And What It Can Mean For You
Early Innocence
I was a timid 8th grader at the time. She was young but much older than me. Her daily grand entrance in the classroom dressed in a long black skirt sent a thump into my stomach. And the intimidating fixed gaze peering from her partially covered face was much to bear.
It happened every afternoon — her relentless talk of Yahweh {another name for God also used in biblical studies} and love thy neighbor. It was the seventies, the coming of age decade and, she was a respected teacher and saintly nun to whose every word I clung to get a passing grade on the exam. Admittedly, I focused more on the pending dismissal bell than her dialogue on love.
The inevitable would occur as she glanced down at me — the overweight, nerdy type who cared more about the next lunar mission than the question she was about to ask — “how do you define love?”
I sensed every eye in the classroom as my perspiring hands clenched and face reddened. OMG, I thought as my mind raced, my stomach churned, and the class awaited a most likely embarrassing response!
I recalled TV images of two people seductively making out and playground talk from cocky teen classmates. Anxiously, I explored a fitting answer to the righteous sister’s question on…
