Back in high school I wasn’t the cool, hip, suave, sophisticated, nubian hunk of a man that I am today - shocking I know.  I was very geeky, and barely 110lbs and 5′8″ tall when I graduated, and that was me at my biggest back then.  I’ve since elongated and filled in some.  I was also quite the shy one when it came to persuing the females that had my attention.

All four years I had a slight crush on one particular gal and never once made a move.  I was stuck in barely there friend zone.  It was this girl named Stephanie.  She went to an all girls Catholic high school near my all boys Catholic high school.  (that reference is for you [cherry] ride)  She was (in my mind) a true beauty, what with her lanky frame, boney knees, and extra large ear lobes.

So I haven’t seen this gal since the spring of 1998, have long since lost that high school crush I had nurtured, and every now and then wondered what every became of her.

Well, I saw her last night! 

I was in the supermarket, and needed to get some bananas.  Now, for the many of the fours of you who don’t shop at my supermarket, the bananas have their own little aisle within the fresh produce department.  As I approached the banana mini-aisle I saw two women that appeared to be mother and daughter.  I saw only a quick split second profile view of the gal as I passed and turned to the bananas.

While looking at all of these green unripened bananas my mind shook.  THAT was Stephanie…I think!

I was about 75% certain that this was the adult version of the girl that I had quietly crushed on in high school.  I wasn’t about to say “Stephanie?” and make a quick howya doing?  because I have finally learned that saying hello to people that I don’t really know only ends up with odd and awkward conversations of “Soooo….what are you up to?” 

Instead I walked over to the pineapples, pretended to examine some looking for the best pineapple, and quietly looked out at this womans ears - looking for gigantic earlobes! 

Her hair was pulled back and my mind pulled out the memory of Stephanie’s big ginormous ears that hadn’t been seen in nearly a decade. 

BINGO!

That was her - without a doubt.

Yeup, her and her big ears.  By the time I finished my shopping her and her mother hadn’t left the fresh produce section, and were in an apparent infatuation with the various forms of nuts that were up for sale. 

So that’s what Stephanie is up to.  Checking out nuts.