Get'im, Girls!

Second graders are bold, enthusiastic, and dangerous. At least I was. I don't know how I managed it, but I actually redefined "chasing boys" when I was in second grade. Perhaps I was just trying to compensate for the fact that I couldn't really play tag or tetherball, but I tell you - did I ever compensate!

Here was the deal: there was a boy named Benji who we all had a crush on. He was kind of small for his age, and had huge dimples and straight hair that hung right above his eyes. In order to show our love and devotion to this boy, I had a vision. I gathered the girls, and at recess, we plotted to chase him down, surround him, and capture him. Benji must have been terrified. I sat on the side of the field and yelled instructions to the team. Joe Gibbs would have been proud. We had a few near-captures, but right when the girls were about to bring him in, he would smile, wink at us, and -- I swear -- do a crazy dance move to slip out of their grip. I was pissed. I yelled at the girls. "Run faster! Make a tighter circle around him! Don't let him sneak away. He's TEASING us! Get'im Girls!"

I don't think we ever caught Benji, and I am sure after twenty years of therapy, his nightmares of being burned alive by a gaggle of girls have subsided. That being said, those were the glory days. I was all over that social scene! Went to every birthday party and sleepover. I even invented a spin the bottle game where the person spinning would have to reveal the thing they liked least about the person she spun.

Things got a bit harder in junior high and high school, but the attitude I had in elementary school--the badass, carefree, completely unselfconscious and uninhibited attitude--worked for me. I like to think I still have a little of that in me, though;)