Go for second

I suppose it's natural for a woman scorned to reflect back on men that made her feel good...really good. I've found myself thinking about 1988 all day today. In 1988 I was in love from afar with a friend's boyfriend. Oh the tragedy. Spencer was a delicious treat...a green beret with icy blue eyes and the heart of a true gentleman. He came to visit...hmm...I don't want to even use her real first name....let's just call her Perky...he came to visit her for the first time in six months after a top secret assignment in Central America. She arranged a small party in his honor, and then as he settled in with a drink in his hand she disappeared into the crowd with the guy she wasn't sleeping with in his absence. I felt so bad for him, Someone suggested Pictionary and he and I were somehow teamed up. We SPANKED them all and we seemed to have an instant connection. Although I found him attractive, I didn't know yet that he would be my one lost love for the rest of my life.

I was wallowing in a current hurt at the time. I think the guy is an insurance agent in a small town in Nebraska now. His nose has gotten funnier looking over the years. Anyway, my friends and I saw it as a good excuse to go out dancing that following night. Perky and my best friend Spooky were roommates. When Perky and Spencer showed up in their room Spooky and I were trying to decide what to wear to the club. I had a sexy clingy khaki colored sweater and I couldn't figure out what pants to wear with it. Jeans didn't seem right, nor did a skirt...Spencer produced a pair of fatiques from his pack and tossed me the pants. They looked soo...good. I kissed him on the cheek and thanked him. Promised to wash them first thing in the morning. I might have had a clue at that point.

But that night at the club...I was feeling sad and lonely. I've always been the sidekick to beautiful girls...you know the role that Carrie Fisher always plays (well...since she was a Princess anyway)? I was sitting at the bar alone while my friends danced when Spencer sidled up beside me and wrapped his arms around my neck.

"Whatcha doin?"

"Not dancing."

"Smoking?"

"Yes. Smoking."

He lit my cigarette for me.

"Ei, why aren't you out there with the hottest guy in the room?"

I snorted.

Secretly I thought it was because I was at the bar with the hottest guy in the room.

"Let me give you some advice. Go out there and pick out the three hottest guys in the room and take number one...and forget about him...he's going to be so self centered he doesn't deserve a fantastic girl like you. Go grab number two and have a blast."

And I took his advice. And that my friends, is how Spencer Snow slipped through the cracks. I only spoke to him one more time after that weekend. He called me when he found out that Perky had been cheating on him with the biggest doofus on campus...he was drunk...he promised to call me back in a few hours. He never did.

I think about him every time I watch the Incredibles with my boys when they are all yelling at Dash to go for second. I wish he'd been better at advice...

But then again, maybe he's just better as a fantasy. Maybe they all are.