Day 3 of the 30 Day Writing Challenge!

Discuss your first love, or your first kiss

Who can forget their first love? It’s something that stays with you forever. There’s something about that connection, that first true connection to another, that gets inside your blood and alters you for the rest of your life.

My first love was Peter Venkman. Bill Murray’s character in Ghostbusters. I was five; I imagine he was somewhere in his 30s, but age didn’t matter to me. Nor did the different worlds we lived in; fictional versus real.

There was just something about him that drew me in, though now it’s hard to remember what it was at first. Maybe it was his leadership skills – he was the founding father of the Ghostbusters after all. Or maybe it was his confident yet laid back attitude or the fact that he was a smooth talker with the ladies. Most likely it was Peter/Bill’s sense of humor that stole my young heart. I knew from the moment I first saw him that he was the man I was going to marry.

It’s not too far a stretch to say that Dr. Peter Venkman is the reason I pursued a degree in psychology. He was after all my first introduction to that science. Other than a writer, a psychologist is the career I’ve wanted the longest. I used to attribute that to all the Oprah my mom watched, but after much reflection, I see now that it started before that. It started with him.

Perhaps he’s even the reason why I’ve always wanted to go ghost hunting and the reason I’m drawn to the spooky and the macabre. Peter Venkman caught ghosts for a living; he saved New York from pink ooze and the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man without even giving a second thought. If I wanted to be with him, I too would have to be willing to set my fears aside and actively seek out the Other Side.

As time went on and I started kindergarten, my love for Dr. Venkman began to fade. He continued to be seen in many Saturday Night Live episodes and star in dozens of great movies. I went on and discovered new people to be in love with like Robin from Batman and Jonathan Taylor Thomas.

Now when I watch those old Ghostbuster movies, I still feel that familiar flutter in my heart when Venkman takes the screen. I’m reminded of the good times and can’t help but smile over what we used to have. We’re in totally different places in our lives now, but I think it’s safe to say that neither of us would have become who we are without each other.

Never forget your first love.

And never, ever cross the streams.