New Girl Needs A New Name - But She Doesn't Like Her First Name

Every once in a while you meet somebody who makes life a little more tolerable.

My last year in high school, a new girl moved to Wimberley. I think we only had one class together - a math class.

New Girl sat behind me. New Girl was hot. And smart. She attended Hays the previous three years and was unhappy in Wimberley. My older brother went to Hays; I grew up watching their football team and sang Dixie every Friday night. I understood.

Never a stellar student, the teacher assured me that if I attended tutoring sessions after school, she would not flunk me. Preserving my eligibility was of foremost importance to me so I whole-heartedly agreed.

For some unknown reason, New Girl also went to these tutoring sessions. Serve ice cream and I'm king of the world.

While New Girl gave me a ride home one day, she mentioned she was thinking about transferring back. I told her I didn't want her to because I thought she was really cool. So I asked her to Homecoming before anybody else could. Lucky thing it was Charity Week because she said yes.

One day, she asked me to go to the mall with her and her older sister to look for a dress; I think Big Sis was brought along for a second opinion (me, not the dress). That's okay. But when I remember small moments, that one comes up first.

The rest of the year went by quickly. Basketball, baseball, but we remained friends nonetheless. Truth be told, I liked her too much as a friend to risk putting her in the "exes club".

We lost communication after graduation even though we went to the same college. I still ran into her mom every now and then and heard about how great she was doing.

Anyway, we just started talking again after many years. Other than having two kids at the hip, she hasn't changed much. She's extremely well-grounded and I'm glad.

She recently reminded me that things happen or don't happen for a reason.

It was worth the 5 year period of silence to be reminded of that.