I had a visit from someone that I met in second grade, many long years ago.   The school we attended was a working-class, Catholic school, run by nuns who mostly hated children.  My friend lived across the alley and like me had a bunch of little brothers.   We started out the same, but life has taken us into much different paths.  Until recently my friend said she had not thought much about the past until she reconnected with other girls from this school via Facebook (and my brother was the one who connected me with them).  I did not like to think about this past because it was not very pleasant to dwell upon, but it is impossible to completely escape.  It is possible to contemplate now because it is the past.   We had our futures marked out as children, playing house to prepare us for our lives.  Perhaps working as a secretary, at a bank, or at a factory.   I took a leap into a different future.   It wasn’t easy, but it was the direction I needed to go.

This is my 12th birthday, I’m the one with glasses