TYG: My First Fictional Character Crush Revealed & How I Started Skating

I'm an awfully romantic sort of person. Add on to that the fact that everything I do must be perfectly planned out in a color coordinated notebook, and, well, I know no limits. You see, I have the habit of taking crushes (fictional & real (although the former's a lot more common)) to the 'next level', so to speak. Namely, by planning out our entire lives and fretting over details so that I WILL BE PREPARED.

Don't believe me?

1.) How about the time I was researching geeky care packages just in case I married someone from the military who also happened to be into The Lord of the Rings?

2.) Or when I decided I didn't have a 'real' crush on this guy, because his last name would sound terrible with mine, and God would never put me with someone who's last name clashed with Gillian.

3.) Or the hours I've spent worrying about being nicer so that I might make an acceptable preacher's wife, just in case that's needed?

4.) Or when I got extremely jealous after my friend and I took a quiz, and it said she would marry Sam Wise Gamgee, and then she wouldn't give in and let me have him, EVEN THOUGH I'VE LOVED HIM SINCE I WAS 10. Seriously. I'm still torn up over that.

5.) Or just recently, when my cousin and I were watching Disney's The Swiss Family Robinson, and we started fighting over who got Fritz. I HAD claimed him before the movie started, taking advantage of the fact that she'd forgotten which one was which. 

I SAID: He's too old for you!

SHE SAID: He's too old for you! He's dead!

I'd forgotten about that.

Anyways, that's enough proof of my insanity, isn't it?

So, yeah. I'm overzealous with my, uh, life planning. And the funny thing is, this is so not new. I've been like this for eternity. I made these exact same plans, even more, when I realized my first fictional character crush.

Of course, to me, he was not at all fictional. To four-year-old Gillian, he was simply the most caring, cute, and utterly indescribable guy of all time. And he could sing. AND he had gorgeous hair. I was obviously going to marry him.

You ready?

I was in love...

With...

PRINCE ERIC.

That's right. The loyal, adventurous, and totally sweet guy from The Little Mermaid. And I mean, can you blame me? HIS HAIR. HIS EYES. Seriously, the eyes. Bright blue. LIKE THE OCEAN THAT HE LOVES!! *sigh*.

And honestly, he still has a very special place in my heart. I can't even watch The Little Mermaid without going gah-gah for him. 

Like when he's all, "When I find the right girl, I'll know it. It'll just hit me, BAM. Like lightning." 

He's determined to wait for the perfect girl. A true romantic, am I right?

And then there's the part where he's frustrated, and passionately throws his flute-thing into the ocean. And then the camera zooms into, once again, THOSE EYES. And then Ursuala tricks him, but we'll ignore that part.

Of course, only making me even more love sick, was the fact that at the same time I was totally crushing on a real-life guy who's name was, get this, Eric.

Real-life Eric was about 15 or so at the time. His parents were good friends with my grandmother, and since I was at her house all the time when I was little, I knew him pretty well. In my mind, Prince Eric and Real Eric were pretty much the exact same person, only making my love for the both of them grow stronger. I completely ignored the fact that Real Eric's hair was blonde, and sort of spiky, instead of black and wavy. And the fact that Real Eric was in fact not a prince, but a figure skater.

Yup.

He figure skated. And is pretty much the reason that I skate, now. You see, once Mum figured out that dance wasn't really my thing, she called up Real Eric's mum to talk skating. Of course, I had to go to the local club that Eric skated at (!), and that was that, and I started.

I remember thinking I was SO MUCH BETTER. Because I knew the awesome boy who junior coached, and he knew who I was and would talk to me. Yeah. I was a heart sick, jealous, four year-old, okay? 

Anyways, the years went by and I continued to love him. He was on my favorite people list, as I'm so found of saying. Also, random fact: he worked at Dustons. 

Dustons? What's Dustons? Says the poor, trapped readers forced to listen to the love story of a four year old. Well. I'll tell you.

Dustons is every skaters dream. It's a bakery/deli right across from the rink, with the BEST doughnuts and the BEST chicken fingers and more flavors of coffee than you could ever wish for. It's frequented by all groups of people, and they play ABC family movies all day on Saturday. Everyone who works there is nice and it's pretty much the best place on earth.

And Eric worked there. So cool, right? I mean, the skater, working at the skater hang out on Saturdays after he skated. Mum and I would walk over there after group lessons and he would give me my doughnut. I loved being four.

Then the annual spring skating show came around. Eric, being the awesome person he was, got me a bouquet of flowers. I was so pleased with myself. Mum, being the considerate mother she is, helped me to press them in a book, so that I could keep them forever. She said then they wouldn't get old that way, which sounded pretty good to me. 

But of course, my version of 'never get old' was different than my mum's. Mum's meant that they would dry and be a pretty keepsake. I assumed that they would be perfectly pristine, vibrantly colored, and uncrushed, just like they were right then.

After we took them out of the book, I was appalled. I screamed, grabbed the brown and, to me, dead flower from Mum and crumpled it in my hands before running upstairs.

I was a charming child.

So yeah. Real Eric grew up and went to college, and I kept skating. Not to get too sappy, but he's a big reason why I started skating and I still think of him a lot. More than you think about the average crush you had when you were four years old, anyway. Oh, and Prince Eric? He lived happily ever after, until they made The Little Mermaid 2 and he had to rescue his daughter, but I've honestly blocked that entire movie and I don't even remember the plot. Something about a skinny Ursula. I don't know.

Wait, what was I saying?

Anyways, now you know more about evil, lovesick, little Gillian than you ever really wanted to. You're welcome.

Outfit Details: headscarf / / hand-me-down, tee / / old navy, tank / / hand-me-down, pencil skirt / / thrifted, tights / / george via walmart, boots / / hand-me-down, ring / / gift.

Stalk These Pieces: toile pencil skirt: #1, #2, #3, #4. gray pirate boots: #1, #2.

Like what you see? View the rest of my Thrifty Yankee Girl posts here.