. I had a Kim and I've been a Kim. The only real difference is that it took me much longer than one year of high school to sort through it all. For me, it was high school, college and then some.

My boyfriend list:

1) DJ-my first grade love and the boy who later told me he'd never date a girl with a butt wider than his.

2) BG-my fourth grade love. A karate boy. My mom cut his picture out of the paper and placed it in my scrapbook. I still have it.

3) TW-the first boy whose hand I held. I think in the third grade. We were in the back of a hatchback when we got rear-ended on the way to a skating party. The crazy things parents did in the 70s. No one was hurt.

4) JS-My fifth grade rock and roll boyfriend. We started a band together.

5) DW-My first smart boy crush. We had contests to see who could read the most library books each week. We both loaded up on science books. I remember a book about birthday celebrations around the world. I made my parents hide my birthday presents so I could find them every year after that.

6) DS-Eighth grade. The first boy I reeeeally wanted to be my boyfriend. I wasn't allowed to have a boyfriend. I told him yes and then told my parents I'd break up with him if they made me. They let me keep him. We never kissed. I think we held hands. He moved to a place called Pumpkin Center, South Dakota. We remained pen pals for a few months and then never spoke again.

7) BD-My ninth grade boyfriend. The first boy I kissed. My friend's mom told us to suck on the boy's tongue really hard when we french kissed. You can imagine how well that went over. We dated a few months. I still "loved" him in high school. He married his high school sweetie.

8) ND-my 10th grade sweetie. A boy from the "other" junior high. A total hottie. We dated one week. I "loved" him all of high school too.

9) TB-Another 10th grade sweetie. I loved him forever too. As per my history, this one didn't last long either. But, I wrote him love notes all year. After college, we crossed paths. One night, I had a choice between him and my (now) husband. I chose my not-quite-boyfriend (CP, whom I married).

10) BM-My church camp counselor who was too smart to get involved with a kid like me. We were pen pals for a few months and then he visited our church for our confirmation. That was the end of my lusty relationship with him.

11) DB-A boy from my church who was two years older than me. I practically threw myself at him hinting that I wanted to date him. When he finally asked me, it was to his prom. He showed up dressed in a geeky tux with a bright blue shirt. My mom had to force me to answer the door. I avoided him and our church for many months after that. I did see him at a RA conference in college. He was cute. And I was mean. That night, I was busy making out with S, a former boyfriend of a friend.

12) BO-The boy I was supposed to date when we got to college. A real cutie. Would have been the perfect boy for me. Instead, I got impatient and dated two of his friends.

13) DP-The boy I dated for four years in college. A true loser. We took all the same English classes and were too competitive with our writing. It seemed fun at the time, but we tried to see who could fit the most swear words in a paper and get away with it. We were going to move to Colorado together to be hippy writers. He broke my heart too many times. I broke his. We broke up graduation week. He crashed my wedding.

14) RB-the boy who lived across the lake from my parents. We took late night paddle boat rides. Never kissed. He came to visit me in college. Stayed the night on my floor. I don't recall any kissing, but it seems that was the point of him visiting. I lusted after him every summer. But, he was really not my type. Too much of a partier.

15) CP-My husband and true love. We met though DP. They both lived on the same dorm floor. The day I saw CP, I asked DP, "Woah. Who is that?" I watched him for two years. We wound up at the same party the week DP and I broke up. I asked CP out a week later. We stayed up all night making out. Yes, just that. And, the rest is history. We've been married 14 years this week.