Tuesday, January 25, 2011

My first beau


When I was five, back in the year a man first walked on the moon (sigh!), my parents and I went to Barbados for family vacation. My parents rented a house complete with housekeeper/babysitter, a warm woman named Anita whom I immediately took to and still remember fondly all these years later.

My parents befriended another family while we were there. They had one child too, a six-year-old boy named Shaun. I immediately fell in love. Nowadays I prefer my younger man, but back then, the older Shaun seemed exotic and fascinating. We also had matching haircuts. For reasons I am still not clear on, right before our trip, my mother decided that all my curly blonde hair needed to be lopped off. I ended up looking a bit like a miniature Twiggy. 

Being a talented dressmaker, my mother used to sew all my clothes and was responsible for the ensemble in the above photo. She did beautiful work and it's a shame she never became a costume designer, a career she once dreamed of. Instead in her later life she ended up sewing a lot of Hallowe'en costumes, wedding and bridesmaid gowns, including one carefully altered to fit a very-pregnant bride! She sewed my wedding dress too, and I am still grateful for that.

I don't remember much about Shaun, except that he persuaded me to hide in a closet with him long enough to make our mothers frantic looking for us. Now don't worry, nothing naughty was going on in there! I recall sitting in the dark, trying to stifle giggles as we listened to our mums calling our names. I think Shaun ended up getting the blame for that episode.
I wonder what Shaun is up to now? I don't know his last name and I can't quite recall if his family was from England or Australia; I know they weren't Canadian. I wonder if he's gotten all decrepit and gelatinous and pasty, working as debt collector, or if he's still a sleek blonde womanizer, luring unsuspecting girls into closets? I guess I'll never know!

I have a lot of fond memories of our Barbados trip, but I also contracted a bad case of sand fleas, ending up with scabby, infected legs. I was taken to a Barbadian doctor and not allowed on the beach or in the ocean for the last week of the trip, something I found so upsetting that I still remember it 42 years later!

I could use a Caribbean vacation right about now...

18 comments:

  1. Which one is you? :)

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  2. Well yes, my point EXACTLY!

    For the record, I'm on the left.

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  3. Anonymous9:22 am

    For some strange reason I prefer imagining that Shaun is still harmlessly luring attractive blondes into closets and giggling -- to the gelatinous pasty alternative.

    That photo of you two is adorable. I guessed you were the one on the left.

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  4. Ahh young love! I wonder if there is a blogger called Shaun wondering what became of Knatolee?

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  5. Anonymous10:59 am

    Aren't you kids just too cute for words! I think your hair looks adorable.

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  6. love the previous pet photo...just like my house

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  7. I had that hair cut too!

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  8. This is one very interesting post, very well written!

    I can connect to it, though i do not even know you :)

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  9. Like Jams mentioned, I too hope Shaun is a 'blogger' :)

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  10. I hope Shaun has been able to come out of the closet by now.

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  11. Lovely photo, you look so cute together.
    He looks like he may have grown up to be a medallion man with that chain round his neck!

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  12. CogDiss, I think I prefer your imaginings too!!!! And thank you for knowing who the girl is in the photo! :)

    Jams, 'fess up. YOu were in Barbados in 1969, weren't you? :)

    TTPT, thank you! I think it was quite hip for the time.

    John, our pets rule us!

    WanderingCat, lucky you. :)

    Siddhartha, thanks for stopping in!

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  13. Hahaha, good one, MURR!!! Me too. :)

    Kirigalpoththa, wouldn't it be funny if Shaun were out there somewhere, wondering what had become of ME?

    Little Blue Mouse, the chain around his neck IS a little worrisome...

    And Calum, have you figured out which one is me yet?

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  14. I always knew which one was you.

    You're trying to kid everyone: you ARE the one on the right. :)

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  15. Oh come now, I am not! I am the one sitting like a lady, knees firmly together. Yeesh.

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  16. Anonymous9:30 pm

    "I wonder if he's gotten all decrepit and gelatinous and pasty, working as debt collector"

    HAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAH

    oh GOD Knatty ...that just KILLED me.

    and you are tooo tooooooo TOOOOOO adorable in that pic. :D you could be right out of the 1920s. I'll bet your mom LOVED creating those outfits for you.

    (i do read the blog from time to time but not as much as i'd like ... but jst had to mention that line above. that's made me LOL!!...working as a debt collector ... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA )

    you kill me! :DDDDD

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  17. Dr. Sloth! Great to see you! :)

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Thank you for all your comments, which I love to read!