we made it through...

... and now the next challenge. First day of school and ms. teenage squarepeg begins grade eight.

I remember grade eight. I was insecure and flat-chested and my best friend was a relatively popular girl, a serious but outwardly foxy Ukrainian blonde. Association with her upped my credentials enough to get through the year in one piece. I still remember how we did up our long hair: high ponytail tucked in near the nape and tacked down at the bottom with bobby pins. I was teased for being "flat as a board" and I thought I would never grow breasts. Four years later, my principle tormenter became my boyfriend, hot and heavy throughout my eighteenth year. But in grade eight I didn't know what was to be, and I was miserable.

Ms. squarepeg, on the other hand, is a little cutie who has the advantage of an already acceptably-curvy shape and several very smart girlfriends to bolster her self-esteem. If we can just keep her and her schoolbag organized -- and her mom's hysteria level under control -- I think she'll have a very decent year to remember some day.