I was in 7th grade, at public school for the first time ever. As if junior high weren’t bad enough already, I switched schools (that should tell you how bad my old school was) into a school where most of the kids had been classmates or neighbors since kindergarten.  Book smarts came naturally to me, but social smarts, maybe not as easily.

My home was a 30 minute walk from school.  Most days, I would walk to a friend’s home or I’d walk home: the bus didn’t pick us up, so if my parents weren’t available, I had to figure out how I’d get home.  This one day, I was sitting outside, procrastinating. I didn’t want to walk home with all my books. I saw a girl from my math class and band class sitting on the bench: she was short with glasses and red hair.  Her bass clarinet was taller than her. I’m not sure if I really even knew her name– I just knew that I didn’t want to walk home. So I asked, “Hey, can I have a ride home?” and she said yes–it was much later that I found out that her home was actually the opposite direction of mine.

17 years later, Mathie knows my secrets and has seen me through loves, graduations, deaths, celebrations, sorrows.

Lives transformed, people connected, all because of one question and one answer. Who knows when you might change a life?

Pictures catch you up on our story:

Sockhop in 8th grade

Junior Prom

Bridal Shower Cake 

More Bridal Shower 

Bachelorette Party :

  Wine-Tasting with the ladies 

Because she loves the beach and misses the water.