A lot of kids have been out of school this week because of flooding around Atlanta, and knowing school is closed makes most young ones excited to get the day off.  But what about those who had a big day coming and ended up missing an opportunity because they had to stay home?

Before hitting puberty and realizing my interests would lead elsewhere, I had a crush on J. Jay Bunch.  He's the boy that walked into my 3rd grade class at Brown Elementary School having transferred from the exotic town of Detroit, Michigan.  He even had the same Detroit Tiger cap that Magnum, P.I. wore.  Cool beans.

J. Jay Bunch didn't like me like that, but he was always nice despite my giggly attention.  We lived in the same neighborhood, went to the same church, and was part of the same social circle.  In other words, J. Jay was always there.  And I was always a dork, but it became a competition among the girls to match their letters with his.  MC + JB = 4 Ever.  My competitive nature kept me in the game, but I knew deep down I wouldn't be the winner.  I was too desperate.

When we reached junior high school it was customary for the football players to have girls they liked wear their jerseys to school on Fridays before the game.  And yes, J. Jay was on our Tiger team and had one of those jerseys.  Being unattached he rotated his jersey among several girls that season, and of course I wasn't one of them...until.

I'm not quite sure how it happened, but I assume mutual friends who knew of my long-standing crush needled him enough until he added me to his rotation.  After some 4 years and plenty of awkward uncool Melissa moments around this tweener, J. Jay actually asked me to wear his jersey and came to my house to drop it off.  I would wear J. Jay Bunch's jersey like a Native American wore buffalo hide, a fine token of a good hunt.

But by the end of the week the clouds rolled in.  The temperature dropped.  And a snowflake fell.

In fact, many snowflakes fell.  If the Weather Channel were around I would have been on my knees in front of the television praying to God to Allow this frozen cup to pass from me.  But Divine Intervention steered the snow right over my small town and the announcement was made.  School.  Was.  Canceled.  Since J. Jay's jersey schedule was pretty full, I had to give it back never to see it again. 

Soon he began dating his high school sweetheart, who he is still married to, and I began to realize I too liked girls.  Life moved on.

So, I empathize with any kid in Atlanta this week who may have missed something pretty defining in their young life because a flood decided to roll through town.  I remember that innocent white Friday in Tennessee was the one day I wanted to go to school while everyone else grabbed their sleds and had a carefree day off.