Being Ten All Over Again

I was only a year older than my nine year old daughter last night when I saw my tween heartthrob, Bart Connors. He was standing in line for tickets to the Gymnastics Superstar show that was in Tulsa yesterday evening. I missed the sleeveless gymnastics shirt and those white pants with the feet in them, but it was defeinitely him. I was transported back in time, remembering how I held my breath and watched in awe as he performed in the 1984 Olympics. I had a crazy mad crush on him then, secretly harboring dreams of marrying my tween heartthrob. What girl hasn't?

Last night, I felt my heart pitter pattering all over again, until I realized, his Olympic performance was over twenty years ago. Gulp. Twenty years????

It was my husband's idea to go to the show. He's not Bart Connors, in case you were wondering. He did compete as a gymnast in his native country, Germany, all the way to the national levels. So, even though I didn't grow up to marry my tween heartthrob, I did marry a gymnast, who wooed me with a handstand. No joke. When he stood on his hands in the park the first time we went out, I was head over heels in love.

Last night, we sat next to each other, both a little older, with our two daugthers between us watching their eyes glow as the men's Olypmic gymnastics team showed off a little on the bars. One of the men did a triple salto on his dismount. Secretly, I think I wanted his autograph more than my daughter. But it was the look in my husband's eyes that really warmed my heart. He was smiling and clapping and so full of youthful glee at watching and remembering some of the things he used to do. Jokingly, I told him I'd been in love with him for twenty years, but now, well, those new boys weren't bad. He instantly replied that he'd take the stage. He still had a few moves in him.

I fell in love all over again.

My daughters, on the other hand, are madly in love with the new generation of gymnasts. I can only smile. There's something about those suits they wear and the flips they do that can melt the heart of any girl.