5 Boys That Stole My Childhood Heart

As a child I had my fair share of crushes, some so over the top I could hardly breathe just thinking about the boy of the moment. Once puberty hit I really didn’t know what to do with myself, but I did it anyway. So without further adieu I present to you the top 5 crushes of my childhood.

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1. In kindergarten I was madly in love with a boy named Joe, “Little” Joe and yes, he was little because he was shorter than me even though he was two grades older. That didn’t matter. I was in love with an older man who bought me 45’s (if you know what that is you get bonus points). My favorite was “Puppy Love” by Donny Osmond. I recently came across pictures from my 5th birthday party held in the basement of my Aunt Jan’s house in Littleton, Colorado. There was my love watching me unwrap his gift of a Spirograph – the coolest toy of the times. I wish I had the pick with me now so I could include it.

Sadly Little Joe broke my heart the day he gave me the record “Go Away Little Girl” – another Donny Osmond record (original by Gerry Goffin and Carole King), and I found out he was “dating” my best friend Kimmie – who he had given “Hooked on a Feeling” by BJ Thomas to. Kimmie was a year older than I so I guess they both knew what a “feeling” was.

So much for loyalty. I guess you can say I learned at a young age that best friends can break your heart too and you should never trust them with your guy.

Luckily, I soon found a new Little Joe to love, but first on to number two.

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2. Would it make me bad a bad person if admitted right here and now that I had a thing for both of them? Truly. I wanted to marry Speed Racer. I LOVED him, but I had this weird secret angst over Driver X. I was way to young to know what I wanted to do with him, but even at such a young age I was pulled from the one I loved and it felt secretive.

It was a sad day when I realized I couldn’t marry a cartoon character.

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3.   Michael Landon. OK, I have to preface this with the fact that I ONLY had a crush on Landon when he was Little Joe Cartwright. Boy could he ride a horse, which just happened to be my favorite animal – unless you count dolphins, but that’s a another story and probably doesn’t belong in a list of childhood loves . I was certain I was going to marry this Little Joe. Once Little Joe Cartwright became Charles Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie he was too old for me and by that time I was crazy about  his adopted son Albert, but that’s jumping ahead and he didn’t make my top 5 anyway.

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4. Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson. I don’t think we’re allowed to talk about one without the other so I include Shaun here although it was Parker I was sure I’d marry! My brother and I were given life-size posters when I was in fourth grade. His was of Jacqueline Smith and mine was of the Hardy Boys. At the end of the day, before we climbed in bed, we gave our dream loves a kiss good night. Yes, I really kissed a poster. Hey at least I didn’t go to town on it like my little brother did. Poor Jacqueline’s mouth was kissed away by time we moved to the next house.

I have no idea why other girls were so into Shaun when clearly it was Parker who was the real man.

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5. Greg Evigan from  BJ and the Bear. Dude didn’t need a monkey he was SO hot! In fact, he was the cause of many pink cheeked teen fantasies for a long time. I loved that show and I love me some Billie Joe (BJ) McKay!

I would even get jealous each episode when BJ would hook up with one of his blondies like “Stacks” or the twins Teri & Geri.

Almost made the list…

• Matt Dillon

Would never make the list…

• Leif Garrett
• Rob Lowe

Who made your heart beat when you were a kid??