At what age did you first fall in love?

[terrya]

I first fell in love when I was 22. I met a guy at the place I was working at the time, Scott, who was gay. I had never been seriously attracted to another man...until I met Scott. He was so cute (about 6', slim, blonde, NICE smile). We got to be fast friends...and after a time, I told him I was gay...and that I was in love with him. He was flattered and while not feeling the same about me, was very nice about it. We never dated (we fooled around a few times, but that was it). He ultimately moved to Dallas (we were both living in Decatur, Illinois when we met). A couple of years later, I moved to Dallas and Scott and continued our friendship. Scott died of AIDS about 15 years ago. I miss him so damned much.

Please share your experiences if you want. I'd like to read them.

Thanks,
Terry

[dolgoruky]

1. sorry...

... for hijacking your thread, but I have a question. Is Sean Connery still a big gay icon in the States?

Just wondering...

[terrya]

2. No.

A quick answer to your question. I don't think he ever WAS, actually.

:-)

Terry

[Kamika]

3. it's more like he's a sexy old man for 40 yr old women

and me. when I was 16


Horrible experience

[La_Serpiente]

5. I never viewed him as a gay icon

n/t

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

23. 16 nt

[prolesunited]

4. Never have

:-(

I think it's possible, just hasn't happened to me yet. Maybe there's something wrong with me. :shrug:

[GOPisEvil]

8. I never have either.

:shrug:

Although I think it's possible. It'll happen when it happens. You can't hurry love, or so the song goes. ;-)

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

6. Fourteen

But she was seeing a boy from a later grade who uncannily resembled a gorilla on steroids, so I kept it to myself.

[fudge stripe cookays]

7. 18

First year of college. But we didn't hook up until the next year when I turned 19.

He was probably the best and worst thing that ever happened to me. Really.

He made me see that my parents' politics were crap, played in a band, introduced me to tons of bands I'd never been into before (The Jam, the Velvet Underground, REM, The Stranglers, etc) and we enjoyed the typical bohemian, young college kid existence of being art majors in love.

But when we broke up, Good LORD what a mess. I ended up quitting school because we had the same major, the same minor, all the same friends, and lived in the same dorm. I knew I'd never get over him until I got far away.

It derailed college plans for quite awhile, and it took me a long time to get my crap together after that. But I finally did.

He's a relatively well known comic book artist now.

[RandomKoolzip]

9. I was 17 and it was the spring of 1992.....

God, what an awesome time that was. (It was unrequited, but I was still increedibly intoxicated).....Beautiful weather, all the songs on the radio seemed to take on new meaning, this girl I was in love with lived in a gorgeous neighborhood overlooking a beach on Long Island Sound.....Nirvana was starting to bring rock back into the mainstream, Bush the first was headed hellward and off the map.....I was playing high school keg parties with my band and becoming friends with all sorts of peolple who never gave me the time of day before....the pot we smoked was improving in quality....my friends were hilarious and we were making plans to all attend college together...I was in Love for the first time and it colored EVERYTHING. If I could somehow ever relive ONE period of time in my life over and ovcer agoiun, it would be the spring of 1992.

[skippysmom]

10. age 28

When I met my husband. I thought I'd been in love before, but I'd never felt before like I felt with him.

[VelmaD]

11. I don't know...

I've never been sure whether I've ever really been "in love". I thought I was at the time with my first serious boyfriend back in high school but looking back I'm not so sure. There was another guy in college - same thing, thought I was then but now I don't think so.

I want very much to fall in love and have someone fall in love with me at least once before I die.

[ewagner]

12. 25

I had lots of on-and-off relationships but I met this one girl and couldn't get her out of my mind. I was in Florida and she moved to Washington State. We corresponded a few times but there wans't anything hopeful. I moved to Chicago 18 months later and remembered that her parents lived in Gary, Indiana. Since I lost touch with her I looked up her parents in the phone book and called. She answered the phone. We were married 6 month (to the day) later. It's been 29 years now. I don't know what was different but I was drawn to her relentlessly...no passion involved just something instinctive....can't define what happened.

[Bertha Venation]

13. Well, shit. Sorry, but there are two answers for me.

At 18 I fell in love for the first time. Unfortunately, it was with a psychopath managed to kill my heart and soul in three short years.

After recovering, I fell in love again, for the last time, at age 36.... another whole lifetime later.

She was worth the wait. I'm crazy in love with Mrs. V. and I'm the luckiest woman on the planet.

[freestatevet]

14. At 17

(Hmmm, that reminds me of a song :-))

Her name was Gretchen. We were both seniors in high school, though she was only 16 (Dang it! Another song). She was the smartest girl in school and, up to that point, a bit of a nerd. But she "blossomed" during the summer between junior and senior year. Talk about your proverbial "ugly duckling to swan." I still remember the first time I held her hand and the first time I kissed her; felt like I was in heaven. I still think of her 25 years later.

[zizzer]

15. Sigh ... I was eight ... and in first or second grade

She kissed me on a dare durring circle time and it was all over ...

Her name was Luria. She was beautifull.

Later that year I wrote that I loved her on one of those little paper valentines you give in grade school and I was crushed.

She had this other girl bring it over to me and give it back saying that all the girls new I had a crush on Lauria and then laughed at me and threw the valentine on the floor.

I saw Lauria many years later doing inventory in a seven-eleven. She was still pretty and I think she even recognized me or at least thought she should. I never did say hello.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

19. Drats. Beat me. (nt)

[kiahzero]

16. 17

I'd known my current girlfriend for quite some time through high school, and somehow we became really good friends. I had a party at my place (It was the year VA instituted reforms on licenses that prevented teens from driving 12am-4am), so everyone just stayed over. In the midst of watching a movie, she kissed me...

We've been kissing ever since (2 1/2 years, now).

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

17. 19

I was 19 and I flew secretly to the other continent where he lives to be with him without telling my mom and other members of my family until the day I flew out from the States ... crazy things people do while in love ...

[La_Serpiente]

18. 16

Nobody really knew about it. It was kept on the DL for certain reasons.

[devilgrrl]

20. Never been there...

wouldn't know it if it fell onto my lap. :shrug:

[foreigncorrespondent]

21. Hmmm!

I thought I was in love when I was 16, but I was very much mistaken, and fooling myself and the person I was with.

The first time I truly fell in love, I had just turned 32, and met Sapphocrat. She stole my heart, and showed me what being in love truly feels like.

[FunBobbyMucha]

22. 19, and that was 20 years ago

I was incredibly lucky. I did a lot of playing in high school and my freshman year of college, my 'slut' period (me being the slut,not so much the girls I was playing around with). I had known my wife since junior high (she took my breath away the first time I ever saw her), and we had dated once in HS to no real point, as she was too nice for me to use sexually and thus of no use to me. We clicked on that date but the next Monday I was calling her "pal" and chasing ho-bags down the hall, and she refused to speak for me for three years. By then, I was more ready to settle down than I could've known. I resisted falling for her, as I wanted no part of "love" love at 19.

I really hate using this quote, but it was summed up best by Tom Hanks in "Sleepless in Seattle":

"It was like I had gone home, but to no home I'd ever known before."

I've been with her now for 20 years this July. She and our 3-year-old son are the center of my universe. I say this not to rub it in--I have more friends that are alone than are happy with another--but to suggest to any lonely people out there that love does exists. I shudder to think that if I'd listened to other instincts I had (suddenly when I was unavailable the most unattainable girls were hot for me! A question for another thread. I turned down one the night before my wedding!) I might have lost my shot.

[grannylib]

24. 16, with a guy that was all wrong for me, but man oh man was he hot...

we kinda got together for a while but it was not to be...
which is good, since I needed to be free to find and settle down with my good hubby of almost 19 years (we've been together for 22 years) so it's all worked out!
I was sorry to read about your friend; I lost a good friend from high school to AIDS - not the same thing, I understand, but you have my sympathy:hug:

[madrchsod]

25. about 15

high school romance.....

[afraid_of_the_dark]

26. 19

And considering that I'm probably the world's biggest klutz, it's surprising that it took me that long to fall in love.

I know, I know... I apologize for the pun.

[Terwilliger]

27. 17

uhh...she was just some girl, but I fell for her hard and my heart got broken and etc. etc.

[MissMillie]

28. 18

I was 18, he was 20.

He turned out to be the first of so many losers I lost count.

I seem to have a knack for picking people who don't know how to treat someone they supposedly love.

[regnaD kciN]

29. Requited or otherwise?

If unrequited, age 12. (Several times during that year, with different girls but with a common lack of success.)

If a real relationship, age 17. We were visiting Los Angeles on vacation when I met, once again, the girl who had lived just down the block when I was growing up (yes, she was practically the proverbial "girl next door"). It was wonderful but, of course, it eventually became clear to both of us that we lived on different sides of the country, that was unlikely to change in the near future, and there was just so long one could maintain a "long-distance relationship."

[populistmom]

30. 16

Very intense we were. He looked like Prince William (Prince William now, not how Prince William looked in 1988). He broke my heart and kept messing with my head for a year after we broke up. I met my husband shortly after I was done with high school and he was a nice man then. I told myself I'd never let my emotions get so intense ever again. Sometimes though, life can do funny things in spite of your best intentions.

[tigereye]

31. in high school when I was 16

met him playing Academic Games. My first real boyfriend, smart, funny with long blonde hair. We had to find "nerd" guys to date, since no one in our high school would go out with us ( we thought), since we were all too nerdy! He now has a PHD and is a CTO. Sigh. First love is very sweet.

Didn't meet Mr. Right until college, after I got over the brooding musician types.

[GreenPartyVoter]

32. 15... but we didn't marry until 21

[dontomas]

33. 17...

and to a pastor's daughter...and I'll leave it at that.

[geniph]

34. Well, I was 8 the first time I had a serious crush

It ended badly when the 6th-grader who was monitoring our 3rd-grade class while the teacher was out having a nervous breakdown caught me passing love notes to him (which I did all day long). She read them out loud to the entire class, so he and his friends attacked me at recess to defend his honor. I had to beat the living shit out of him. Ah, young love.

The first time I actually *loved* someone, meaning the first time someone else's happiness was essential to my own, I was 18, he was 16. We were together for 7 years.