Amelia Draws

This is a story of falling in love for the first time. In this story, rather dramatically.

I was five when I ventured into the huge paddock behind our house. In actual truth it wasn’t that large a paddock, I just had little legs. It also had two sheep in it, one was a ram.

I don’t know if you know much about rams but they are big and bulky and don’t care for manners. They are as tall as little five year old me.

One day, I decided to venture into that paddock, to cautiously take the shortcut through the front of the paddock by the neighbours fence to the creek. However, the ram saw me and he charged. I bolted, running as fast as my little legs could carry me. It was terror. I had no plan, I just ran and I shrieked.

In moments that felt like eternity with the ram closing the gap, for the first time ever, I was scared for my life. A profound and awful feeling in itself.

It was then that a figure launched himself over the fence, his blonde hair shining gold in the sun. It was Tanya’s big brother. He held a big stick as he flew through the air, landed then ran up to the ram wildly brandishing his stick and yelling loudly.

He was big enough and bold enough that the chasing ram swerved to run the other way and for the moment we were safe.

I felt an overwhelming warmth. I had been saved. I had a hero.

“You ok?”, he asked. My friend’s big brother.

Me, panting, shaking and mooning at my teen saviour, “yes”.

“Ok, I will go now, you better get out of the paddock”.

“Yes”

He climbed back over the fence and I fearfully creeped out of the paddock – in love.

This was pretty much the only interaction I had with the boy who I have since forgotten the name of. At least that I can remember. But his act of heroism left me idolising him from afar.

Love comes in many shapes and sizes. It is a big word. This was more then a childhood crush. This was devotion, this was honour. This was the cherishable feeling of attachment to the person who protected me and put their body on the line to do so.

I have since experienced many flavours of love. Big and small. Long and short. Positive and negative. But that was the first and formative experience of it’s buzz in my heart. A buzz I treasure.