Dear you,

Hey there.

I know I haven't seen you in awhile, but I wanted to tell you how much you meant to 12-year-old me. You were the one I was nervous to see everyday walking into school, afraid that my ponytail tied with a ribbon didn't look good enough. When the teacher split the class up into pairs, it was your name I was hoping she'd call with mine and when we went to assemblies I hoped that you'd be sitting right by me. When we played sports in gym class I always wanted to be on the same team as you and tried to show off when really I'm not coordinated at all. You were the topic of every diary entry of mine, and I called my cousins after school to gossip about how cute you looked that day.

Middle school dances? Don't even get me started. Hours of prepping in front of the mirror and putting on my jean skirt, Limited Too polo shirt, ballet flats and pearls just to get to the dance and talk to you for five minutes max. And when "A Moment Like This" came on and you came up to ask me to dance, my heart would beat a million times a minute and I was sure that you could feel it. Even if you were shorter than me or a grade younger, I didn't care and liked you all the same.

Going to friends' sleepovers were always fun, because we'd prank phone call you and then minutes later AIM you as if we weren't the ones who just hung up when your mom answered the house phone. Stalking your MySpace profile and rereading the "HAGS" in my yearbook from you was a must. We would play MASH with your name as the top boy I would "marry," and analyzed every detail of the conversation we had in class on Wednesday.

When you passed me notes during class my face would light up and I would giggle with my friends when you ran by us at recess. When we sat together in mass and I got to hold your hand during the "Our Father," I am pretty sure the whole school saw how red my face got. When I asked you which girl you liked, I only asked because I was hoping the answer would be me.You were the reason why Spanish class actually wasn't that bad, and why class presentations were mortifying.

And when 8th grade graduation day came and I finally got up the courage to ask you to take a picture with me, I was on cloud nine. Then we went off to different high schools and colleges, but I still think about you from time to time and want to thank you for giving me someone to obsess over for all those preteen years. Hope you're doing well out there in the real world, hope to see you soon.

Love,

Me (not the dorky middle schooler)