I'm Crushed

How can an old man's head be spinning so over such a young, lovely princess?
by Charlie Leck

I had this blog all finished and put away, ready for posting, when I happened to hear on CNN's late afternoon news show a comment that virtually resembled the theme of this blog. It was silly Jack Cafferty who said it about Michelle Obama -- that he had a bit of a crush on her. All of this in the interests of full disclosure. Nevertheless, I contend this blog is completely original and was not influenced by Cafferty's remarks.

I know it's tragically immature and hopelessly silly, but I do believe I have an enormous crush on the First Lady of the land.

Forget the Prez! He seems to be a wonderful guy and he's trying awfully hard and doing whatever he can to save the Union; however, Michelle is succeeding without even trying. She just has to walk out into public with that amazing smile of hers, flashing those glorious dark, sparkling eyes, and I melt like a teenager in love.

I had the same feeling about Miss Dalton, my teacher when I was in the 5th grade. Oh my, but I was in love with the woman. I'd never seen anyone quite so beautiful. She had the same smile that I see Michelle Obama flash these days. It seemed so genuine and so gloriously confident. Why, I think, that's when things started to go so badly for me in school. Who could concentrate on the conversion of fractions to decimals when Miss Dalton was standing in the front of the classroom, writing it all out of the blackboard? All I could think about was how I wanted to spend the entire rest of my life in her company, with her arms around me and her body up-close to me.

"Okay, Charlie, you please come up here and convert this fraction -- four-fifths -- to its decimal equivalent."

"Huh?"

My legs wouldn't work properly. It was as if all my muscles had gone mushy. I wobbled toward the blackboard in the front of the room and Miss Dalton held out a piece of chalk to me. Her finger tips touched mine as I took the chalk from her. My head spun wildly.

I wrote the fraction down on the blackboard. It's as far as I got. I couldn't remember a thing she'd said about the method of converting it. I froze in embarrassment. My mouth was irritably dry and I couldn't speak. This beautiful teacher shook her head softly from side to side and tilted it just slightly, in both sympathy and embarrassment for me.

"Well, you must have been day-dreaming through my explanation, Charlie! It's such a simple process. I can't waste class time going over it again. You just come in after school and I'll explain it to you again."

She dismissed me with a tiny, but terribly pretty, smile.

"Teddy, you come up here and make this conversion, please!"

That afternoon, as Teddy and the other out-of-town kids were boarding the buses, he said something awful to me about my utter stupidity. I challenged him to step down from the bus and say that to my face. He did. I took a swing at him. He swung back. We both missed, realizing how painful it would be to land a punch. We ended up wrestling and rolling around on the ground. A couple of bus drivers separated us.

Miss Dalton stood there, glaring at the two of us. There was fire in her stunning eyes and her nostrils flared. What a beauty!

"Charlie Leck, you get into my classroom where you're supposed to be! Right now!"

My dear teacher was so upset with me. She let me know with absolute certainty.

"You're supposed to be one of the kind and gentle kids in this school, Charlie Leck. You're not a bully. How could you get into a fight like that?"

She was as beautiful when she was angry as when not. It was wonderful to be so close to her and alone. My hands trembled and my heart pounded. I wondered how anyone could be so glowingly beautiful.

Oh, my! I'm told such childhood feelings are understandable. But now? Here I am, fast approaching my 70th year, and I'm having the same pulsing excitement about the First Lady. What a woman!

How can anyone be so beautiful? And, so confident and self-assured. It's electric when she walks out on the stage to address an audience or make an announcement. Talk about charisma! She's a living, walking, talking, smiling definition of the word.

Laura Bush was a nice lady and, apparently, very kind. And Hillary was, you know, Hillary! Barbara Bush was so sweetly grandmotherish; and Nancy Reagan was fire and brimstone and just a touch edgy. Pat Nixon and Mamie were quiet, reserved and private. Bess Truman was fiery, but frumpy. And even the ubiquitous Jackie Kennedy was not as solid, confident and self-composed as our current First Lady. Eleanor Roosevelt was a star - there's no question about that. She was bright and bold and alert. Michelle is all those things, but she's also beautiful, with that winning smile and those rapturous eyes.

Mrs. Obama is simply the most extraordinary presidential spouse of my life-time.

Yup! I've got a little kid's crush on our spectacular First Lady and she can do no wrong by me.