There's Snow on the Rooftop...........

......... but, there's still a fire in the furnace.

In my younger days, I was constantly falling in love with boys who were not likely to fall for me. I spent many hours mooning over one or another football star or BMOC (big man on campus).

I was never very impressed with the boys who showed an interest in me, nerds and geeks all, which resulted in lots of Saturday nights alone, washing my hair and yearning for Mr. Excitement.

With that kind of background, you'd think a woman my age would have put such childish things as crushes behind mer, wouldn't you? Apparently, that is not the case.

To my great surprise, after watching NCIS for years and feeling a pleasantly warm glow when Special Agent Jethro Leroy Gibbs is onscreen, I have realized, just this season, that he is actually much too old for me. Sorry Jethro. It was fun while it lasted.

Never one to look back, I have decided to follow in the spritely footsteps of Grannymar, with her stable of "toyboys". To that end, I have developed an enormous crush on much younger Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly). That pleasantly warm glow has become a raging conflagration.

I have heard of people experiencing a second childhood, but, a second adolescence? I think not. So, what is going on and why did it take me so long to realize this attraction?

The other day, I Googled Michael Weatherly and avidly read everything I could find about him, and gazed fondly at his photos. When I told Jay about my magnificent obsession (or is it a fatal attraction?), his eyebrows shot up to his hairline. Then, he chuckled. He listened to me go on and on about Michael for a couple of days and then asked, "Which one did you fall for? Was it Michael or Tony?"

I thought it over, and realized that it is really Tony that makes my heart go pitty-pat. He embodies every quality/fault I have ever fallen for in a man. He's tall, handsome, irreverent, funny, reckless yet vulnerable.......whew! Is it warm in here? And, unlike Michael, Tony isn't real.

So, here's the question: Is it just too creepy for a woman of my advanced years to fall so madly for a man young enough to be my, er, nephew? Is it ok that he's not real?

Or, does he simply send me on a trip down memory lane that leads to my happy place? Does he take me to a land where I can enjoy a rich fantasy life, where I am younger - and thinner?

Oh, heck! What could it hurt?