7th Grade Dance, May 1992

When I began transcribing my first journal for volume one, I was struck by what my pre-adolescent self deemed worth writing about. I got a kick out of the entry below because I couldn't have made it up if I tried and it captures a moment of 1992 at a 7th grade dance that I never would have picked if I had been looking back and remembering rather than writing about it at the time:

Saturday, May 2, 1992

Dear Diary,

Dimitri Kohl asked me out last night. I asked him to dance and he said, “I will dance with you on the next slow song.” I said ok and then “Beauty and the Beast” by Peabo Bryson and Celine Dion came on and he was nowhere in sight. But I felt a tap on my shoulder and I turned around and Dimitri was there and we danced. Lance, Kyle K., and Erica Rylant all came up to us and were making fun of us but it didn’t matter. There were a few more songs and then “Jump” by Kris Kross came on and everyone jumped when the song said “jump.” We danced to “Rush, Rush” by Paula Abdul. After the dance was over we went outside and Dimitri told me to call him when I got home. I called him and he asked me out.

Meggie

There's such an awkward and dorky sincerity in the songs I wrote about and my need to emphasize that we all jumped when Kriss Kross told us to. I like reminiscing on 7th grade dating rituals in Seattle in 1992. Essentially, you would be friends with a boy, he'd ask you out, you would stop talking during your week-long "relationship," and kiss or at least hold hands. Then one would dump the other and you'd go back to being friends and start talking and hanging out again. 

Excerpt from Minor: Volume One The Journals of Meghan McDonnell
Novice: Volume Two The Journals of Meghan McDonnell
Limbo: Volume Three The Journals of Meghan McDonnell