First Love

First Loves Blogfest - on May 14, post your first loves – first movie, first song/band, first book, and first person. Four loves, one blogfest!   Alex Cavanaugh does it again!   How could I resist?


          First loves?  I think Alex has listed them in the right order.  Love is a complex subject.  I'll keep it simple so as not to delve into philosophical interpretations of what love is.   Maybe these are merely infatuations or perhaps passions, but I'll call them loves. 

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          Before I could read there were music and movies.  Since I grew up in the 1950s we didn't have too much opportunity to watch movies on television.  It seemed like nearly every week my parents took us to the movie theater to experience the magic on the big screen.  The first movie that made a big impact on me was Godzilla.  I would have been 5 or 6 years old at the time.  The rampant destruction caused by this radioactively mutated monster fascinated me and filled my dreams and imaginations from then on, leaving me with a love and curiosity of all things related to nuclear destruction and mutations.  Sci-fi became my genre of preference after seeing Godzilla, King of the Monsters!.

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          There was always music in my house as I was growing up.  I grew up with my parents' music and I loved it dearly, but I was somewhat of a snob when it came to the current pop hits. The Beatles and the English Invasion started warming me up to the sound.  The first song that really grabbed hold of me was "The House of the Rising Sun" by the Animals.  After that I was hopelessly hooked on rock and roll music.  


       

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           Books were also prevalent in our home.  I had many of the Little Golden Books when I was in early childhood, but in second grade I was given the two books that made the biggest difference in my life.  Reverend Frank Van Valen gave me my first Bible and this led to my life interest in this book.  At about the same time my father gave me an art book The Way, the Truth, and the Life: Paintings by Ralph Pallen Coleman.  I have often spent time studying these paintings.  The books were given to me in 1958 and I still have both copies as treasured books on my shelves.










                    Annette was a bug-eyed frail little girl with dusty brown curly hair.  In fourth grade she was about the cutest thing I'd ever seen.  She was quiet and shy.  I don't think we ever said a word to each other, but my imagination often ran away with her.  I'd had little crushes before, but I began thinking about Annette more than any girl I had ever known before then.  I don't ever recall her last name--for some reason I thought it was Italian, but it may have been Spanish.  She and her family used to drive the thousand miles from San Diego to La Paz, Baja California in a jeep.  Our teacher Ms. Kingston had her tell about the trip once and it sounded like an adventure worthy of the pioneers in their Conestoga wagons.  The story made Annette seem all the more interesting to me.  I don't remember Annette after fifth grade.  I wonder what happened to her?


          There they are.  Four first loves.   Memories of long ago.   Parts of who I am now.


           For more First Loves visit Alex Cavanaugh's site for the list.










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