Sometimes A Great Reminder

There was this girl at my junior high, Sandy. Sandy was probably the most popular girl at the school. She was not someone that I went to grade school with, so I did not know the vast mysteries that had placed her in the realm of most popular. She was beautiful though. She had that sort of sunny disposition and natural good looks that even the toughest of pubescent times was not going to mar.

Because she was at the head of the food chain, because she had that sort of beauty that made you shyly look away when she approached, I was fairly certain that she would have nothing to do with me. I was a mess. We had a couple of friends in common, but that was going to be as close as I would get to the heady, airy realms that Sandy occupied.

Was there a jealousy there? Sure. Did I assume that she would be a stuck up bitch because of the position she held in the hearts of our school mates? You bet.

One day, while I was having lunch with some friends, she came and sat next to Kelly - one of those friends we shared. Sandy looked at me, she talked directly to me, she gave me a piece of orange because she was concerned that all I was having for lunch was a Coke. I was not a big fan of oranges at the time, but ate it of course, every little bit.

Sandy, it turned out, was not only beautiful and popular, but one of the nicest and funniest people I had met. After that strange distance was broken by a simple conversation, she always greeted me warmly when we passed and always laughed when I attempted to make her. She turned out to become a pretty good friend of my mine. When I moved to California I still remember her getting a little teary eyed when we said goodbye.

Yeah, I don't know, there seems to be this impossible distance between people that we manufacture for ourselves. It was a junior high for fuck’s sake, not Manhattan. Even if she didn't know me directly she knew who I was, we saw each other every day. I know for me that distance was made out of fear of rejection. This is still something I could use a little work on today. It's also a good reminder that my first assumptions about a person might be completely fucking wrong.

I hope you're good out there Sandy...


Song Stuck In My Head Right Now: A Stone by Okkervil River