i love you, nathaniel eaton.

i had a flashback today.  i think at least 75% middle school girls daydream about the school's quarterback, basketball captain, or another macho real-life epitome of "modern masculinity".  the other 25% is a hodgepodge of girls who either have their head on straight or their head in the clouds: 1) girls who can already see that their interests are better served away from the over-popularized jocks, and 2) the real daydreamers - the ones smitten with book characters.  i was the latter.  and nathaniel eaton was my kind of man.

anyone who's read "the witch of blackbird pond" will agree that it is just one of those books that touches you deep down inside.  that understands what being different feels like.  that teaches about real friendship.  that shows you things will all work out in the end.  in short, if this book were a person, it would be my kindred spirit.  if kit tyler was a real girl, i'm positive we would get along fabulously.  it's one of those books that someday i'll pull off my bookshelf and hand to my teenage daughter, because she needs to know that it's okay to be different or understand the value of true friendship and determination.

really, it's no surprise that nat eaton became my crush of all time.  i connected with the plot so much that i think it was sort of inevitable, despite his relatively small role in the story.  

today, i saw a boy who reminded me very much of nat.  same brown unkempt hair as the nat in my head, with the same sailor-tanned skin and mostly average looks.  and i remembered how absolutely head over heals for this fictional ideal of a romancer i used to be.  true, he did burn down the house kit's fiancée built for her, and a few times when the plot absolutely demanded his comforting presence, he was absent.  but. even though his absent life as a sailor kept him away, he was her friend.

he jumped into the ocean to rescue her - even though she knew how to swim.

and you have to admit, there's something beautifully romantic about burning down the house his competitor built - and to woo their subject, too (with jack-o-lanterns, of all things)... not to mention the fact that he was sailor.  in books, that's usually all it takes to spell romantic.

so, nathaniel eaton, i loved you.  and i don't think it was all that bad of a daydream, either.  it taught me to value friendship - in more ways than one.  it taught me that i could be loved, even if i felt very, very different from the other girls.  and it formed a schema for relational friendship, a standard, so to speak, for the boys that would befriend me in the future.

yep.  good flashback. 

now back to reality: on the subject of fabulous friends, a surprise present came to my door yesterday!
flowers for jessica.  guess who they were from?

they were from superman.

i'm a lucky girl.  after all, how many people get flowers from superman, anyway?