An Ode To Stephanie
Stephanie and Me
July 2004
Flash back to 1993. It is my first year of junior high and I am the new kid at school. My family had moved from a small town in central Minnesota to the capital city of Saint Paul. I was quiet, shy and horribly lonely. I had no friends and couldn't muster up the courage to talk to anyone. I spent the first month or two of my seventh grade year this way...that is until I met Stephanie. She was my very first friend in Saint Paul. She took me under her wing and became my gateway into the social world or Highland Park Jr. High. She went out of her way to include me with her friends and she stuck up for me like a lioness protects her cubs. She took the time to really get to know me and it wasn't long before we were inseperable.
Stephanie taught me a lot about being out-going and helped me come out of my shell. She spent hours trying to teach me to how feel the beat of a song and then how to actually dance. She taught me how to smoke...we were walking down the street one afternoon and she handed me a cigarette. There were these cute guys walking toward us and I thought I would try to be cool so I took a big puff of the cigarette and promptly began choking and gaging. The cute boys passed us by laughing as I was green and practically falling over from coughing. Stephanie laughed her ass off and when I finally caught my breath, I laughed too!
We have been friends for almost 15 years now but I will never forget how we spent that entire summer hanging out, watching movies and listening to the Steve Miller Band. 10 years later we were still hanging out every Wednesday at O'Gara's dancing our asses off and listening to Nathan Anderson play. We've been known to stay up until 5am in the morning making minced meat pies and eating pizza and sunflower seeds until our mouths pickled from the salt. I love Stephanie. I will be forever grateful for her friendship and love!
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