Suddenly he was back in Mrs. Garcia’s kindergarten classroom.
23 Years Ago
It was the first day of kindergarten FINALLY. Best. Day. Ever.
Putting his backpack in his cubby, he felt a brush of something that tickled his arm. When he swatted his arm, he felt the softest, silkiest thing he had ever touched.
When he looked up to see what it was, he couldn’t believe his eyes. There she stood, a real-life angel! Rays of sunlight from the window streamed through her long blond hair, and she was looking down at him with the biggest blue eyes Jason had ever seen in his life.
The earth stopped spinning and everything stood still. Nothing existed except this amazing creature. She slowly reached her hand to her neck and flipped her long blond hair behind her back as she placed her backpack in her cubby.
Jason could not speak. This was a new phenomenon for Jason, as the spoken word had always been one of his greatest gifts.
Since the time Jason was able to put two words together, he always knew just the right thing to say to either get out of trouble, get what he wanted, or just put a smile on the faces of the women in his life. Even before he was old enough to speak, he had exuded a natural-born mojo. The first word ever used to describe Jason in the nursery was charming. All of the nurses in the infant care ward would fight over who could hold him. Even as a newborn, he had a twinkle in his eye and a little smirk on his lips that the opposite sex just couldn’t get enough of. But in this moment, five-year-old Jason could not even remember how to say, ‘Hi.’
But luck was on his side, as it usually was. YES! He was assigned to the same table as this heavenly being. Jason could barely sit still next to her. He fidgeted and couldn’t keep his eyes off of her.
She, on the other hand, sat totally composed next to him, completely ignoring him, working on their first assignment, the name paper.
Jason had tried all morning to get her attention somehow, but to no avail. When she finished her paper, she looked so proud of it as she taped it to the back of her seat.
When she sat down again beside him, he had the sudden urge to pinch her just to see what she would do. Anything to get her attention! He was desperate to have her acknowledge him!
But reason prevailed, and he realized that pinching her wouldn’t be the best course of action. He had to keep thinking. Before another plan could take shape, however, she was out the door to recess.
Finally, genius struck! As he sat in his chair while all the other kids were at recess, he decided he would ‘redecorate’ her name paper to give her a nickname. That would be a way he could start to talk to her—an ice breaker of sorts. He knew that would get her attention. And it would be special! If he gave her a special name paper decoration, she would know for SURE how special he thought she was!
He looked at her name page, which so beautifully read ‘Katie,’ and the first thing that came to Jason’s mind was Kit Kat—the best candy bar in the whole world! He quickly changed her paper to read just that.
He had not expected any of the other kids to notice it when they came in from recess—or to think it was funny. It was supposed to be a special, inside secret between him and his blond angel.
In fact, to be honest, he had completely forgotten that any other kids were even in their class. No one existed in the room for him but Katie.
But after the look on Katie’s face when the other kids were all gathered around her desk in giggles, Jason knew he had made a huge mistake.
Okay, he had to fix this and quick. The only thing he knew to do was try to relieve some of the tension by stating the obvious. It was part of his charm. Jason was always being accused of saying what everyone was thinking. Instinct kicked in and he simply said, “I think this is your seat, Kit Kat.”
He was shocked to see a look of anger and embarrassment that suddenly appeared on Katie’s face. He didn’t know how things had gone so terribly wrong or why his charm and wit had not gotten the smile that always appeared on the opposite sex’s face whenever he spoke. But the one thing he did know was that he had never met anyone else who made him feel the way this girl sitting next to him made him feel.
And he hadn’t known it at the time, but he never would.
Present Day
The same feeling that paralyzed him upon seeing her for the first time in kindergarten class washed over Jason now as he stood in front of Katie. His world stopped spinning and she was the only thing that existed.
Katie had grown into the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. Standing five foot three, with a petite figure that had curves in all the right places, she still had incredible long blond hair and the most intoxicating blue eyes in existence.