365 # 8: Stephanie M.

You were sorta kinda dating my friend Robert, in a way, kinda. Well actually, not at all, but he seemed to think so for a while. It was high school, and it was the first time I remember thinking, "Hey, that person has a different idea of what's going on here than that person does. How embarrassing for one of them."

Either way, that's how you and I met. Seeing as how you were 6' 1", blonde, and on the drill team, I'd noticed you around campus already, along with everybody else. I don't remember how it started, but pretty soon we were talking on the phone nearly every night. Those conversations went on for hours, though I'll be damned if I can remember what we talked about, especially since we ran in completely different crowds, did completely different activities, and otherwise seemed to have nothing in common...at least from the point of view of the casual observer. We must have talked about horses, seeing as how you lived on some kind of a horse farm, which was always a trip to visit. We must have talked about Robert since he's the reason we met. And we must have talked about Lenny Kravitz at least once or twice since we went to see him together, an evening which ended with probably the most awkward kiss in history.

During the summers when I was working at summer camp, you wrote me letters, all of which I read at least 50 times each. This was back in the days before email, which made each letter all the more precious. I loved the sight of your handwriting.