Crazy Little Thing Called...Life

Thought of the Day: To this day, I can not hear a Duran Duran song without being reminded of my ex-boyfriend Mike.

I couldn’t even tell you how we initially met; we kind of ran with different crowds. He was a sort of dangerous type with long blonde seventies style hair (Even though it was 1993), and back then, in 10th grade, I was kind of a cute preppy girl on my way to being a laid back slacker hippie type. In any case, one night in October, I found myself at the movies alone with 5 guys.

While it probably should have, this didn’t make me uncomfortable, of course when my other friend Mike (not to be confused with ex-boyfriend Mike) said “a bunch of us are going to see A Nightmare Before Christmas…” I’d assumed it was a co-ed group. When I showed up at our small town cinema though, I was greeted by friend Mike, Ben-whom I had known since 7th grade but wasn’t a good friend of his (incidentally, Ben and I became pretty much inseparable senior year but that is a story for a different day.), Ex-boyfriend (but soon to be current boyfriend) Mike, this guy Derek and Ex Mike’s brother Bob.

I ended up sitting in between the 2 Mikes and by the time the movie was over, Ex Mike and I were holding hands. Adorable, right? When the movie was over, his grandfather was waiting outside for him already, so he ran out yelling behind him to make sure that I gave him my number at school the next day.

I remember calling Marisa that night to tell her what had happened and I think that she was a little bit weirded out. He was a weird kind of guy, but in a nice way. And I was that girl who was looking for anything but normal. Marisa knew this, and she always supported me in my endeavors, but I think she was cautious on my behalf.

Mike and I spoke at school and on the phone for about a week before starting to date on November 9th. Our courtship consisted of lengthy phone calls, many trips to the movies where we made out like teenagers (appropriately), and skipping 1st and second period to go out for breakfast. Our truancy officer, Mr. Cooper, got to know us by name and usually picked us up while we were walking back to school. He never turned us in for skipping as long as we were signed back in by 9:00.

Midway through our courtship, Mike had his hair cut. I remember him calling me on a Sunday afternoon, begging me to guess what he had done that day. He finally told me what he had done, and that his family told him he looked like Bryan Adams. On Monday at school, I was greeted by Mike with this modified skater type hair cut that hung dangerously in to his eyes. It was so eighties, I could have died. Marisa passed me a note saying that he looked like he belonged in Duran Duran. To this day she has not let it go. (If I can find the photo of all of us before our winter dance, The Holly Hop, I will totally post it. He wore a green suit to match my green dress. KLASSY)

Sadly, Mike and I broke up in March but vowed, as teenagers tend to do, to be friends. We’d had a great time, going to school dances, sledding and to many of my friends parties together, but our relationship had just run its course. We ended up friends by association in the long run because his sister and I became good friends.

Mike had his first daughter just after we graduated, and now is married with 3 girls. He ran in to Ed a while back too.

Its funny how something that was so big back then, is so insignificant now. I was sure it was the end of the world when we broke up, but at age 15, what isn’t the end of the world?

He may remind Marisa of Duran Duran, but he’ll always be Bryan Adams to me.