A girl's first crush is the one she never forgets. He's usually mysterious, yet approachable, and obviously unobtainable. And mine was all of those things rolled up into one perfect specimen: Kevin Bacon.
I didn't jump on the bandwagon with the other girls my age lusting after the likes of Michael J. Fox or Jonathan Taylor Thomas. Oh no. When I reach, I reach for the stars, and for me, it was Bacon or Bust (SPOILER ALERT: I busted). I caught my first glimpse of his steely blues on screen in a little movie called White Water Summer. If you haven't seen it, all you really need to know is that Kevin Bacon plays the villain (which may or may not have led to my 'Bad Boy' phase in later life...every girl has one). He's a true woodsman (or camp counselor, whatever) who pushes his would-be city-boy campers, led by Sean Astin, past their breaking point. Anyway, my point is, he's hot, outdoorsy, a little dark and he taught my young heart that there were things beyond Rainbow Bright and My Little Pony to be aware of. That was it. That was the moment I became a fan for life. It was also instrumental to my becoming both obsessed with and a champion of the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. I would watch him in anything...except Footloose. It was a little too dark for my young eyes at the time, but I have obviously changed my tune. I mean, he literally dances around in tight jeans and a muscle tank. LOVE. |
Here's the thing - while most girls only get to imagine what it would be like to meet their childhood crush, I actually got the chance. And it was before I moved on to more age-appropriate crushes like Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Zach Morris) or Scott Speedman (Ben Covington). I was twelve years old, a mere tween, and Kevin Bacon came to my town to film Apollo 13. That fateful night, my mother dragged me to the Houston Rockets game. Full of embarrassment at having to be seen out in public with my mother and angst at, well, being twelve, I begrudgingly joined her at the game. And that's when I spotted him: the love of my life, sitting court-side with the rest of the cast (yes, I was using binoculars...at a Rockets game...in jorts). On the dare of my mother, I actually marched myself down there (NOTE: This was either before they checked tickets or before they started worrying about twelve year old girls in jorts and braces making a scene). PS, this might have been the bravest thing I had ever done.
So there I was, walking up to the man of my dreams, Rockets flyer in hand, ready for a signature. AND then I saw him turning other people away. "This can't be," I said to myself. I mean, we were destined to meet - he shows up in MY hometown, and he's not even going to meet me? I think not. I knew once he saw my braces-filled smile and long gangly tween figure, he'd be hooked.
So I pushed forward, flyer in hand and putting on my best please-love-me smile, hoping to convince him to make an exception for me. AND HE DID. But only after Big Boobs McGee walked by and he made an exception for her. Then he saw me and knew there was no getting out of it. So he signed my Rockets flyer(!), gave me a smile and went back to his game-watching, and I ran back to my seat with my trophy. That thing hung above my bed for longer than I'd care to admit, but I never forgot about that moment.
And, if you ask me, Le Bacon is still brutally hot.
So there I was, walking up to the man of my dreams, Rockets flyer in hand, ready for a signature. AND then I saw him turning other people away. "This can't be," I said to myself. I mean, we were destined to meet - he shows up in MY hometown, and he's not even going to meet me? I think not. I knew once he saw my braces-filled smile and long gangly tween figure, he'd be hooked.
So I pushed forward, flyer in hand and putting on my best please-love-me smile, hoping to convince him to make an exception for me. AND HE DID. But only after Big Boobs McGee walked by and he made an exception for her. Then he saw me and knew there was no getting out of it. So he signed my Rockets flyer(!), gave me a smile and went back to his game-watching, and I ran back to my seat with my trophy. That thing hung above my bed for longer than I'd care to admit, but I never forgot about that moment.
And, if you ask me, Le Bacon is still brutally hot.