I love redheads.....

Cintia   is from Sports Illustrated
Lexi is, well, Lexi   she has hair that "pops"
Cande just shared her new hair color with us for HNT
There are Tumblrs dedicated to RedHeads
And I have a new friend who has beautiful red hair.
The cheerleader was a redhead even though we only went on one date
And, of course, JR was a redhead.

But first, there was _____ uhmmm, Jana, (I can't believe I started off with her real name).

Jana was my first girlfriend, first real girlfriend, at least.  We were in the band together, both in the woodwinds so we had after school rehearsals on the same schedule and would wait outside for our mom’s to pick us up in the same spot..

I can still remember the first time she held my hand, it was late, winter of our Junior year, and we were waiting for our parents to pick us up. She lived in a different part of town so we never went home together, but there, in the dark, she reached over and took my hand as we waited.

We went to Homecoming together the next fall with three of her best friends and their dates. We went to a restaurant in the canyon and as the others waited for our table she took me by the hand and led me for a walk. Her dress was long and light blue with lots of ruffles. I had a light blue tux with dark blue trim and a fluffy white and blue dickie. You'll have to forgive me, it was the 80s. Her hair was up off her neck which is a look that I still love today. She had freckles, soft skin, and beautiful eyes.

When we got off into the trees we found a spot where we could see the stars without the light from the restaurant bothering our vision. She held my hand, which I still think is about the most romantic thing you can do, and started talking about how beautiful it was. She squeezed my hand tightly and I knew bad news was coming.

She told me that her mother and father were getting divorced and started to cry.

As a 17-year-old boy who barely knows how to talk to a woman enough to get her out on a date, I wasn't sure exactly what to do, so I held her hand, pulled her a little closer to me, and wrapped my arms around her.

We stood there for about 10 min., alone in the woods, was only the stars to hear her. After a few minutes she pulled herself away from me and looked me in the eye and said, "I love you." She leaned in and kissed me. It was the first time I've ever heard a woman from outside my family say that and  I said, "I love you too." I think, at the time, I meant it. She was my first, and my best high school girlfriend. We loved each other as we could, and when it came time to graduate her mother moved her out-of-state and we lost touch.

This was before e-mail, before the web, and when people were gone they were gone.We tried to write a couple of times but she went to college in one state and I went in another and with no money for travel or long distance calls, it was just done.

I saw her four years later at her best friend's wedding and she was happy. She was almost done with college and dating a guy who sounded fantastic but was unable to join her for the wedding. I'm not sure if they ever got married or not she was my first redhead, and I still love her for that.