tic-toc still waiting...
but my closest kiss from someone not related
was when i was 12 at school...
the guy kissed me on the cheek... (i didn't know he was or i'll have kicked his balls)
and then tried for the lips....
(i didn't like that guy...)
i smacked him on the face

"The Liberty Bell incident, that little scrape I got into at the Russian embassy, the almost four-way (I said -almost-!), all those things happened after 2 AM... - Barney Stinson

The happiest "places" have always been instants in time when possibilities felt endless, and I knew that, even if life were to end right then, that would be ok, now that I'd experienced such a moment. The happiest place has mostly been lying in someone's arms.

He had been hitting on me over the internet (in part of a little group, so everyone could see it) as a joke for quite some time. It was actually pretty funny because he's the last person you'd expect to hit on anyone (because of his adorable shyness), but then his remarks became less and less sleazy, and more and more adorably sweet.

We were all at a Halloween party when we were playing truth or dare. He chose truth. My friend asked him if he had ever actually liked me. He wouldn't answer, so he chose dare instead. The same friend dared him to kiss me. He made everyone leave, and then he was still being really shy, so I just went and kissed him.

Then the same friend dared me to kiss him, so I did.

Turns out, he was practically in love with me. He wanted so much to ask me out, but he was too nervous and shy. He poured his heart out in emails to the same friend that dared us to kiss, and she eventually had to ask me out for him. I sent him a definite YES, and then the friend sent me the sequence of emails that he had sent her. Those messages are just about the sweetest thing I've ever seen.
The strangest thing about this is that I've always been the "just friends" friend. To see exactly how this boy feels about me was beyond explanation.

I'll never forget what I learned, friends matter but family cares.

When I was about 3, I was watching Sesame Street; part of it must have been about lions. They showed the lions hunting their prey, and I was appalled.

"Mommy," I said, "lions are mean." When asked why, I responded, "because they eat other animals!"

"Well honey," said my mom, "we eat chicken, and beef which comes from cows."

"Yeah, but... they're not REAL chickens and cows... right?"

...she just laughed and laughed. And no, the awful realization didn't make me become vegetarian... but it was a rather rude awakening!

3:00- We looked out the window and saw a lamppost. We thought it was our history teacher.

Once we had a garage sale and there was a little plastic toy dog we were selling for a dollar. A middle aged couple came over. The woman asked me how much it was, and I told her. She said to her husband, "She says she wants a quarter for it." I was only 10 so I didn't know how to deal with it, so they got a cheap plastic dog for a quarter.

A few weeks later I was taking a walk on my street when I saw the dog lying in the grass, covered in dirt.

Mike, the Holocaust survivor who lived across the street. His wife, Sheila, died of cancer before I was old enough to understand what cancer was. I attended his granddaughter's bat mitzvah when I was about 7 or 8, and didn't understand a lot about Judaism. I remember the party, when the girl's friends (who seemed very big and grown up to me, although they were only around 13) asked me if I wanted to come dance with them.
I also went to Mike's grandson's bar mitzvah. I was 11 then, and had just started studying for my bat mitzvah, so I knew more about the service. The only thing I remember about the party was that there was a game to see which of the kid's tables would be the first in the dessert line, and I helped my table win by stealing another kid's french fry.

Another thing I remember about Mike was that once, my parents and I went across the street to his house for dinner. We looked out on the street from the living room window. I saw my own front porch (which had a porch swing on it) and told my dad, "Hey, that house has a swing like ours." I must have been about 5 years old.

I carry Belgium, Russia, and Poland.
I carry the Jewish heritage.
I carry microbiology, the Vietnam war, and substitute teaching.
I carry Yonkers, Antwerp, Minsk, and Chicago.

I carry Steinberg, Rubin, Dresner, and Berliner.