Imprinted By Teen Love

No matter how old I get, when it comes to love, I feel like a teenager. Like many women in my generation, I've seen the 80ties teen romantic comedy Sixteen Candles like sixteen hundred times. Whenever it's on TV I instinctively stop and watch it and recite the dialogue I know so well. This weekend as I clicked away from the football game my boyfriend was watching (during a commercial) and saw that iconic final scene with pretty but insecure high school sophomore Samantha leaning over a giant cake to kiss perfect popular senior Jake, I once again immediately related to their misunderstood and desperately in love teen angst. Molly Ringwald's character never fails to represent me, speak to me, and truely get me.

Feeling like a teenager and wanting to make out, I looked over at my boyfriend. I was reminded of my surroundings, tax forms strewn on the table, insurance cards sticking out of my purse, a stack of galleys of my new book poised to be mailed. I realized at 33 years old I'm no longer that teenage character and am actually old enough to be that character's mother! So then why do I still feel like her?

When baby birds are born they latch on to the first object with which they have contact, and forever follow the example of that object, which is usually and hopefully the mother bird. I feel a similar kind of imprinting happened to me when I first fell in love. I was fifteen and he sat behind me in Biology class. It was with this high school boy that I first felt passion, lust, anguish, sorrow, loss, elation and unbridled emotions. Like many people I was a teenager when I was exposed to falling in love so I can forever relate to those heightened teenage emotions. They are imprinted upon me and ingrained in my core so whenever I stumble upon a John Hughes movie, or see two teens holding hands, or see a friend's daughter excitedly getting ready for her junior prom, I am transported back to that time in my life.

Although it's important to grow out of much teenage behavior, like the rebelliousness, the sleeping all day, the listing to insanely loud music, allowing yourself to retain the butterflies in your stomach, the openness to heartache and the nervous joy of having a crush, keeps love young and exciting regardless of your age. Every once in a while it's good to ignore the bills, the errands, the laundry, and just go have a make out session with your significant other in the backseat of the car.