Even more from Mike S.: his creative side...

So Mike S. was more than just a sweet-talker: he was also kind of creative. I can't draw to save my life (and wasn't any better back then!), so I imagine I was quite impressed by his efforts.

Take for example, this little font he designed. (Again, very hard to read unless you click on it--sorry about that.)




It's not tough enough to be any kind of code, but he did write several notes in it.

Then consider this sweet little drawing of us driving off into (well, away from, actually) the sunset.



Finally, lots of the notes had little drawings on them, like this one which features a "You may kiss the bride" illustration on top.



Transcription: "Dear Heidi, How was your Easter? Mine was great! Why don't you ever write back? I feel like I just waste paper. Oh, I finally got my new glasses. I look like a nerd. There a little tinted, but the guy who made them tinted them too much. That's why I think anyway. Love Mike."

So just how tinted should a fourth-grader's glasses be? That's not an easy question for a kid living on Long Island in the mid-80s, I guess.

Broken arms and fourth-grade romance

This weekend I finished going through all the notes/letters from (roughly) fourth grade to the present. Quite a feat, right? Anyway, as promised, I present the last batch of notes from Mike S., my elementary school boyfriend.

Let's start with this one:



This one is really hard to read, I know, but it says: "Dear Heidi, I hope your arm feels better. Do you still like me? I like you. Please write back. Love, Mike. P.S. I love you." (It's easier to read if you click on it, but trust me on the transcription.)

A couple of things worth pointing out:

1) The "hope your arm feels better" reference allows us to actually give this note a date. November 1986--when I broke my arm over the Thanksgiving Holiday.

2) Someone needs to write a paper about the differences between saying "I like you" and "I love you" in elementary school notes. Mike S. uses both here and I can't tell if that's redundant or if he means two different things.

3) For anyone who thinks this was a one-sided relationship (given all those desperate pleas for me to write back), please note that he says "do you still like me," implying that I had confirmed at least once that I did like him. That had to be done through a note, because I know there is no way fourth-grade Heidi would have been able to say "I like you" face-to-face.

This note, however, shows that Mike S. might have been a hard guy to appease:



It reads: "Dear Heidi, Do you still love me? I love you. For God's sake, please write back. Love Mike. P.S. I love you."

Notice again that he says "Do you still love me?" That looks good for me, right? The "For God's sake" is awfully needy, right? And pretty cute, I guess.

I love how he adds that postscript to every note.

Mike S. returns...

Remember about a year ago when I first posted about my elementary school boyfriend? Back then I promised more notes soon. You can see how well I kept that promise. Now, though, with the big move to my new house coming up in at the end of July, I really need to go through boxes and boxes of old notes. This evening I spent about an hour looking through letters, cards, and assorted documents from my last two years of college (more on those later!). Mixed in with them, though, were some classic Mike S. notes. Here they are for your enjoyment.

Transcription: "Dear Heidi, Just remember that we can write notes on the bus and give them to each other in school. Love Mike. P.S. I love you." He was very concerned with me writing to him--this is a recurrent theme in his notes.

Transcription: "Dear Heidi, Remember where my mailbox is? I wanted to ask you to the square dance but I'm not going and anyway, I can't dance. Love, Mike."

About the mailbox thing: if I remember correctly, he made this little paper mailbox just for notes from me that he hung on his desk. The square dance thing made me laugh, too. I guess he didn't know that I can't dance, either. If he still can't dance, maybe I should look him up!


The back of the above note--he must have really wanted me to write back! (He repeats it five times.) I think I played coy with him. Plus, I was painfully shy and even with a boy telling me he liked me, I was still reserved. And remember: this was a kid who got in trouble in school--and I never got in trouble. I think that scared me a bit about him.



This is the best one, in my opinion. Check out the Garfield notepad! Transcription: "Dear Heidi, I'll like you if you stop liking Chris. I kinda like you and Melanie. Guess what? My dad gave me permission to break this kids nose, because he keeps punching me and bothering me at boyscouts. I just figured I'd tell you. Boyfriends and girlfriends should never keep secrets. The reason why I am writing sloppy is because I'm writing on the bus. Love, Mike."

You know, Mike S. should write relationship books. Here, dear reader, is what would certainly be the quick version of his tips (based on the above note):

1) Be willing to compromise in a relationship. Tell the person you are interested in them that you'll really only be interested in him/her if he/she drops any interest in any other potential boyfriend/girlfriend.

2) Men--be sure to brag about your feats of strength and displays of machismo. Especially if your dad has given you permission to beat someone up. At boy scouts.

3) Remember--boyfriend and girlfriends shouldn't keep secrets.

Seriously--if he hadn't gotten kicked out of school for lewd conduct (in fourth grade--or was it fifth?), I might have married this guy.

Tales of Fourth-Grade Love

Here's just a brief glimpse of (we hope) lots of treasures to come: a note from Mike S.*, my fourth and fifth grade boyfriend. Here's what I remember about Mike S.: he was super cute, with dark hair and dark eyes, but short--probably the shortest boy in our class. He wore a three piece suit with a red tie to our first day of school. (We didn't wear uniforms back then, but did have a strict dress code--even still, a three-piece suit stood out!) He got into trouble all the time. This was of great concern to the teachers at our small private school, since I was a goody-goody who never got in trouble. Classic case of good girl/bad boy syndrome. He tried so hard to be good and impress me, but couldn't resist getting into trouble. I would get mad at him when he would get in trouble and then he would apologize and be good for a while. Seriously. How funny is that? One time, my teacher even tried to talk me out of liking him. But I was smitten with this little guy, and the feeling was mutual. I have a whole stack of notes from him--notes like the one I'll post below.

Here's a transcript:

"Dear Heidi,

Everyone thinks I like melanie and rayna. But I don't, they like me. Do you like Chris? I've heard he likes you. I'm in big trouble because my father found out I drew a heart with your name above it like this. [Drawing of heart with arrow with "Heidi" above it]

Love, Mike"

Sweet, right? This must have come early on in our "relationship," when insecurities and jealousies ran high. I also love the Romeo and Juliet touch of an angry father. (If I remember correctly, his dad wanted him to concentrate on school, not girls.)

Anyway, our romance continued for about a year and a half, until he was (no joke) expelled from our small, Lutheran school for well...you wouldn't believe me if I told you...

*Last name withheld to protect his identity--and because, although I remember how to pronounce it, I sure can't remember how to spell it.