I fell in love at an early age. Really early. I remember it clear as day, seven years old, like a bolt of lightning. Her name was Stephanie Mahoney, and she was a sixteen year old goddess assigned to babysit my precocious little self.
I told her within minutes of her walking through the door that I planned on marrying her, and bless her, she didn't laugh, just smiled and said she liked younger men, but she expected to be kept in a certain fashion when we did get married.
My parents were in a phase that year, wanting to be out having a life, so Stephanie Mahoney and I spent a great deal of time together. She was patient and sweet to all my youthful advances. She would never give me the treasured kiss I desired, but was never mean in rejecting me.
In the drawer beside my bed I still have a photo album from that summer entitled the Jared Newman Loves Stephanie Mahoney Memory Book. Looking at the pictures, I can definitely see why I fell so hard, so fast. At the time, I didn't see her perfect body or even have an idea of what a perfect body was, but that face. Raven black hair over porcelain skin, green eyes with lashes out to there, a light dusting of freckles over her nose, and her mouth. Poets would write sonnets about her mouth. Full lips, with the top just a little larger than the bottom framing even white teeth when she flashed her gorgeous smile.
Eventually my obsession diminished but never totally faded and I moved on with my life. A lifeguard at 11, my optometrist at 13, and an intern teacher when I was 15. All innocent crushes, but some sort of love.
I grew to have more success, but I never found love. I lost my virginity my first year of college and again wished it was with my first love. How could I when I fell truly and deeply in love with Stephanie Mahoney at 7?
I graduated high school with high honors (did I mention just how precocious I was) and won a full ride academic scholarship for college. I graduated with a degree in electrical engineering in three years and decided to enter the workforce in full stride. 21 years old and making a very comfortable six figure salary designing electrical systems for mines.
Working for a mining company allowed me to travel extensively, and I spent time in the Congo, Peru, Chile, Malaysia, China, and Vietnam. Our company branched in desalinization plants, and I spent a year and a half in Australia. By 26, I was making in the high six figures and was heading up entire projects by myself.
My company recently flew me to Cancun, Mexico where I had a meeting with an industrial company interested in setting up a plant 50 miles up the coast from Cancun. I decided to mix business with pleasure and overstayed my meeting to take some much overdue vacation time. When my vacation started, I moved over to a resort in the hotel zone and rented a jacuzzi suite for a week. My balcony had the jacuzzi, and I planned to soak and drink for most of the time I was there.
On my third day I decided to wander around and check out the hotel zone. I wandered through the market and bought a few trinkets for people at the office, then headed down the street to a restaurant with a Day of the Dead theme. It looked good and had every kind of tequila possible, so I popped in.
I was eating and something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. It might have been the bright color dress, or the laughter from the group, but most likely it was the black hair. I had no moment of hesitation where I doubted it, I just instantly knew I was looking at Stephanie Mahoney.
I stared in shock, both at seeing her and seeing she was even more beautiful 20 years later than she had been at 16. My eyes flew to her hand and saw she wore no ring, and as her entire group were women, I thought there was a chance she was single.
My mind raced, wondering how to approach her. She was my dream girl...er...woman, and for the first time in a long time, I was nervous. It had been a long time since talking to a woman gave me butterflies, but I had them.
I flagged the waiter down after I finished eating, and asked him in Spanish to deliver a round of drinks to her table and to give me the tab for their dinner. I asked him to tell the woman named Stephanie that Jared Newman said hello.
I sat nervously and waited, and when he approached the table with the drinks, I waited to see her reaction. At first all the ladies cheered at getting free drinks, then Stephanie's head swiveled around the room. I assumed she would take a while to recognize the little boy she had taken care all grown up, but as soon as she saw me, her smile lit up her face and she came out of her seat towards me.
I stood and met her half way and she solved my question by embracing me immediately.
"Jared! Oh my god! What in the world are you doing here? Traveling the world like always, huh?"
I laughed. "Yes, I am. Um, how do you know I travel all the time, and how in the world did you recognize me so fast?"
"I'm friends with your mom on Facebook. She posts pictures of you and your travels all the time. I would have friended you, but she said you don't have it."
"No. Never took the time. So, are you kind of a stalker now?" I deadpanned. She swiped at me when she realized I was kidding.
"You have to come meet my friends! They are dying to find out who the gorgeous man who bought us drinks is."
I followed her over and she introduced me to Diane, Michelle, and Hannah. They all worked together for the same doctor, and each year he closed his office and sent the staff on a vacation. The waiter brought me a chair and I sat.
After a barrage of questions, I told them about my job, and how I had extended my work trip to take a vacation.
"And how do you know our Stephanie?" asked Michelle.
"Stephanie was my very first love," I said. "I was seven, and for about a year, she babysat me a couple of times a week."
"Oooh, young love, huh?" cooed Hannah.
"Well, for me. Stephanie just tolerated my pining with good grace," I laughed.
"I told him once he got a little older and could support me like the princess I am, I would marry him."
"Are you here to sweep her off her feet," laughed Diane.
"The thought did cross my mind, but since I don't have Facebook, I couldn't check her relationship status," I said, glancing at Stephanie out of the corner of my eye.
"Last time I checked it said single and looking, with just a hint of desperation," said Diane.
"Enough, you're embarrassing me," said Stephanie with a twinkle in her eye.
We sat and chatted and when their food came, I excused myself. They insisted I stay with them, so I went and got my drink and let the waiter know to bring my check and theirs to the new table and went back over.
"Where are you staying?" Stephanie asked.
"Riu Palace Las Americas," I responded.
"Is that the white one right down the road?" she asked.
"Yes, the one with the statues on top," I said.
"We're at the pinkish Riu right next door."
"If you ladies need an escort back, you're right on the way," I said.
"A gentleman through and through." said Diane.
