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“Baaargh..he’ll never be as good as his old man”…

It was in ‘97 and that was my pops…playa hatin’ on Enrique Iglesias.. We (my bro, pops and I) just finished watching his ”Hero” video, which I thought was VERY good, by the way…
Dad, like every old school playa of his time, was an avid listener to the old Julio Iglesias ballads (though he seemed not to care much for Iglesias the younger), I had wondered how many women he “befriended” while listening to “that misguided Latino”, as my brother used to call Julio Iglesias. (Indeed, my bro simply referred to ALL Latin singers…from Julio to Lisa Lisa, Gloria Estefan, Los Lobos, Jon Secada, Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony AND Enrique…as ”misguided Latinos”).
I guess pops felt that Enrique deviated from the romantic, Latin love ballads of his father (go figure!)

One of the Iglesias songs I usually heard pops humming to frequently was “To all the girls I loved before”…and I had always wondered what the old man was thinking when he hummed that song. Having heard stories from my uncles and aunties about pops’ escapades (and having seen one or two first hand myself), one can hazard that there was quite a plethora of names going through his head…
I once watched a VHS video of Julio performing live in Monaco. I thought it was a good performance. He openly flirted with his back-up singers (dirty dog!)…and of course, one of the highlights of the show was his performance of “To all the girls I’ve loved before”…
I had watched the faces of the men in the audience (seated next to their over-made up prima-donna wives/mistresses), as the camera occasionally panned through the terraced seats during Julio’s rendition…and for most of them, they wore looks of deep reflection…regretful/pensive smiles of sweet guilt and memories, ONLY one of them actually turned to face the woman seated next to him to give her a broad smile (ain’t love grand!)

Anyway…I recently heard the song again on radio while brushing my pearly whites in da bathroom, and looking at my face in the mirror, I found that this time, it was ME that had the guilty/pensive bitter-sweet smile on my face (what were you thinking, boy??!!).
The memories and images; joyful, funny, playful, passionate, painful, erotic…all floated through my head. The names flitting in my mind…names that evoked smiles, laughter, frowns, tears, longing, lust…and more

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A – Loved all you were, your faults and all…pity you didn’t quite see past mine… thanks for the good times though…will forever be “painfully” cherished..
B – A “free spirit”, refusing to be “tied down”…I wish you all the happiness you seek…and more…
C – UTTERLY forbidden, secret…but still irresistible. Glad we parted friends..I think (whew!)
D – You inspired words I never thought I had…pity we let the hatas (and me) screw it up…
E – One long night, and a lifetime’s worth of memories
F – Its true what they say about dynamite coming in small packages…DAMN!!
G –
H – Why da heck did we bother when we both knew it was heading nowhere..?? Ok ok, don’t answer that…there might be minors readin’ this..
I – The long one…homie, lover, sista, friend…almost got to the finish line, almost went the distance…but like the song says..”almost doesn’t count”.. I know, I know…my fault…hurt like a mutha though..
J – WHOA…no comment..
K – Like I told ya when we first met…you looked like the kid I used to share lunches with in elementary school…Corny pick-up line, I know, but it worked..didn’t it?
L – A week of sheer bliss, a year of longing…the chemistry was right, but the geography was wrong…thanks for all that love anyway…
M – Crazy “obsessed” kid…Watched ya grow, the child, the girl, the woman..you made me feel like a brat again…on top of the world…friends forever, girl…
N – My main pal…ride-or-die chick…ALWAYS has my back…
O – The first one I wanted to “take home to mama”…but I guess I JUST wasn’t “ready” to love you like you needed to be loved….
P – Was nice, (almost) knowing ya kid..pity it didn’t quite take off…
Q – Too much promise..too little reality…where you at girl..??
R –
S –Different breed of woman…smart, driven, incredibly sexy, multifaceted (schizo?) …challenged my mind, expanded my parameters. Friends for life..!!
T – Whoa…kinda scared me to be obsessed over like that…I guess I didn’t think I deserved all that passion (craziness?)…
U – The first one ever…thanks for “breaking me in” and making me feel “all growed up”…
V – They just don’t make ‘em like this anymore…HOT mind, HOT body…I treasure the (short) time we had..
W – The attraction was mutual (almost scary) from the first sighting…wherever you are, I wish you joy….
Y – Ok ok…I know you’re mad at me…but hey, I saw the end from the beginning…trust me, I did ya a favour. I’m not as nice as you think I am.
Z – Er…it was over before it even started..sorry!!

(Whew..!! Thank heaven the modern English alphabet has only twenty-six characters…lol)

One and all…they taught me the true meanings of love, lust and loss…we gave and took of each other…sometimes with nervous caution, sometimes with reckless abandon…leaving part of ourselves with each other, memories that we’ll carry for life…
Each one revealing a different facet of the kaleidoscope that is woman..
Even with the regrets and heartache, I can say in all honesty…it was worth every minute of the ride…

To those to whom I might have caused pain…PLEASE accept my sincerest apologies, it was never my intention to hurt anyone (yeah..it usually never is, right?)……
And to those that kicked my sorry ass to the curb…hey, thanks for doing me a favor….

Love y’all forever..!!

Based in Nigeria, Obi Eze is not only a first class lover, but also an international man of mystery… He can be reached via Facebook