The Falling Part: Ricky Schroder

My first encounter with the actual falling part of love did not happen as much in isolation as did the classroom love-note incident.   But like that initiation experience, this next step towards love did begin in school, just the same.  

"Ricky Schroder?  Who's he?" I asked my girlfriends at the elementary school. 

He was to be the love of my life for the next few years, that's who. 

I was eight, he was thirteen, and he was the new young heart throb acting the part of Rick Stratton on the  evening TV series Silver Spoons.  My girlfriends at school introduced me to him (or to the show, that is)... and as soon as I managed to find the right channel and the right program, it was love at first sight.

I'll admit I started falling for him partly because my friends had fallen first, but there was no need to ask me twice if he was everything I had hoped he would be.

There was no one else on earth as dreamy as Ricky!  His silky blond hair, his glowing smile, his puppy dog eyes... his charm, his talent... even my parents could see it.  I mean, they fully supported me in this crush.  I remember the night Dad let us interrupt our family goings-on in the living room one night so we could turn the TV on as he announced to the rest in the room, "We need to let Jenny get her Ricky fix."

And he's one who just got better and better looking with every new teen magazine article and clipping that I could find.  It wasn't long before I had a collage of his photos on my wall.  

To say that my parents backed me up on this crush was a happy boost, but unfortunately I can't say the same for the rest of my family.

Truthfully, my older brother Bryan probably couldn't have cared less, and my younger four siblings probably could have left it all alone...except for that one fateful day when my four-year-old brother Russell took action, against his better judgement.

Was he mad at me?  Was he jealous that this rich and famous blond celebrity took photographic precedence on my wall, over himself--my equally adorable blond little brother?  Was he bored and seeking my emotional breakdown strictly for entertainment?  No one knows, but Mom definitely disciplined him for the dreadful deed:  he had put lipstick on Ricky's face, on one of my favorite wall hangings.  It was just a tiny bit, on Ricky's lips.  But sadly it was ruined, and I was in tears.  

Eventually my heart healed from this catastrophe, and further down the road, Ricky's place in my heart was no longer fully encompassing.  His pictures came down one by one, or so I suppose...I don't actually remember getting rid of those photos.  Why didn't I save such sentimental keepsakes?  Perhaps it was only to make room for my next celebrity crush a few years later...or rather, I should say my first music group crush.  But before the new posters came up (of New Kids on the Block, in case you were wondering), I'm glad to report that I did manage to make room in my heart for a couple of real-life people.