the countdown

OK, the whole grad school/supermom balancing act is collapsing so I probably won’t write a real post for another three weeks (and I have so much to say!), but I thought I’d share this hilarious story.

So, you may or may not be aware that the Stefan/Heather romance started when they were 12 or 13. Which sounds really cute now, but was full of so many up and downs and break-ups and confusion. Still, now we get to hear some fabulous stories from junior high.

Stefan was late to get his braces off. That was entirely my fault since I was always forgetting appointments or scheduling during times that were entirely impossible to drive out to the orthodontist office. Heather and her friends watched as boy after boy got their braces off and transformed from junior high awkward to suave teenagers. And while Stefan was pretty adorable even with braces (and I love that she thought he was cute even then) she could hardly wait to witness the metamorphosis.

Heather’s cute friend Eliza G. had orchestra with Stefan and quizzed him about his braces. When he told her he had only six weeks left, they started the countdown. Every few days Heather and Eliza met in the hall and said, “42 days!” “39 days!” “38 days!” down to 9, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and “He’s beautiful!”

Ah, I love her for that.

I think of all those hard long days in junior high and Stefan could never have imagined someone was cheering him on.

And you don’t know, you may never know, all the people secretly cheering for you.