As I said, Bea and Olivia could not join Facebook because they are too young. Instead they joined the BBC’s social networking site for kids. This is Bea’s bio, which was sent to me as I had to approve it before it went live:
my name is bea and i love singging and i love dancing i love watching tele but not all the time i love playing lots of games i have 2 sisters and 2 brothers my little brother is called leonardo and hes five years old he loves spiderman then my oldest sister she is called jullia and she is 15 years old my other oldest sister is 10 she is named olivia then i have my oldest brother named hugo he is 16 years old i live at abu dhabi at 25 strret little 8 street i love shopping my secret is that i love a boy in france he has black hair and he’s like me
It was the last sentence that broke my heart. I asked Olivia if it is the boy I suspect it is, the one she has always loved, a little cutie called Julien who was in her class and is the son of the local woodman (who is also quite cute).
“Yes,” she said. “She sometimes thinks she sees him in the street and then she thinks ‘oh he’s here in Abu Dhabi’ but it’s never him.”
I haven’t talked to Bea about it, Olivia says I’m not meant to know.
I feel terrible dragging her away from her first love and even more terrible that I had no idea she even thought about him any more.
Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2009
It’s a so touching expression of children deep feelings… The feeling of Love can be strong, no matter how old you are…
Have a nice sunday!
Cute, cute, cute, from beginning to end, and including your feelings. It’s hard to imagine that one so young could be in love, but there you go. Please don’t feel guilty, her (and your) life in Abu Dhabi sounds idyllic, and she’ll still love him when you eventually return to France, mimi
And yet, the super-secret is something that is revealed to Mummy before being posted on the BBC’s site … and therein lies the true naivety.
Young and in love, feeling the air beneath your wings and seeing the sun shine in every morning … sigh …
UT
If she thinks she sees him in the street, she is really, deeply in love! Ah, le chagrin!
Bea is so stunning. This is just the beginning, Helena. She will break many hearts. All the pain we share for our children. No wonder I have grey hairs! x
Have you read Turgenev’s “First Love”? It might not be the story you think it is. It’s about a very young man who falls in love with a woman his age, who is then stolen from him by a much older and more experienced lover–I won’t reveal the secret of the plot. But it’s not an innocent story about childhood affection–it’s a story about betrayal and sexual competition.