Monday, November 26, 2007

Multiple Choice Love


Nathan sent me about five of these notes during church one night, this last one resulting in his asking for me to be his girlfriend. Cute, if not, creepy. He was a real clown, slightly resembling Anthony Michael Hall in Pretty In Pink. That night my answer was No.

However.... Ten years later I did hook up with Nate who turned out to be quite handsome. But that's a whole other closet of skeletons.

Friday, November 23, 2007

For Scooter



This is a banner, of sorts, that I made for that last guy - Alan J. I'm not sure why I never gave it to him. But I figure the least I can do is show that I was totally into him at one point.

Note my artistic flair. Not a sign of things to come.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

For The Rest of My Life




Woah! This guy wrote me a ton of notes! Long ones too. There's enough here to start a nice fire, which is really what I should do with these instead of post them on the net.

You need to know that I did not break up with this guy because he was a bad guy. I broke up with him because he liked me TOO MUCH. And also my friends were making fun of me because Alan was big on French kissing in the hall before my 5th hour. Even one of my teachers mentioned it. During class. Out loud.

I was 15 years old during this relationship. 15! Anybody who used the word "forever" with me scared the bejeebies out of me. I am confident that Alan made a great husband - eventually.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Dammit






After this series you will see that I was one of those frustrating Christian girls who could never be determined as innocent or guilty. Kevin J was in my youth group. I have no memory of him ever showing an interest in me beyond this one admission. And what I remember about it was my feeling of shock and loss for words.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Johnathan K

He was really a nice guy. And smart too. I feel the need to tell you this because of the admission I am about to make.

My best friend Stephanie thought it would be very funny if she asked Johnathan to be my boyfriend. She told him I liked him a LOT. The problem with this was that I did not like him. At least not like that. I didn't like LIKE him, ya know?

He sat in front of me in Algebra 1/2. (Yes, we had a class called Algebra 1/2) He was pretty smart and not unattractive, albeit kinda nerdy. He had potential. Some guys do need to pluck their eyebrows. But 8th grade is not the time to start that.

Steph filled his head full of lies without even telling me. Imagine my horror and surprise when he passed me this note.



I don't think I can count him as one who broke up with me since I didn't know we were together, right? RIGHT?

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Rockin Banner



I was about 5'5 or 5'6 in the 8th grade. Joel was probably 5'2'. I say this, not to poke fun at him, but just to press upon you the real charm this kid possessed back then. He wrote several notes, but it was always the creative little banners and drawings that I liked best.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

The Dog Police


In my hometown, the local radio station would allow one lucky caller each weeknight to sick the "Dog Police" on someone who had wronged them. Essentially this meant that the DJ let you say the name of who you were upset with live on the air and then they played this catchy little jingle with dogs barking.
One week I was the lucky caller and I sicked the dog police jingle on John, a new guy at my school who had wronged my friend, Stacey. (Or so she said)

Immediately after the jingle played John called me at home.
Me: Hello?
John: Is this Penny?
Me: Yes
John: This is John ____.
Me: (silence)
John: Why did you do that?
Me: (In terrified defense) Because of what you did to Stacey.
John: You don't even know me.
Me: more silence
John hangs up

To this day, I can still hear him say that last sentence. "You don't even know me." The guy had a good argument there.

A week later John was my boyfriend. I never so much as held his hand, but he asked the magical question and I said yes. On Valentines Day I gave him a relatively expensive ID bracelet with his name engraved on it. He gave me a relatively expensive (possibly stolen) gold heart locket. Immediately therafter this note was handed to me by his friend, Beto.

For several years John held the title of being The Only Person Who Ever Broke Up With Me.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Would Give Up Anything




That's quite a commitment coming from a 13 year old.
I believe this is the last time he asked. His declaration of his willingness to sacrifice "anything" for me, might have won me over. But honestly, I don't remember.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Still Likes Angie but....




Keeping with our tradition, Scott only wrote me notes asking me to "go with" or be his girlfriend. If these notes were dated, you would see our on/off affair lasted an excuitiating month, probably. It seems I kept breaking it off and he kept trying to make it work.

If my friend Angie were available now, do you think Scott would still be interested? I'm guessing yes.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

From Scott who liked my Halloeen Costume


This first letter is from a guy named Scott. I was in the 8th grade. His note was simple and direct: He liked my Halloween costume and wanted me to be his girlfriend. Didn't matter that we didn't know each other, love was just like that.

Introduction - My Ilford Box


I saved most of my notes from junior high and high school - even some from college. It seemed to me that oneday my mind would get cloudy regarding my youth and I would want to know the truth of how things were - not just as I chose to remember them. Though I've kept journals from 1983 until now, I knew the most truth would come from the notes friends and boyfriends had given me.

Eventually, I consolidated several shoeboxes of notes into one Nike shoebox and one Ilford photo paper box I had leftover from a college photography class. In the Ilford box went my favorite love notes from 1983-1989 which are the notes that will appear on this site.

While I can clearly see that this is a narcissistic excerise on my part to publish these notes on the net, it is also, as I hoped it would be when I began saving the notes so many years ago, an honest picture of the way things were for a time in my life.

As I type this Introduction, I am a 36 year old, happily married mother of one daughter. Reading these notes do bring back floods of memories. For the sake of my daughter, I am happy to recall what it is like to be an awkward, vulnerable, teenage girl. I am also happy to have moved on, to be able to laugh at my growing pains and know that being a teenager really wasn't so bad.