First Crush

We all have our initial celebrity crushes, the child actor that for some reason speaks to us, usually because of their baby face and non threatening appeal.  Often as we grow older that crush because a subject of embarrassment, a moment for our cheeks to turn just a bit red as we admit that yes, we did once like that dorky little kid who grew up to be a has been drug addict.

Or, in my case, that little kid who grew up to be AWESOME!

When I was eight years old, I pledged my heart to Doogie Howser, MD.  There was just something about him that my little eight year old self was drawn to.  Then for many years he was gone, faded from the limelight allowing me to forget and move onto men such as Jonathan Taylor Thomas.  Little did I realize that JTT would be my childhood embarrassing crush while the silent Neil Patrick Harris would eventually become the superstar of my world.

In 1997 Rent, a show that I am beyond obsessed with came to the West Coast and has its premier in La Jolla.  Due to persistence and pure luck I managed to get tickets to the second day of previews and there he was, my childhood crush in one of the leading roles.  Oh Neil Patrick Harris, my heart still belonged to you.

I will not admit how many times I saw that particular production, though I only caught it in La Jolla four times that summer. 

Years later he would became the breakout star in How I Met Your Mother, a show that I would grow to adore.  And then came Dr. Horrible's Sing A-long Blog and the awards shows and suddenly there he was.  NPH.  Not even Neil Patrick Harris anymore.  He belonged to the world and I was able to say my childhood crush with pride.  "Yeah, I wanted to marry Doogie Howser." 

I was on the Neil Patrick Harris mailing list before he was cool.  I was stalking him on AOL when he still had a semi public screen name.  By the time he outed himself my response was "finally."

But I will never be ashamed to admit that I loved him when.