This Girl

It didn’t take long to get me hooked on soccer. One play did it for me, as a matter of fact. The sequence is unforgettable—Rapinoe to Wambach to Goooaaaaalllll! That’s all it took. Now, sure, I’m a late bloomer when it comes to footballing. I still don’t understand the game fully. The whole idea of “tackling” is a puzzle to me. Isn’t that essentially tripping your opponent? If so, isn’t that just downright rude? I still don’t know how soccer players are able to overcome the fear of getting kicked in the face. And you know that whole foot-eye coordination thing? Yeah, I did not inherit that gene. But, I digress.

The Readers Digest was almost a required read in my household growing up. I remember reading the jokes and funny stories that people submitted and thinking, "If only something that funny would happen to me, I might have the chance to win 250 bucks for my story." Mostly, it was a source of laughter and feel-good anecdotes. One series that I particularly liked was the "most unforgettable" character series. We all have people like that in our lives. Unforgettable folks whose voices ring clearly in our heads at the most unexpected moments. Whose faces we can trace without a blink. And whose absence leaves a void that no other can fill.