The Bitter Lemon

Surprise, No Party.

My 21st birthday was in July. Around work, I heard rumors that Austin was trying to set up a surprise party for me. So, when he invited me to dinner one night, I was fairly certain it was going to be a party. I got ready and drove to his place. Where there was no […]

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That’s Team Work.

I managed to survive my time at work, even when Austin was around. He wasn’t dating anyone else, and neither was I. In June, he told me he wanted to take me to the Marc Broussard concert that I’d bought him tickets for when we were still together. I liked Marc Broussard, but I wasn’t […]

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My Turn.

After Austin returned from his trip, I wanted to plan a date for us. I felt like he had been great at making plans and taking me to nice places, so I wanted to do the work for once. I told him to show up at the sorority house, but the rest was a secret. […]

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All Mixed Up.

Austin and I didn’t go on many dates before we decided to be exclusive. Our first two dates went very well, and I remember wondering if things were moving too fast. I didn’t know if I was really ready for another relationship—I was still feeling the baggage from Adam. But I felt like Austin and […]

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The First Date.

I agreed to go to dinner, despite Austin’s very lame attempt at asking me. We were in the stockroom, trying to reorganize clothes, when Austin came in complaining about a recent date he went on. The girl he went with worked at A&F with us, just like all of the girls Austin took on dates. […]

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The Connecting Flight.

Of course, after I got rid of my physical baggage from my relationship with Adam, it took months before he was out of my mind. At the time, sorting through my emotions was one of the most difficult things I had to go through. But looking back on it now, it was just one step […]

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It’s Baaaack.

Remember when my laptop had “an incident with gravity” more than a week ago, and it had to go for a stay at the Apple Genius Bar? Well it’s back, better than ever, and I’m so glad to have it. When I dropped it off at Apple two Sundays ago, I was certain they were […]

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The End.

When I flew back to Louisiana, I had just as much trouble as I did getting to Indiana. My luggage was lost, again. And I could tell something was very off with Adam. I hadn’t talked to him all day, and even when I called him to tell him I made it home safely, he […]

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The Fall of it All.

As you can tell from a few of those previously posted columns, things were going pretty well with Adam and I, even though we were 15 hours away from each other. When I got back to school in August, for the fall semester, I booked a flight to visit Adam for my Fall Break—basically a […]

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Sweet Summer of Love.

After the night in Adam’s dorm over winter break, and returning to LSU for the spring semester, I was ready to go home and see my friends for the summer. That was when Sheena and I nearly got arrested. No more than a few weeks after that, Adam invited me over for dinner at his […]

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Where It All Began.

Looking back, it’s difficult for me to say exactly when my friendship with Adam melted into a relationship, with full-blown feelings. But since it’s my responsibility to figure it out, I would say it all started in Adam’s dorm room. ‘Twas the night before winter break at Indiana University. I drove into town, heading home […]

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The Love Train.

It’s difficult for me to pinpoint the first time I realized I wanted to write a book. And it’s a pretty weird thing to tell someone when they ask what I do in my spare time {what spare time?}: “I’m writing a book.” It’s a hefty project, but so far, I’m enjoying the journey. In […]

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Mr. Officer.

The summer before my junior year in college, I was 20 years old. I was home in Indiana for a few months, and Sheena and I were headed out for a typical summer night—out to a lake house. This was Evan’s family lake house—a notorious hotspot for partying in high school. Once we arrived, it […]

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Winter Formal.

I keep a giant, expandable folder of notes, journal entries, cards, ticket stubs, and all things that might jog my memory as I attempt to write this book. Over the next few weeks, my assignment is to write and organize all of my “Adam” information—my first love. I can hear the singing from the angels […]

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Bump in the Road.

When I started this blog a week ago, I was behind on my Lifelong Project schedule. However, since I have been writing more for the blog (which in turn means writing more for the memoir), I was actually ahead of schedule by a week. But then something horrible happened. My laptop fell off my bed, […]

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The Lake Story.

The summer before my junior year I was hanging out with the usual group—Jon and Adam, when we went out to the Marina. We met up with Rachel and a few of her girlfriends. It was the last night of the summer and we were determined to do something memorable. Boys being boys, they wanted […]

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Boys of Summer.

“Psst…hey,” I whispered. “So, do you think he had sex with his ex-girlfriend?” “Umm, maybe if they dated for a long time,” Sheena said. “You’re right, I will ask him later.” We were sitting in a glorified shed my boyfriend Zach called the Tiki Hut, due to its string of palm tree lights draped from […]

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