Do you remember the first time you had your heartbroken, the first time you cried over someone?  I remember it like it was yesterday. I was in 5th grade, yup, at the young age of 11! I had a boyfriend, B. That of course was like all young love, you would talk on the phone, write notes to each other (you know back in the day where we would pass notes in class, before technology that now rules our world…the good old days), try to sneak holding hands, and meet at the skating rink on the weekends. They had these coins at the skating rink that you could engrave, if your boyfriend did that for you, you knew he really “loved you”. There was no talk about sex or anything sexual except for the occasional peck on the lips. Truly, innocent puppy love. 

Anyways, B was my boyfriend and even gave me a stuffed bunny (which I’m sure I still have in a box somewhere) at my first boy/girl birthday party.  We danced to Boyz II Men and had our first kiss when we played spin the bottle. It was love. 

Then came the day that B told me that he wanted to break up and that he had a crush on my best friend.  I thought my world had ended. I remember holding back tears all day long. My stepdad picked me up from school that day, the one day I needed my mom.  When my mom came home she came upstairs to say hello and as soon as I saw her I started bawling running into her arms and getting the comfort that only your mom can give you. My mom was immediately alarmed wondering what happened. Tears were flowing, you know those crys when you cant even speak because you’re crying so hard? I managed to get out the words, “B broke up with me because he likes my best friend”. When I told her B broke up with me, she started laughing thinking that something major had happened, but to me it was major.  I looked up at her and her smile faded, talking to me and telling me all the things that a mom would say when yo. Man, it hurt though…I thought my life was over at that moment that the love of my life loved another.  

Isn’t it funny that at that age you can care for someone so deeply, or what you think is so deeply and completely that you think you’ll never love again? What made it okay is that my best friend had zero interest in B and I hate to say I got a little satisfaction in that. Well, B ended up moving in the middle of the school year to another state a month or so later due to his dad’s job transfer. On his last day, he gave me a hug and we both cried and that was it. Goodbye, B. 

Thanks to Facebook, B and I have reconnected and have discussed our “5th Grade Love”.  We laugh about it and talk about all the good times.  But, B will always be the first boy that broke my heart. 

xoxo

single girl in atlanta