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January 13, 2007
Nostalgia
. . . and indignation.
In order to get into the teenage frame of mind to write my new teen series, GEEK HIGH (the first book will be coming out in October 2007), I took out a subscription to Seventeen magazine.
It was my favorite magazine when I was a teen. I still remember the Bonnie Bell advertisements (It’s a toner . . . and takes the itch out of bug bites!), and the prom issue, and the back to school issue, which always made me want to throw out all of my clothes and start over again with a brand spanking new wardrobe.
It’s been fun reading the magazine again, even though I’m now twenty years out of its target market. Do you know that they now use real, everyday teens, instead of professional models, to show off the clothes? How great is that?!
On the other hand, I wasn’t so taken with an article in the February issue. It was about jewelry you should try to talk your boyfriend into buying you for Valentine’s Day. And we’re not talking cute little heart earrings from Urban Outfitters. These were expensive presents . . . including a gold necklace from Tiffany’s.
My first reaction was that of a mother: If my son spends five hundred of his hard-earned dollars on a present for his girlfriend for Valentine’s Day – not even a real holiday, mind you, but a fake, Hallmark one – I’ll kill him. Then I’ll ground him forever.
And then I felt a surge of dislike toward the little tramp who would, at some point, be trying to wheedle expensive jewelry from my poor innocent son. Who the hell does she think she is, the little hussy?
And then, since my son is only three, and this really isn’t an issue I have to worry about quite yet, I started to get indignant on my own behalf.
Because when I was a teenager, and Valentine’s Day rolled around, I got some truly shitty gifts from my boyfriends. Like the fugly, gaudy fake-diamond necklace my first boyfriend bought from his mother’s Avon catalogue . . . which I then had wear to school, so as not to hurt his feelings. Or the bottle of Chanel No. 5 perfume another boyfriend got me which was so teeny-tiny, I now suspect that it was a free sample.
Where was my gold Tiffany necklace? I thought indignantly. Hell, I’ve been married for nearly eight years, and I still haven’t gotten one of those.
So what sort of gifts did your boyfriend give you get in high school? And how glad are you now that you didn't marry him? (Unless you did marry him. In which case, I'm sure he was a really, really great guy who didn't give you perfume samples for Valentine's Day.)
Posted by Whitney at 6:00 AM | Comments (7)
Comments
I once got gold (well, goldTONE) teddy bear earrings from my eighth grade "boyfriend." The problem?
My ears = not pierced.
Posted by: Beth at January 13, 2007 1:05 PM
Beth--Ooo--that wasn't good! You can bet he wasn't looking at your EYES all the time, eh? *grin*
I only had one boyfriend in high school, and he lived all the way in Michigan. I live in California. We met at a church-sponsored retreat in Oregon. Whatever. Anyway. I kind of fell in with him at the the retreat--I claim complete and total exhaustion combined with hallucinations brought on by extreme hunger (no sleep and the lines for food were so long I just didn't bother for about four days). But since he lived in another state, what the heck, right? No harm, no foul--I'd probably never see him again, right? WRONG!
We ended up going to Michigan that Christmas for a cousin's wedding. So of course stupid me wrote him and told him I was coming. He bought me a Christmas present--a stainless steel ID bracelet. All the rage at the time. The bracelet sent me around the bend because in teen-speak it meant we were going steady! ARRRRGGGHHHH!!! SO not ready for a long-distance relationship. I made my cousin go outside and break up with him for me--I was such a coward! He wouldn't take the bracelet back and I don't think I ever wore it. It's probably still in the bottom of some old jewelry box...
My mom mentioned a while back that she heard he had gotten married. I have no idea how she knew that, either. Dutch communities--someone is always related to someone else... I wa just glad it wasn't me walking down the aisle. I still get the heebie-jeebies when I think about him. Urgh.
Posted by: Sheri at January 13, 2007 2:18 PM
Oh, the endless parade of rings, bracelets, earrings and necklaces with diamond chips so infinitesimal that they could not be seen with the naked eye! Yeesh!
I think Cowboy is the first husband/boyfriend/whatever he is that has had half a clue about what kind of jewelry I like.
The LC Eileen
Posted by: The LC Eileen at January 13, 2007 8:17 PM
Whit -
remember Dan? Tie dye socks, a fake gold necklace, and a crossword puzzle dictionary - all for one FABULOUS Christmas gift. And, sadly, he was at least 21 years old.
Courtney
Posted by: Courtney at January 14, 2007 1:24 PM
My high school sweetheart actually got me a book of love poetry, and he took the time to read through and mark some of my favorite poems. It was a very thoughtful gift, and I actually still have the book. I do NOT, however, still have the boyfriend. And that's a good thing...because my husband, dear man that loves me very much, buys me things like jewelry (though not from Tiffany. I'd kill him if he spent that much!), books that I ask for, and laptops on which to write books of my very own. He's very very good at the gift thing.
Posted by: dee at January 16, 2007 10:22 PM
Boyfriend, in high school? People had those? Wow, I missed a lot when I was in high school. My mom always gave me a card and a little trinket of some sort.
Posted by: Lisa at January 16, 2007 11:05 PM
hmmm grade seven, I got parrot earrings...yes PARROTS!
Posted by: Summer at January 20, 2007 5:02 PM
