Brian Stokes Mitchell, "Impossible Dream"

Back in the early 80s when teenage girls were watching Trapper John, MD and drooling over Gregory Harrison, I was crushing on his co-star Brian Stokes Mitchell. There weren't that many swoon-worthy black guys on TV then so he stood out. The eyes and the curly hair -- dreamy! Because of him I stayed faithful to the show for almost the entire run.

Years later I'm a wife and mom of four kids, and I had pretty much forgotten my teenage crush. Then I started listening to streaming radio at work and heard a version of "Impossible Dream" that brought me to tears. It was the cheesy Gomer Pyle rendition that everyone associates with that song. This version made me feel like I could go out and do something worthwhile, no matter how crazy others thought it was. I clicked over to the music player and saw that the singer was Brian Stokes Mitchell. Seriously? Could it really be the same guy I had a crush on when I was 12? Yes, it was. I didn't even know he could sing.

Anyone who knows me knows that I get a thrill out of strange little coincidences, and this was one of those. Who knew that my girlhood crush would resurface so many years later for an entirely different reason?