Chapter 25

In my adulthood, I have morphed into an extremely competitive person.  I hate losing.  Anything.  I hate losing more than I love winning.  I would be a great athlete.  If, of course, I had been blessed with any athletic ability.  I was not.  I even tried being a runner, but within the first year, I tore the labrum in my right hip.  I will not be a runner.  When I lived with Sandy and Larry, they made us all attend a sports camp for two weeks at St. Ambrose College.  This was quite possibly the worst two weeks of my life.  The only sport I was good at was tetherball and this was not offered at camp.  I was actually on the 7^th grade basketball team ~ the A Team!  I’m not sure how there were actually girls worse than me on the B Team, but there were!  My career ended abruptly when I refused to play one day because I had forgotten to shave my armpits and I told the coach I couldn’t go in.  This was my only attempt at organized sports and it was clear this wasn’t my calling.  But I did love music.  My clarinet playing wasn’t really fulfilling, so I finally joined the school choir in 8^th grade.  I was living with John and Mary and attended Williams Junior High in Davenport, Iowa.  A new choir director joined the staff that year, Mr. Ribar.  I’m certain he was solely responsible for the massive growth in the program that year.  He was 22 years old and the object of desire of every girl I knew, including myself.  Oh, the stories I have ~ but I have to save some things for the book!  Now, his adorableness aside, he was a fantastically inspirational teacher.  He spent every waking hour at school doing all he could for us.  With his guidance, I instantly stood out above the crowd with my fellow classmate, Tammy.  We performed every solo and had the largest parts in my first school musical, Godspell.  And Tammy was the source for my newfound competitiveness.  I wanted to be the best, but mostly, I just wanted to be better than her.  Let the games begin.