October 7

If you have met me in person, you know that I have a lot of nervous energy and introductions are completely overwhelming to me and, in the event that there is a small shred of commonality that I can grasp in the moment we meet, I will totally blurt it out OH WOW, YOU HAVE EATEN A BANANA BEFORE, TOO?!? I came by this from a few different routes, the first being my mother who has been known to turn 14 shades of red when she gets flumoxxed. The later route I traveled in high school at the all-girls Catholic compound where, it has been mentioned, I spent a lot of time writing my senators and adding glitter to posters for peace rallies and NOT honing skills in talking to anyone that had facial hair. Or would have facial hair.

One person that helped me to overcome my abiding fear in talking to the stubblefaced is someone I met my sophomore year of high school. For the next three years, every time I encountered this person, we would have the same conversation. It was so reliably scripted, it put me at such ease as a maladapted schoolie. It went like this:

"Hey! Kendra! Do you remember me? We met at --" "Yeah, the sophomore dance! Yes, thank you again for driving me home! [HA! INSERT NERVOUS LAUGHTER HERE]." "Ha, yeah, good to see you!" "Yeah, you were awesome in the play!" "Aw, well thank you soo much for coming!"

Sophomore Dance, March 1996

Thank you, Nick, for helping me to speak to fellers. Happy Birthday!

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EDIT: There's another little boy who had a birthday today. His parents named him Isaac. He lived only 16 minutes and the prayers of many were answered in that his parents got to hold him while he was alive; all indications pointed to the fact that he might not make it that far. Let's say a prayer for his parents Stacy and Spencer that God will grant them a heaping portion of comfort in this time.