`Pelicanh

I sat one chair away from the teacher's desk in the first grade. One day I heard someone fart in the back of the class. I turned and looked only to discover Mickey Jones face a bright red! I fell in love! In the first grade, farting is the COOLEST!
I have no other memory of her until I was 12. Mickey showed up at a church function and we fell madly in love. We spent a week hanging out when we could and "making out" behind buildings and trees. She returned to her home in Gastonia, N.C. and I went back to Roanoke, Va. We wrote letters for about 8 months but eventually lost touch.
Two years later at another of those church functions, there she was again. Again we fell madly in love. Again we kissed during stolen moments and I remember hurting from how much I loved her. I was 14. When we returned to our homes we tried to keep our correspondence going but eventually we lost touch again.

Down the aisle of the church walked the most beautiful woman I had ever seen! Little did I know how prophetic it was. I was 17 years old and Donna McGregor was beauty incarnate. Her long wavy hair, her big beautiful brown eyes, her sweet little nose. And mostly, the way she carried herself. The way she touched her hair.
I stared at her the whole time the service lasted.
After church let out, I walked over and introduced myself and my friend Gary, who was tagging along and asked if she would like to go get a coke at the local snack bar across the street. She did. When the three of us got there I said I would go get us all a drink and strode away all full of expectation but when I returned I was greeted by the site of Donna and Gary walking away in the distance.

Sitting in the hallway at college three years later, I heard the door open. I looked up to see one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen walk through the door. It was Donna.
We spent a lot of time catching up, and then dating, and then falling madly, truly, deeply in love. I still loved the way she touched her hair. The way she picked up a flower. I loved the way she tried (rather unsuccessfully) to sing. I loved that she enjoyed feeling the mud squish between her toes on the river bank. I melted in her eyes. She was the first woman I ever made love with ..... and we were one.
It lasted 7 years.

I was depressed and lonely and living in a small prison of an apartment in the basement of a friend's home in Concord, North Carolina. I got a call from a friend in California saying he had a job for me and that I should move to San Diego. It was a Thursday so I told him I would leave North Carolina on the following Tuesday. As I sat in my teeny room I began to wonder whatever happened to Mickey so I called people who knew people who knew other people and I FOUND HER! She was only 35 miles away!! I spoke with her on the phone and said I wanted to see her. It had been 14 years. She said she wanted to see me too so we agreed to drive through the raging storm that very night and meet in a parking lot. She got out of her VW Beetle in a downpour, ran over to my car, got in, and she was beautiful and we spent the next 4 days together in passion. No longer having to hide behind trees and just kiss... we finally were able to be together. I told her I was moving to San Diego but that we WOULD figure this out because I didn't want to lose touch with her again!!
I wrote her many many letters but never got a response.

Terry was a farmers daughter from Indiana. I was still living in San Diego and met her over Christmas vacation when I was back East visiting my parents. We dated.... I stayed an extra week so we could see more of each other. She came to California to see me 3 months later. We wrote, we talked on the phone, and saw each other as often as possible. A year later we married. We had a lovely daughter and were peacefully happy. She was very encouraging when I was starting my business and was a stalwart supporter of my efforts to become a fashion photographer in one of the world's most competitive environments. Twenty seven years later I am still making a living in Los Angeles as a photographer but Terry is long gone.
It lasted 13 years.

I was shooting a head shot of Teresa. On the second roll of film.... on the fifteenth frame.... we fell in love. Hard. I had just split with Terry and she had just split with her abusive husband. We carried on a torrid love affair until she decided to go back to her abusive husband. She was convinced that if she had another baby with him, all would be well. I told her I couldn't be part of that decision and that it broke my heart. I was devastated...again.
It lasted 3 years.

I was hang gliding in Monterey, California when I noticed a girl with a charming smile sitting on the beach. She was a hang glider pilot....cool! I asked her to take a few photos of my friends and I. She went NUTS with my camera!! I liked her!
Melinda was living in Sonoma and I was in Los Angeles. We began to write, call, and see each other when we could and it was such an easy communication. We went flying together, we took photos together, and we became very dear friends. The friendship then turned passionate and almost a year later we moved in together. She was my best friend. We did everything together and I felt I had found the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. We laughed together, cried together when we buried our cat, and spent lots of time in splendid together quiet time.
It lasted 10 years.

I was shooting a head shot of a girl for her CD cover. She was from Wisconsin and from a town I knew and she attended a church I also was familiar with. I asked her if she knew a girl named JoAnn! She did - she went to the same church!! I asked her where JoAnn was these days and she said Gastonia, North Carolina. I mused that my first puppy love was from there and that I thought of her occasionally.
"What's her name?" my client asked.
"Well", I said, "there's no way you'd ever know her but her name is Mickey Jones"
To my astonishment she replied, "I know Mickey. She's JoAnn's room mate!!!"
I FINALLY, after 17 years, was able to talk with Mickey again. It seems her Mother had intercepted all my letters and tossed them out because she wanted Mickey to get back with her ex husband and Father of her two children. I vowed to not lose touch with her and called her every year on her birthday and several times during the year.
On June 25th, 2006 I called Mickey on her birthday. The phone had been disconnected and I have lost her again.

People change. I've changed. Mickey (I guess), Donna, Terry, Teresa, and Melinda all have new lives and new loves. And I still love them all...some more than others. I miss Donna horribly. She was my first complete love. I miss the innocence of Mickey. And I miss Melinda...she was my best friend.
My life has been so rich and so full of love and laughter. I have experienced painful and heart rending loss but more importantly, I have experienced passion, love, happiness, and a heart full of memories of those wonderful women who passed through.

About a year ago I met someone very very special, someone different, someone even a little weird, ....hmmmmm.....I wonder.....

I feel so full of life but I am still hungry!
I can't wait til tomorrow..... who knows!

I gotta go have a Heineken.