Amanda's Page

Three years ago I was going through a quarter-life crisis. I found myself at a crossroads, as many recent undergrads do. I was a college graduate with a pointless degree. I spent my days sitting behind a desk, typing aimlessly away at a computer, feeling like I was wasting my youth doing something that made me miserable. Needless to say, I was not so happy with the direction my life was headed. I vividly remember sitting in my cubicle in December of 2007, deciding that I had had enough. I…

I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.

- Maya Angelou

When I was a freshman in high school, there was a boy who would turn around in class and stare at me with a vicious look in his eye. He’d make fun of my clothes, my bushy eyebrows, my curly hair. Anything that he could think to rudely comment on, he would. My best friend N was my savior. He picked on her too,…

“Hey, it’s The Fling. This is my new number. How have you been?”

I stared down at my phone and blinked hard a few times, sure that I could not possibly be seeing this text message on the screen of my phone. My heart instantly began beating harder, faster. I could feel my pulse throbbing out of every pore of my body.

I needed to stand up, walk around, wrap my head around the fact that after…

This is what I had wanted. A summer fling. Little did I know I’d still be hung up on him come autumn…and he’d be long gone.

~~~

We sat by the lake, our feet dangling off the dock, my toes skimming the water. He spent hours telling me things that should have had me running for the hills. Instead, they left me intrigued. His tales of drunken escapades and wild nights made me a bit envious. I had always secretly wanted to be a “cool…