Why I lied on Facebook.

Peter and I say we met a the CCO Speech and Debate tournament at Parkside in 2007. We didn't really meet though. We made eye-contact. He thought I was cute, I thought he was gorgeous. So gorgeous in fact, that I rushed to my two close friends and excitedly wondered, "Who is that guy?"

Peter Hopkins. That was who.

I was working in the basement at the tournament, helping with the scoring and placing of the competitors. Peter was there visiting a friend who was competing. I had come up from the basement with a friend to grab lunch, and then my heart skipped a beat (truly).

We locked gazes for probably half a second, then realized what was happening and looked away. His grey-blue eyes were captivating, and I had no idea that moment was going to be the first page in the long story of us.

(This is not a tall tale. Not souped up for blogging purposes, or dumbed down for all ages).

And so that night, a friend, my sister and I created me a Facebook account. When we entered my birthday and clicked continue, the screen immediately reloaded saying there was an error.

Yes, that ghastly red writing beside the "birthday" section. And so, with a few quick clicks I was conveniently born in 1987.

Huh. And so was Peter. Imagine that.

I knew better than to initiate the online friendship, so I waited for him to find me. He did. It took a couple of hours.

And that's the beginning. I can't say it has either downhill or uphill from there, though I like to think it all went uphill. I guess that's how an uphill climb is though-- a little slow at times, taxing, arduous.

It really has been more of a roller coaster. Not those kiddie ones that take a few slow turns and climb a small hill, then quickly drop a smaller one. I'm talking about the monsters that shake your mind and make you scream so loud your voice is gone.  Where you get off with tears in your eyes, either out of laughter or fear (or in my case both); the ones with flips and turns, huge hills and dark tunnels...

I simply don't have the time to tell it all now, though someday I'd really like to.


-A.H.