First Love!

First Love!

by Tom Woodard

I suppose we all remember our first love. I will always remember mine. She was my second grade teacher, Mrs. Laurie Rainer, a beautiful young brunette. I suppose she was about fifteen years older than I - a huge difference when one is only six or seven!

Well, for me it was love at first sight! I was so powerfully struck that all I could think of my entire year in second grade was how beautiful she was and how wonderful it was for her to pay attention to me. As a consequence, I don't think I gained a single molecule of academic knowledge under her tutelage. It wasn't her fault she was so beautiful, but it certainly was an overwhelming obstacle to my learning experience!

It just so happened that Mrs. Rainer's mode of discipline in her class was to "embarrass" trouble-makers by placing them at a table up in front of the class, right next to her desk. Being a very shy little boy, I was not the type to get in any trouble in anyone's class. However, this temptation proved far too great for me, and I was almost always to be found at that punishment table, which for me was the nearest thing to Heaven! Naturally, being closer to the beautiful girl that I loved, I was even less aware of the lessons being taught in class each day. Somehow I passed second grade, and Mrs. Huff, my third grade teacher, brought me "up to snuff" the following year.

Whenever I see Mrs. Rainer, even today, I tell anyone close enough to hear that she was my first love, always embarrassing her. And, over fifty years later, she is still a very beautiful woman! And what a gracious lady she is, too! God bless you, Mrs. Rainer.

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