During my sophomore year in high school I was a member of a group called Braves Against Drinking and Drugs (BADD). In January of that year the group put together a short skit and presentation on drugs and alcohol. One day we went to some elementary and junior high schools in south Davis County and put on our show.
Not long after that the group went down to Timpview High School, in Utah County, and put on our show for a small group. In the skit I played the authoritative father who chews out his son for using drugs. “What in the Sam Hill is going on here” I would shout. “If you want to use drugs it won’t be in my house!” It was a lot of fun to go to the schools and put on that skit, and the Timpview High road trip was a good memory.
I met some new friends in BADD and got to know some others a little bit better. These friends gave me something to look forward to each day. My confidence was growing and even my grades started improving. I wrote in my journal that I was trying to be less dependent on whether girls liked me or not; I also wrote that I now had plenty of friends and that seemed to be enough. As it would turn out, the friends I had made so far were just the beginning.
In still another journal entry, I wrote that I had watched as some of my new friends talked to people I could only dream about being friends with. Some events in the spring of my sophomore year would demonstrate that some dreams do come true.
One day, during my lunch hour, I was sitting in the foyer looking at some photographs and negatives – each year during high school I took photography classes. A girl approached me and asked if she could look at the pictures. I said sure and she asked if I had taken them. When I said yes, she said that I was a good photographer.
I might have been too stunned at the fact she was talking to me to really appreciate the compliment. Stephanie introduced herself, but I already knew who she was, because that year she had been on the cheer leading squad and just a few weeks before she had won an election to become a student body officer.
Not long after that, again during my lunch hour, Stephanie came by and asked me about the book I was reading. She didn’t seem to mind that it was a book about World War II. Like the first encounter, I was struck by how odd it seemed that she was talking to me.
As someone who had felt like an outcast for several years, I couldn’t imagine someone like Stephanie being my friend. But, as I would quickly learn, she was not the kind of person to fit a stereotype like being too popular to be friends with, well, a much less popular person. Stephanie continued to say "hi" to me throughout the rest of the school year, and by now I had gotten to the point where I could say hi back, and even have a short conversation.
There was another girl, Sally, that I became friends with that year. We met on the first day of the school year when we interviewed each other in a getting-to-know-you activity in a class we shared; after the interview we then introduced each other to the rest of the class. Sally was also a member of BADD, and had been on that road trip to Timpview High.
Perhaps the most important person I met, however, was Mary, the girl who sat behind me in my second semester seminary class. Mary was a very pretty brunette, with a sweet personality to match. As winter turned into spring, and as my hoped for relationship with Julie went nowhere, my interest in the angel who sat behind me in seminary grew. While she may not have led me to say "Julie who?" she did give me reason to think that there could be someone other than Julie in my life.
But this time I was going to do it right, whatever that meant. Having felt a little burned by Julie, I certainly wanted to be more careful with Mary. I was going to try and build a good, solid friendship before I asked this sweet angel out on a date.
Julie and I had danced together at occasional stake dances, and seeing her everyday in the first few months of my sophomore year was exhilarating, but I don't know that we were really friends before I asked her to the prom. With Mary, I decided, it would be different.
To build that friendship with Mary I concluded that I would need to take the initiative. When the new school year started the next fall, I would be the first to say "hello" when I saw her in the halls. Of course, if I was going to do that with Mary, I might as well do it with all of the friends I had made during my sophomore year.
Stephanie, and also Sally, gave me a great gift. By reaching out to me the way she did, Stephanie gave me the courage to take the initiative. Sally was always encouraging, telling me that I had a lot going for me. Stephanie said I was a very kind person, which she considered to be a great talent, and Sally said that I should never fail to develop my talents.
The first opportunity for taking the initiative came on the last Saturday of the summer. The junior class had a party, and there I ran into Sally. We had a brief conversation, and the confidence I had in my plan to take the initiative grew.
During the first few weeks of the new school year, I was the first to smile and say "hi" when I saw my friends. A lot had happened over the summer break, and I wanted to make sure that they had not forgotten about me.
Stephanie remembered everything but my name when I asked her to dance at the first stomp (informal dance) of the year. Each friend I said "hi" to responded favorably, and then I started making new friends, which gave me more people to take the initiative with. As the saying goes, the Lord helps those who helps themselves. What happened next was more than I could ever have imagined.
As I sat watching the football game on the third Friday of the year, Jamie, who I had also met the previous year in one of my classes, came over and invited me to sit with her friends. I accepted and spent the rest of the game sitting with Jamie and her friends. Jamie was a junior class officer, and her invitation sparked a series of events that would change everything.
The next week, once more during my lunch hour, another junior class officer approached me to introduce himself. John also invited me to join something called the junior committee. I accepted this invitation, which gave me the opportunity of meeting even more people. Naturally, that gave me even more friends to take the initiative with.
Meanwhile, each time I saw Mary in the halls, I gave her a smile and said "hello." Each time, she responded with a smile that could melt my heart. By late December I thought I was ready to ask her out, so I decided to ask her to . . . the Junior Prom. I also wanted to make sure that I was the first boy to ask her to the dance, so I asked her during the Christmas break, or, in others words, way too early. As a result I would have to wait a long time for her answer.
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