Chapter 3: Naomi

Chapter 3

Naomi

I met Naomi in 1985, at her brother's birthday party. I was almost nine, and she was fourteen. There's a picture of us together that was much beloved by both our families. I had learned how to sign “Silent Night” in the Boy Scouts, and I performed it for her. The look on her face was enchanting, and we became friends right away. At first, we'd write in a notebook, but eventually, I learned A.S.L. We started dating in 1989 because she wanted a boyfriend before she graduated high school and so she could say she kissed someone in the decade of the 1980s. I was 13, and she was a head taller than me.

She took a year off before going to college, living off Social Security Disability Insurance. She always had money, so we'd go to restaurants and eventually hotels. I lost my virginity to her and she to me. We got married as soon as I finished college. She supported me as I got my Teaching Credential, and I got a job right away. She never got a four-year degree, but she graduated with an Associate's Degree and worked at a daycare. Even though now I'm older than she was when she died, she'll always seem older than me, the way Kurt Cobain does.