Ahh, sweet love.

Emily asked us about our old boyfriends. I guess I should start at the very beginning. Actual first names will be used at times. Last names will be withheld to protect the innocent.

There was a little blond fellow that lived down the road from Busha & Bucka when I was tiny. Tiny as in 18 months old or so. His name was Jason. He was my Honeyboy. That's what I called him. My Honeyboy. Busha & Bucka lived 2 1/2 hours away from us, so it was a long distance relationship. I also think he was younger than I was...he was only one. Robbing the cradle...litteraly. QM baby sat his sisters when she was in high school/college. We were planning on getting married. I don't remember why we split up. It's sad really.


I met my second love at the bus stop on the first day of Kindergarten. Matt lived down the street from us & we were a couple by the time we got off the bus at school. We played on my swingset after school & on the weekends. His mom baby sat me in the mornings when QM worked at the daycare. He kissed me one day on the bus ride home from school. I slapped him. Oddly enough he didn't break it off. He played ding-dong ditch at my front door & got his ear chewed by my dad. We broke up when we were put in seprate third grade classes. So sad.


Third time was definitely not a charm. His name was Jason too. He was in my class from fourth grade until we moved when I was in 7th grade (which was the end of our relationship...I know, spoiler). We went out from the end of fourth grade on (I think). He played the drums (trash cans with pencil drum sticks) in our lip-sync band at the grade school talent show (we were Bananarama & sang Manic Monday). He was my date to my first ever school dance. We held hands once. He came out of the closet our second year in college.


#4 (Formerly refered to here as Stoffer) was a boy I met through my teen acting group at the local arts guild. He was on the verge of asking me out (we suspected) in April of my freshman year, but instead asked out another girl. I was mildly heartbroken. They dated until the next fall. When they broke up, he & I reunited. I can't exactly say we dated because I wasn't allowed to date until I was 16 & that was a good 7 months later. We went to three proms, numerous dances, & too many movies to count. We broke up a few times, but always reconciled within a few weeks. In all we were together for nearly 3 years. He was my first kiss (on the playground behind the Baptist Church), my first love, and my best friend.

Breaking up with him was the hardest thing I'd ever done to that point. I knew in my heart things would never work out between us & I had no business dragging it on. We stayed friends for a few years, but time & life have come between us. I still think of him fondly (for all you Phantom Fiends out there) and hope he is happy.

After that I was single for a while...until Tom Petty cast his evil spell & Willy waltzed back into my life. He was 2 1/2 years younger than I was. That's not a big deal when you're in your mid to late 20's, but when you're 19 dating a 16 year old, it's just not wise. If he'd have been 2 1/2 years older than me, maybe things would have been different...but I'd rather not dwell on that. I can sum up our problems in a nut shell. He only wanted what he couldn't have. When I agreed to go out with him, things were OK for a few months. Then he got bored, restless, unhappy. We would break-up & I would suddenly become much more attractive, the love of his life, the center of his universe. I was young, stupid, and obsessed, so I kept letting him back in.

After 18 months of drama I decided I'd had enough & left. By left, I mean LEFT. I moved to Illinois to live with Uncle Gick & Unkie Di. It still took me about 6 months to wash my hands of Willy, and even then I was stupid enough to agree to be friends with him.

Then I met FarmBoy. That changed everything. He treated me with respect. He loved me unconditionally. He was good to me. That's when I snapped out of it and realized just what Willy was. As soon as Willy realized I was happy with someone else, he started trying to worm his way back in to my life. I told him in no uncertain terms that he had no place in it. It was liberating & opened me up to trust & love my FarmBoy as much as he did me.

Eight months to the day after he asked me out, Bucka married us. That was 10 years ago.

And there you have it. The many loves of FarmWife.