This date has resonance only to me... Back when I was in 9th grade science class, there was one really bright 8th grader in the class. He and I began to flirt with each other a little... (meanwhile, I had my first date with a junior (an old junior) who was in my algebra class.) D. was really into fossils, and when school was out, he and his family invited me on a fossil hunt with their rockhound group. We went out to Como Bluff. I was thrilled, SO excited.

And so innocent. One of the older guys, friends of D.'s family, cornered me and demanded a kiss... I gave him a peck on the cheek and got away, spying D's dad on the horizon. I was sure he thought I was bad. I felt like it was my fault, like I had committed some terrible offense. I was silent and glum as we went home. (D. had found a beautiful ammonite, I hadn't done very well, and the creep? I don't know. I do know he had the same name as an ambassador who's been in the news now and again. When this guy died, I think I saw it in the paper, and cheered.)

My Mom knew something was wrong, but I never talked about it till my own girls were about that age, at which point I told then to tell someone if they got in the same situation. Fortunately, that was the worst abuse I ever suffered: not terribly bad, but bad enough.

The following year, D. was my boyfriend. We went to dances, we gave each other cards and silly gifts, and I was IN LOVE. On April 17, I confided to my diary that I was foreseeing the future, and that in 10 years D. would ask me to marry him. I was counting down the days, too. (It's kind of like my belief now that I'll die on December 10, 2041. I'll probably step in front of a truck next week!)

April 17, 1970, I had been married to Rich for 4.5 years, had three children, and lived in England.

My junior year, I thought things were copacetic with D. but my "best friend" started dating him, a fact I discovered when we had our first mixer. We all still hung out in a group, about 8-10 of both classes who sang folk songs and walked places in a mob. And C.J. and I remained "friends." She really did me in when we were in college: I didn't get a sorority bid and she did, and I asked her for a recommendation and she didn't. It was the best thing that could have happened to me, but it took a year or so for me to realize it. I don't know if the Greeks are still this way (probably) but the desperation that you had to have a date on Friday and on Saturday or you were doomed to a lonely old age? Very skewed. I went off to the Newman Club and had a lot of sympatico friends.

I went to C.J.'s wedding, in Denver, to her surprise, and then in 1975 when we came to California I wrote her, because she lived in Concord. She sluffed off any effort to see each other. About 10 years later (they live in Europe, as missionaries, now) she wrote a letter of apology: I'm fairly certain it wasn't a 12-step thing because she is committed to her religion. I'm long over it.

Meanwhile, D. stopped being interested in fossils and started architecture: won a great prize at a science fair for a model building, and I lost track of him after I graduated. He used to make beautiful jewelry and I'd hoped I'd get something, but the cobblestone on baling-wire necklace was a bit much. I've looked for him on the Internet to no avail for years.

I was thinking about all this on the way home from church when a friend offered me a ride. No thanks, I'm walking for my health. This takes care of my spiritual health, my physical health... I suppose then I should do a daily Sudoku for my mental health! (I'm too far behind on my newspapers, so I only do the late-week ones, and often I get stuck or do it wrong.)

This afternoon I took Stacy to a library program. It was a storyteller and she did some Brer Rabbit stories, but none of the ones I remember. Stacy tells me that "I'm working on my attitude" and told me "I love school." Ooooo-kay. (Do you detect some scepticism? The kid also claimed to have made all the gourd birds I admired in the display case. Right.) The family will be moving to a better neighborhood at the end of the month. I won't be seeing the kid for another three weeks.

Little Tyrants Upset over Debate.

Wikipedia in the hands of the zealots.

The two wars in Iraq.

Stop the Obama Ex-Presidency. (thinking there might be someone even worse than Jimmeh C.)

Romney's top ten reasons he got out....

Cheney video

Al Qaeda Shattered, Scrambles to Kill More and More, Michael Ledeen: "More good news from Iraq. Just look at all the AQI leaders that have been rounded up. What? You didn't notice? Can't imagine why..."

Never happen, worse luck.