58Introduction
At one point in everybody's life, we meet a person who changes us forever. Whether it be for the better or for the worse, that person changes us and it is impossible to even think about returning to some of the things we used to know and believe in after that.
In 1979, the spring of my senior year at Rundle High School, I had all the things I'd hoped to have that year. My grades were fantastic and I was the Student Body Secretary; I'd gotten accepted into NYU, the school I'd wanted to attend since the fifth grade, and was prepared to move there in late August; my boyfriend Brad and I had been together for three years, two months, and counting. Things were perfect. I had it all.
I'd thought that the person that would change me would come in my junior year of college and make me want to change my major. Or I thought it would happen a week before my wedding and I wouldn't be able to walk down the aisle. I didn't think I would be seventeen when my thoughts would change shape.
My whole world changed. I started caring about things I never thought I would, I did things I never thought I would do, and I became friends with people that I never thought would even give me the time of the day. It was both wonderful and crazy. And I loved it. I wish I could have lived in that spring for the rest of my life.
What I learned then, and what I gained, I will never forget. I could have lied and pretended that I wasn't affected, and that I didn't care. I could have lied to myself and ignored all the things that came to change me. I could have lied and willed to stay the same, but I'm glad I didn't.
"I Could Have Lied" is a song by Red Hot Chili Peppers off the album Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Jack Irons (ex RHCP, Pearl Jam), and the late Hillel Slovak all attended Fairfax High School in the late 70s before later forming RHCP. In his book Scar Tissue, one particular story Anthony tells is of how he got with his girlfriend in high school. It is the utmost inspiration for this story.