Remember being a teenager, and getting a crush?

My daughter is 14 and has been ‘crushing’ on boys for a few years now. I can always tell because she starts mooning around the house. Generally she will lay on her bed staring off into space, or sleep a lot, or jump to answer her phone when it rings. She gets giddy and actually enjoys interaction with the ‘rents.

Of course, we’ve seen the dark side of a crush here too. She also moons, but in a distinctly different way. Her staring off into space is generally puncutated with angry sighs, and she seems to text much more. She becomes moody and withdrawn.

Ahh yes..teen crushes.

She crushes on celebrities too. Whereas I papered my walls with pictures of Ralph Macchio and Scott Baio, my daughter has pictures of Daniel Radcliffe and Robert Pattinson all over her room. And while I spent my time laboriously slaving over writing just the right fan letter (who knows! The right words might earn me a ::sigh:: autographed picture!), my daughter has only to click a few links on the ‘net to leave her heartthrob a love note.

And I never received my autographed picture of Scott, Ralph, or any of the other teen hotties of the late 70’s and early 80’s, my daughter did receive an autographed picture of Daniel Radcliffe, which is proudly displayed in an 8X10 frame and is quite possibly the only thing in her room that she dusts.

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I think about all this and I miss the magic. The ‘will he or won’t he” and the “does he or doesn’t he” stage. Going to school wondering if this week’s dreamboat will write me a note or leave a note for me in my locker. (Of course today they all text each other, but its the same concept!) As an adult, I miss that sense of adventure and the feeling of “anything can happen” that a teenage crush brings on.

 

I admit I do have one crush….its Johnny Depp. Really and truly and ever since I was 18. What’s scary is that my daughter has been crushing on him too, since Edward Scissorhands. Now there is some interesting mother/daughter bonding. We went to see “Sweeney Todd” together and we have the CD and DVD. We will always choose a Johnny Depp movie over just about anything else, although in the last few years, Harry Potter won out on my daughter’s side. (she came around when Sweeney Todd came out though.)

Now what about you? C’mon, fess up…who do you crush on?