Becky and I have been friends for a long time... One of my earliest memories of her is the party that just wouldn't end, which occurred when we were in 9th grade. The party was at her parents' apartment, when they were out of town. They were getting ready to move, so the major piece of furniture that remained was Becky's piano. The cops showed up several times to kick us out, so everyone climbed out the windows and waited a while... then came back to the party. It's THAT kind of persistence that got me through grad school! :-)

At the time of the party, I hardly knew Becky. I had no idea that I would spend much of my time in high school with her, consuming huge bags of Skittles and Reese's peanut butter cups before school... And making fun of our physics teacher during class... And sneaking into Mother Tucker's after hours to run into certain boys we liked... And sneaking out for late-night drives and conversations... (NOTE TO MOM AND DAD -- we never really did that! Never! I swear!)