At the end of seventh grade, a wonderful young woman took the time to sit down next to me one day at the end of a band period. There had been a particularly obvious display of how my peers treated me that day. Her boyfriend at the time was involved in that display.
It was almost like something out of a John Hughes film.
As I sat sullenly in the auditorium, she came and sat down next to me.
“Hey,” she said. “You shouldn’t pay any attention to them. You’re a pretty OK guy.”
And then, she left.
At the end of that year, she moved on to the high school while I suffered through one final year of hell.
But about halfway through that year, her words finally took root and began to grow.
Karen wasn’t one of the three that kept me alive through high school, but she was the first one of my peers to take the time to actually tell me I was worthwhile. She’s also the first girl I had a serious crush on in those fragile years that didn’t cringe when I came near. We were never great friends, but I always had a tremendous amount of respect for her.
That seed she planted grew into a full-blown tree of strength by the time I hit high school. It was something I could always fall back on. And after I divested myself of my toxic obsession with the girl my “friends” had convinced me I was madly in love with (regardless of the fact that she wouldn’t even give me the wrong time of day or breathe in my direction), I could see clearly the truth in those few words.
Because of that, I was open to the idea that I could positively affect other people’s lives. Not that I had any clue how I could do that, especially with my own so hopelessly messed up.
That, dear friends, is where my Three Maidens come in. Kristen, Jill and Sarah.
I recently mentioned Kristen. Jill was another flute player in band with me and one of Kristen’s best friends. Sarah played violin in the orchestra, just a stone’s throw from the band room, and could often be found with Kristen and Jill.
Little did I know when I stepped into the wilds of high school and reconnected with these three women just how important they would be to me…
(To be continued… because I started writing this way too late and need to sleep…)
