Michael
Entering my fourth-grade year was a daunting experience. My parents had recently divorced, and I’d already been forced to change schools once, which was traumatic enough. Now I was expected to start again at a new school, with new kids, new teachers, and new rules.
I decided to adopt a different strategy at this school than the one before — at that school I’d been terrified and didn’t really make friends. I was determined not to let that happen again.
There were two kids in my new class who caught my attention immediately — one was a wickedly smart blonde girl everyone seemed to like, and the other was a bubbly, cute, boy who was animated, hilarious, and frequently in trouble for talking too much. Those two, I decided, were the kids I wanted to be friends with.
Though it was a socially strategic move on my part, it turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life, right up there with marrying my husband.
The only way I knew to ingratiate myself to them was to be funny, and it was easy because they were both hilarious as well. I don’t know if Donella and Michael remember our meeting or not, but I was desperate to earn their friendship. Thankfully, the two of them seemed to like me too, and they saved me that year from loneliness and despair, a heavy burden for a nine year old. I wish I could say I’ve been as equally a reciprocal friend to them over…
