AtoZ Challenge: W - #WCW - Becky Thatcher

Greetings from Hannibal, MO, Mark Twain's boyhood hometown, my theme for this year's AtoZ Challenge.

#WCW or Woman Crush Wednesday is a popular hashtag on Instagram. #MCM stands for Man Crush Monday. Pretend today is Wednesday. I wanted to feature Becky Thatcher, Tom Sawyer's crush in Twain's book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Mark Twain's sweetheart lived across the street from him and became the inspiration  for his classic novel. As a young boy, Twain walked Laura Hawkins to school, gave her sweets, and showed off, performing death-defying stunts and somersaults. (Maybe he knew parkour?) Twain always adored Laura. Even at the age of eighteen, he was still crazy in love with his "Becky Thatcher."

Becky Thatcher house

Do you remember your first crush? Grade school, middle school, high school? In the eighth grade, I had a friend. We shared a love of baseball and sat next to each other in class. I don't think you ever forget your first crush. I was a scrawny runt, an eighth grader who looked more like an eight year old, well, maybe more like a ten year old. Anyway, his older sister and my older sister were bff's, so we were really good friends.

I shouldn't have been surprised one day when he turned around in his desk, forgot what he was going to say, regained his composure and asked me to his football banquet. My insides were giggling with excitement. Of course, I said yes! At that moment, I think I was more nervous than he was. The boy who asked me to my first formal event and bought me a wrist corsage will forever be my first real crush. No, I didn't marry him, but I did marry my college sweetheart.

Do you remember your first crush? Do you ever write personal experiences and feelings in to your novels like Twain did?