First
Love
I was three years old when first I fell in love. His name…I still
tremble at the sweet feel of his beloved name as it rolls off my tongue…Huckleberry
Finn. Yes, it’s true. Huck was my first love. Not only the first
love of my life, but my imaginary friend for near to 4 years, as well!
Huckleberry and I were introduced through a comic book that my mother
used to read to me. Although the comic book was entitled, Tom Sawyer,
it was instantly apparent to me that Huckleberry was the true hero of
the story!
He was wise, witty, masculinely independent and wildly handsome! Often
Huckie (my pet name for him) would join our family for dinner. My mother
set a fabulous table and always included a place setting for Huckleberry.
I was distracted from dear Huck only once in my youth…a brief infatuation
with Jack Wilde who played Jimmy on the television series, “H.R.
Puf-N-Stuf.” But my loyalty, my heart and soul belonged to Huck
and Huck alone.
We were together for years and years (at least 4)…ever having adventures
on the creek bank or in tree branches, wading in the ditch feeling the
mud squish between our toes, watching the clouds float by in the summer
sky as we lay on our backs in the sweet, green grass. Always in love…always
loyal to one another.
But…inevitably we grew apart somehow. I suppose it was because
I kept getting older and Huckleberry seemed to remain perpetually 12
years old. Still, I’ll love him forever. Because he was, after
all, my first love.
