I first met Meredith when we were both in the fifth grade, though we didn’t become friends then. At the time her mother was in the military and stationed at Fort Lee. But they only lived in Clarksville for a year before they relocated to Hopewell when her father got a job at the ethanol plant. Four years later, her mother retired from the army and they bought a home, moving back to Clarksville for the schools.
Then Meredith was in my ninth grade homeroom. I got one look at her soft spiral curls and fell, hard. Before the teacher could take roll and lock us into a seating arrangement we’d have to stick to all year, I switched to the desk on Meredith’s right. As I slipped into the chair, she gave me a hesitant smile and I took that as all the encouragement I needed to strike up a conversati
