One such material is hydrogen, interest in which, said Hemley, "dates back to the 1935 calculation by Wigner and Huntington that showed that NFL jerseys a monotonic lattice of hydrogen atoms will be a high-density metal. Hundreds, if not thousands, of papers have been written on this top¬ic in the intervening 55 years." Hemley explained that until recently,
direct tests were not possible, and so he and his colleague H.K. Mao Philadelphia Eagles Jerseys wanted to test their prediction about where "the transition from the low-density, molecular, insulating phase to this metallic phase" would occur.
Although exploring the metallic phase of hydrogen might seem to be a concern primarily of condensed-matter physics, this question has great relevance to planetary geology as well and illustrates, said Hemley, the interdisciplinary nature of this work. Jupiter and Saturn are composed largely of hydrogen and are believed to contain metal¬lic hydrogens because of the enormous pressures reached inside. "Understanding the metallization phenomenon is therefore crucial for modeling their dynamics," explained Hemley. So far, their re¬sults indicate an intriguing New Orlean Saints jerseys series of phase transitions rather than simple conversion throwback jerseys of an insulating molecular solid to an atomic met¬al. These new phenomena are challenging them to invent new varia¬tions on the basic diamond cell techniques and are driving the devel¬opment of new theories in condensed-matter and planetary sciences.
Gravity provides another lens into the Earth. Since Newton's New York Giants Jerseys time, the understanding of gravitational forces has provided basic constraints as well as a realm of useful data for scientists in many fields, for geologists perhaps more than others. Scientists refer to the geoid as the equipotential surface normal to Minnesota Vikings jerseys the Earth's gravity. "A buried mass excess," explained McNutt, "will raise the geopotential surface, that is, cause it to move further from the Earth's center. Conversely, a mass deficit will lower the equipotential."
"Geodesy remains a powerful method," said Jeanloz, and togeth¬er with seismology football jerseys offers a powerful way of looking inside the Earth, notwithstanding the recent applications of tomography. All of these methods provide excellent and often distinct supplementary perspec¬tives to New England Patriots Jerseys corroborate or constrain theories based on data gathered with yet other methods. Cleveland Browns Jerseys In a science for which the deepest mine pene¬trates barely 2 miles and the deepest hole less than 10, inferences assume greater importance because San Diego Chargers Jerseys most measurements are necessar¬ily indirect. And while geophysics is providing richer data with each year of technological progress, geologists searching for the big pic¬ture must bring together a wealth of distinct, sometimes contradicto¬ry perspectives. Theorizing about how the Earth works is inviting and yet risky. But the ferment and excitement surrounding the en¬deavor are palpable, as the Frontiers session on geology illustrated.
"Under these conditions, planetary constituents undergo major structural and electronic changes," explained Stevenson. The Earth's most common mineral is NFL jerseys probably magnesium silicate perovskite, a denser structure type than football jerseys most other constituents and one that is not thermodynamically stable for silicates at normal atmospheric pres¬sure. The normal olivine structure-in which a silicon atom is sur¬rounded by four oxygen atoms-has been shown by diamond-anvil cell experiments to undergo a series of transformations, ultimately taking on the perovskite structure, in which the silicon is surrounded by two additional oxygen atoms. This New England Patriots Jerseys occurs at just about the pres¬sures that have been determined by seismology to prevail at the 670- kilometer boundary region between the upper and lower mantle (Knittle and Jeanloz, 1987). Said Stevenson, "The reduction Minnesota Vikings jerseys of bandgaps and preference for compact phases may greatly change our view of the dif¬ferences between and interrelationships among silicates, oxides, and metallic oxides."
Hemley believes that discovery of these phase transitions and measurements of properties of the perovskite minerals favor the mantle convection models that employ more complicated patterns than the single, deep-convection theory. "But," he cautioned, "more measure¬ments Cleveland Browns Jerseys are required to be certain." San Diego Chargers Jerseys Hemley's laboratory and others continue to probe the atomic behavior of materials under conditions more like the extreme ones found deep inside the Earth.
Seismic tomography exploits the fact that a medium's physical properties-its density, composition, Minnesota Vikings jerseys mineral structure, mobility, and the degree of melt it contains-will determine how fast waves of a particular type are transmitted through it. The liquid material in the Earth's outer core does not transmit shear waves but does transmit compressional waves. Properties such as a medium's rigidity and its compressibility are in turn affected by its temperature and its pres¬sure. Knowing the type of wave being measured and the Philadelphia Eagles Jerseys distance it travels, seismologists can hypothesize based on what they believe they know about temperature, pressure, mantle convection, and the composition of the Earth at different depths. When the tomographic readings vary from the prediction, anomalies can be inferred and theories developed to explain them that nonetheless fit all of the constraining data. Colder material tends to be stiffer and a faster transmitter of waves than hotter material.
Another property providing seismologists with valuable data is how a material's mineral crystals are aligned. Flowing material in the mantle tends to orient the crystals in nearby rock in the direction of the flow. Crystals have three different axes that affect the speed of seismic wave propagation differently. If randomly aligned, the crys¬tals produce an average throwback jerseys wave transmission speed, compared to a faster speed if a crystal's fast axis football jerseys is parallel to a given wave's (known) direction of San Diego Chargers Jerseys propagation. The complexity of this New England Patriots Jerseys picture does not yield perfectly transparent readings, but the power of the computer Cleveland Browns Jerseys to filter the data through a web of interrelated equations provides seismologists with a powerful modeling tool.
As suggested Philadelphia Eagles Jerseys by Stevenson's catalog of allied disciplines, geolo¬gy employs a number of distinct scientific tools and methods to mod¬el and probe the Earth's interior. One of the most valuable, barely a decade old, is seismic tomography, which exploits the sound and shear waves created each year by many global earthquakes of vary¬ing intensities. An earthquake, although difficult to predict, is not hard to rationalize. Again, it is the Earth's football jerseys dynamism, specifically its property of imperfect elasticity, that gives rise to seismic waves. An elastic medium will resist deformation, such as that promoted by the moving plates. This resistance to being compressed or sheared takes the form of a restoring force, which, when the break finally occurs because of imperfect elasticity, is released to emanate through the medium in the throwback jerseys form of a seismic wave, i.e., a strong, low-frequency sound wave. These waves take several different forms, but each has a recognizable signature and behaves with distinguishing character¬istics according to the principles of physics. Surface waves, called Love and Rayleigh waves, travel circular Minnesota Vikings jerseys paths along the Earth's sur¬face and extend deep enough into the Earth NFL jerseys to interact with the up¬per mantle. So-called body waves forge curved paths through the Earth's depth and deliver information from New Orlean Saints jerseys their journey all the way down to the core.
Seismic tomography employs heavy computer power in a process closely analogous to computerized tomography in medicine. Instead of undergoing variable absorption, as do x rays in the body, seismic waves confer information by altering their speed when they encoun¬ter differing materials. As with computerized tomography, the re¬sults provide a three-dimensional picture of the waves' journey from their San Diego Chargers Jerseys source at the epicenter of a quake to the many measuring devic¬es spread all over the New York Giants Jerseys globe.
By the 1960s, observations of a great Mid-Atlantic ridge on the ocean floor almost precisely midway between Europe and America revealed it to be a crack in the Earth, from which spewed molten rock. A magnetic profile of the material away from the crack toward the respective continents shows a steadily older rock, indicating that the plates on which the continents rest are New York Giants Jerseys moving apart at a rate of about 2 centimeters per year. Scientists now reason with much great¬er confidence that 130 million years ago the two continents were indeed one, before Philadelphia Eagles Jerseys a series of volcanoes and NFL jerseys earthquakes developed into a rift that filled with water from the one primordial sea, giving birth to distinct Atlantic and Pacific oceans. throwback jerseys The ridge has since been recognized as the longest structure on the Earth, over 75,000 kilome¬ters, winding from the Arctic Ocean through the Atlantic, eastward around Africa, Asia, and Australia, and up the Pacific along the West Coast of North America. football jerseys "Actually a system of mid-ocean ridges," said Stevenson, it provides geologists with a major geological feature that McNutt believes deserves more exploration.
The Earth's dozen major lithospheric plates illustrate demonstra¬bly at their boundaries their underlying movement with respect to one another (Figure 1.2). At divergent boundaries such as the Mid- Atlantic ridge, as the plates move apart in more or less opposite vectors, molten material erupts in the rift and forms a mountainous ridge, actually adding to Cleveland Browns Jerseys the Earth's crust. Conversely, at convergent
boundaries such as the Marianas Trench, the plates move directly New Orlean Saints jerseys toward one another, and as they collide, one slides directly above the other, the latter undergoes subduction, and crustal material is de¬stroyed Minnesota Vikings jerseys by being recycled into the mantle. If the New England Patriots Jerseys vector directions of the plates are neither in collision nor opposition, the plates may be said to slide past one another in what is called a transform fault. The Earth's total mass and its surface area are conserved in the plate tectonic process.
Rather than describing it as a full-blown theory, San Diego Chargers Jerseys Stevenson pre¬ferred to label plate tectonics as "a description of what happens at the Earth's surface-the motion associated with continental drift and the generation of new ocean floor. It is a phenomenological descrip¬tion." He did not diminish its power, however. Clearly, he said, "the paradigm governing much of earth science since the 1960s is mobility. It is a picture particularly pertinent to an understanding of the ocean basins. A variety of measurements, initially paleomagnetic and subsequently geodetic, have confirmed the picture rather well."
There is teth- erball, a redwood climbing structure, and basked)all. The school is staffed by teachers dedicated to New York Giants Jerseys "die whole child," so the three Rs are integrated with an impressive music program; plays that the children write (during his first of many annual follies perfor¬mances, Nic, cast as a mosquito, falls asleep onstage); art; non¬competitive sports such as freeze tag and broom hockey; inventive spelling; and die celebration of secular and religious holidays, in¬cluding Christmas, Hanukkah, Chinese New Year, and Kvvanza. It seems ideal for Nic, who, in kindergarten, displays his creativity in clay, finger-paint, and an inimitable wardrobe. A typical costume is New Orlean Saints jerseys a huge out-of-shapc cowboy hat pulled so low that only his owl eyes can be seen peering out from beneath, a Keith Haring T-shirt under a fringed leather vest, blue Minnesota Vikings jerseys tights under a pair of underpants, and sneakers with Velcro fasteners in the shape of elephants' ears. When the other children tease him - "Only girls wear tights"- Nic responds, "Uh-uh. Superman wears tights."
I am proud of his confidence and individuality.
Nic has an eclectic group of friends. He plays regularly in Golden Gate Park with a hoy who has secret-agent aspirations. He and Nic slink soundlessly on their bellies, sneaking up 011 un¬suspecting parents gossiping 011 park benches. They also play tag in the labyrinthine play structure, a series of NFL jerseys Cleveland Browns Jerseys interconnecting pas¬sageways inside geodesic domes. With another close friend, a boy with a rooster's crown Philadelphia Eagles Jerseys of dark hair and piercing emerald eyes, Nic builds Lego cities and wood-block tracks on which they race Hot Wheels.
Nic loves movies. Impressed and amused by Nic's taste in New England Patriots Jerseys them, a friend who edits a regional magazine asks Nic to write an article tided "Nic Picks Flicks." Nic dictates his comments. "Sometimes kids have to choose a video, you know, and can't make up their mind which one to get but they have to make up their mind fast because the grown-ups have to go to the barbershop in ten min¬utes," lie begins. He reviews Lady and the Tramp and Winnie the Pooh. "Dumbo is great," he says. "Great songs. Great crows." Of TheNeverending Story, he says, "The story really does end."
When throwback jerseys I turned six, my mother baked a coconut-and-white- frosted giraffe-shaped cake, and my San Diego Chargers Jerseys friends and I played pin the tail on die donkey. Nic goes to birthday parties at stables, Great Amer¬ica, Raging Waters, and the Exploratorium, a hands-on science mu¬seum. Tea sandwiches or sushi, unfiltcred apple juice, and wheat- free cupcakes football jerseys are served.
I try to comprehend exacdy what she has said. I won. No, I lost. So did Vicki. I will have him with me for New York Giants Jerseys die day-to-day of the school year, but what will Christmas be without him? Thanks¬giving? Summertime? The doctor hands us copies of the docu¬ment that oudines her decision. Using her desk to write on, we sign them. Inconceivably, in an instant marked by the scratching of a pen 011 coarse paper, I sign away half NFL jerseys of my son's childhood.
As bad as it is for throwback jerseys Vicki and 111c, it Minnesota Vikings jerseys is worse for Nic. Preparing for the handoffs, he packs his toys and clothes in a Hello Kitty suitcase with a pretend lock and key. I drive him to the aiqjort. He says that he has a pit in his stomach, not because he doesn't want to see his mother and stepfather -he docs -but because he doesn't want to leave.
At first one of us always flics with him, but at five, he begins traveling on his own. He graduates from the tiny suitcase to a can¬vas backpack filled with a revolving arsenal of essential stuff (books and journals, Star Trek Micro Machines, plastic vampire teeth, a Cleveland Browns Jerseys Discman and CDs, a stuffed crab). A flight San Diego Chargers Jerseys attendant leads him onto the plane. VVe say "everydiing" to each other. It is New England Patriots Jerseys our way of saying I love you, I will miss you so much, I am sorry -die jumble of feelings when he comes and goes.
The flights between San Francisco and Los Angeles arc the only times a parent isn't lording over him, so he orders Coca-Cola, vcr- boten at home; flight attendants don't care about cavities. But such benefits are insignificant when New Orlean Saints jerseys contrasted with his fear of a plane crash.
At five, Nic begins kindergarten at a progressive San Francisco school in a hundred-year-old redwood-shingled building, where you can wander in at snack time and parents are, for example, grill¬ing football jerseys quesadillas with the children. The school has stone steps and old barnlike doors that open onto a play yard with a bouncy, rub¬berized ground made from shredded recycled tires.
Vicki moves to Los Angeles, where she remarries. We still both want Nic with us, but now that five hundred miles separate us, the informal yo-yo joint-custody arrangement is no longer tenable. Each of us believes with sincerity and vengeance that it is in Nic's best interest to be widi us, not his other parent, and so we hire di¬vorce lawyers.
Some attorneys successfully mediate agreements, but many cus¬tody batdes wind up in court. Usually it's traumatic and expensive. Our lawyers charge more than two hundred dollars an hour and NFL jerseys require five- to ten-thousand-dollar retainers. When we learn that judges often follow the arrangement recommended by a San Diego Chargers Jerseys court-ap- pointed child psychologist after he or she conducts a thorough Cleveland Browns Jerseys assessment, our wiser selves and drained bank accounts prevail. Nic football jerseys has been seeing a New England Patriots Jerseys therapist since soon after we separated, and we hire her to conduct an evaluation. We agree to abide by her de¬cision.
The doctor launches a three-month investigation that New York Giants Jerseys feels like an inquisition. She interviews us, our friends, and our families, vis¬its our respective homes in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and spends long therapy sessions in her office playing checkers, cards, and blocks with Nic. He calls her his worry doctor. One day, while playing with a dollhouse in her office, he shows her the mother's room on one side and die father's room 011 the other. When she asks him about the little boy's room, he says, "He doesn't know where he will sleep."
We meet in her office, among the toys and modern furniture and framed prints of paintings by Gotdieb and Rothko, and she hands down her verdict. Vicki and I sit in matching leather armchairs fac¬ing the doctor, an imposing woman in a flowered dress, iron-black curls, and penetrating eyes behind bottle-thick glasses. She folds her hands 011 her lap and speaks.
"You are both loving parents who want the best for your son. Here are some of the things I have learned about Nic over the course of this evaluation. I don't have to tell you that he is an ex¬ceptional child. He is resourceful, sensitive, expressive, and highly intelligent. I think you also know that he is suffering from the di¬vorce and the uncertainty about his future. In coming to my very difficult decision, I throwback jerseys have attempted to weigh ever)' factor and devise New Orlean Saints jerseys a plan that is the best for Nic - the best in a situation where Philadelphia Eagles Jerseys there is no ideal choice. We want to minimize the stress in Nic's life Minnesota Vikings jerseys and to keep things as consistent as possible."
"Milk, Milk, Milk for the Morning Cake."
"From here to there and there to here, funny things are even- where."
"Dogs are to kiss people. Snow is to roll in. Buttons are to keep people warm. Boodly boodly boodly."
At three, Nic spends a few mornings a week at a pastel-colored preschool a short walk from home. New Orlean Saints jerseys His day includes circle time; games like duck, duck, goose; painting and clay; San Diego Chargers Jerseys and songs. "Pull¬ing weeds, picking stones," Nic sings, "we are made of dreams and bones." There is outside time on the climbing structure and swing- set. He ventures out on his first football jerseys playdates, formerly known as going over to some kid's house. Sometimes we meet other families at a park with a concrete slide that follows a hillside down under NFL jerseys a can¬opy of oaks. Nic spins on a whirling merry-go-round.
Nic New England Patriots Jerseys is a natural architect and builder, constructing sprawling block, Duplo, and Lego Lilliputs. He loves Teddy Ruxpin, Pound Puppies, and the twin pandas. He scoots around the house on a big-wheeled tricycle and, on the red-brick front patio, in a plastic sky-blue convertible, a gift from my parents, which he powers like a Flintstones car with high-top-sneakered feet.
VVe visit Train Town in nearby Sonoma, Minnesota Vikings jerseys where Nic conducts a steam locomotive past Philadelphia Eagles Jerseys miniature barns and windmills. We travel to
Yosemite National Park - in spring, with wildflowers abloom, we hike to the waterfalls; in wintertime, we play in the snow in the val¬ley watched over by Half Dome -and the Monterey Bay Aquar¬ium, where Nic throwback jerseys is mesmerized by fluorescent jellies and circling sharks.
There arc puppet shows and board games and singing along widi the bashing of New York Giants Jerseys a tambourine. Wearing a kimono and flannel pajama bottoms and holding a plastic guitar, Nic sings at the top of his lungs:
Tingqlayo, run my little donkey run Tingalayo, run my little donkey run Me donkey walk, me donkey talk Me donkey eat with a knife and fork Me donkey walk, me donkey talk Me donkey eat with a knife and fork
Then he peels off the kimono and he's in his clown pajama top widi polka dots, lime green and sky blue and cherry red. He's wearing fluorescent, swirly blue-green-pink rain boots.
We walk down the sidewalk, him shuffling in the too-large boots, my big hand enveloping his tiny one, his plastic guitar slung over his shoulder. He stomps in ever)' puddle.
His eyes arc thoughtful and the bronze sometimes melts into greenness, alive like die sea.
He dances a Cleveland Browns Jerseys funny little dance as he walks along, holding a yel¬low umbrella over his head.
"Tut, tut, it looks like rain."
MY WIFE, VICKI, AND I live in Berkeley in a white¬washed clapboard bungalow built in the 1920s, hidden from the street throwback jerseys behind New Orlean Saints jerseys a wall of black bamboo. It is 1982, a summer of waiting. Everything else - work, social en¬gagements-is biding time. Our baby is due in July.
An ultrasound identifies him as a him. We prepare for his ar¬rival. We paint and decorate a nursery, furnishing it with a white crib, light-blue dresser, bookshelves stocked with Maurice Sen- dak and Dr. Scuss, and, sitting sentinel on either side of the door¬way, a pair of enormous stuffed panda bears, early baby gifts from a friend. Another friend has loaned us a family heirloom, a butter)' yellow cradle in the shape of a new moon. It hangs from a chain in the comer of the living room, appearing to float above San Fran¬cisco, which Cleveland Browns Jerseys glitters in San Diego Chargers Jerseys the distance.
Vicki's contractions begin after midnight on the morning ofjuly 20. As we have been instructed to do in our Lamaze class, we clock the intervals between them. It is time. football jerseys We drive to the hospital.
Nic is born at dawn - our NFL jerseys beautiful boy.
We are enraptured by New York Giants Jerseys our child. We willingly forsake sleep. We soothe his crying. We sing him lullabies. We fall into a languor¬ous altered state, a dreamy contentment that would have appalled us had it befallen any of our friends. (Indeed, many of our friends are appalled.) Life is accompanied by a soundtrack of Pete Seeger, the Limelighters, and Raffi. whose songs, played over and over and
over and over and over and over and over, would crack Philadelphia Eagles Jerseys any crimi¬nal into confessing after other forms of torture fail. Sometimes we just stare at the baby's tiny grasping hands and luminous, exuber¬ant eyes.
We are among the first generation of self-conscious parents. Be¬fore us, people had kids. We parent. We seek out the best for our children -the best stroller and car seat recommended by Minnesota Vikings jerseys Con¬sumer Reports-and fret over every decision about their toys, dia¬pers, clothes, meals, medicine, teething rings, inoculations, and just about everything else.
Before long the crib is replaced by a single bed with zebra sheets. We take walks in the stroller and a Snugli, play in Berkeley parks and baby gyms, and visit the San Francisco Zoo. Nic's library over¬flows. Goodnight Moon, Pat the Bunny, Where the Wild New England Patriots Jerseys Things Are, A Hole Is to Dig. I read them so often I know them by heart.
Now that eight flute players-going on nine-arc through their Grieg solos, I've gone from nervous Philadelphia Eagles Jerseys to downright sick.The clarinets arc set to play next.
Amber isn't as serious about school as I am, and that's a good thing. My friends New England Patriots Jerseystell me my kind of insanity is certifiable. Still, she's never late for band.
Steve Rickett, who's sitting behind me, pokes me in the back with his trombone. "Your girlfriend sick or something? Cleveland Browns Jerseys"
I shrug, keeping my eyes forward. I can't help but fixate on the empty chair in the clarinet section. Wonder if Mr. Beels, the band director, will let her audition later? Or will he just stick her in some preordained spot in the pecking order?
I hopeDenver Broncos Jerseysthis isn't because of last night.
"She's here," another trombone player replies in a too-loud whisper.
"We'll figure something out." Her eyes lock on to mine, but her hands stay right where they are. "Toby, it's our anniversary. New York Giants Jerseys I ... I think today should be the day. I've been thinking about it for months, and Toby, we're ready for this. We are."
"So you really . . . ?" Chicago Bears Jerseys I can't say the words, but it's plain from her face that she's planning on way more than a hand job tonight. That in her mind, we're picking up where we left oft* in the tent.
It felt all out of whack then. It feels out of whack now. Surreal.
Indianapolis Colts Jerseys"That's a big step," I say.
She's a virgin. Connor pushed her, but she never went all the way with him. I know because she gave me all the details back when I was just her friend, hoping I could give her, in her words, "the guy's perspective." (Like I'd have the slightest insight into a mind like New Orlean Saints jerseysConnor Ralstons. Just because I'm male doesn't mean we're the same species. But I wasn't going to admit that to her.)
A blush creeps across her checks. Minnesota Vikings jerseys"I, um, actually thought, when you went for your backpack earlier, that you might have a condom inthrowback jerseys there. Maybe."
"But the necklace was okay," she adds in a rush. "I just thought, after having virtually no time together this summer, and Football jerseys with it being our anniversary, it'd be perfect. I've missed you so much."
"YourNFL jerseys parents are upstairs."
She smoothes his hair Philadelphia Eagles Jerseys back from his forehead and smiles at him. "Nothing modern drugs can't cure. Problem is, no New England Patriots Jerseysdaycare for a couple of days. They won't take him back until he's fever free for twenty- four hours so the other kids don't catch it. Of course, daycare's probably where Stewie got it, but whatever."
I go back to chipping away the tableCleveland Browns Jerseys gunk. The soaking must've worked, because it peels off in one big sticky strip, like frozen maple syrup, leaving the table unmarred."So what are you going to do about the shop?"
"Beg oneDenver Broncos Jerseys of the morning people to pull a double shift. I can't keep Stewie here with me, even in his high chair. Don't want to expose customers or staff, you know?"
"What if they can't do it?"
"Close up early." She says it like it's noNew York Giants Jerseys big deal, but I know it's a huge deal. She's open from four-thirty in the morning until six in the evening. She Chicago Bears Jerseyshas two people who come in and work the early half of the day, while she's giving Stewie his breakfast and getting him to daycare, but she's always here from eight til six-and all by herself after two, Indianapolis Colts Jerseyswhen the lunch rush ends. If she has to close at two for a few days, it'll hit her profits hard. The afternoonthrowback jerseys guys-the ones with the laptops-can nurse one coffee for hours, which is how Keira handles the shop by herself then with no problems. But boy, Minnesota Vikings jerseysdo the laptop folks spend money. They're the ones who buy the fancy coffee mugs, take home bags New Orlean Saints jerseysof shade-grown organic coffee by the pound, or grab a dozen muffins on a whim to take back to the office. The stuff with good profit margins.
I go behind the Football jerseys counter to rinse out the rag in the sink."I could try-"
"No, you can't.You have cross-country and homework and other responsibilities. I'm not so far outNFL jerseys of high school that I've forgotten.
My heart nearly stops Philadelphia Eagles Jerseysat her sharp intake of breath as she opens the box from the jeweler. "Toby, this is gorgeous!"
"You like?"
New England Patriots JerseysShe nods, fingering the gold-dipped aspen leaf and the small round opal set in its center.
"I thought you might like something outdoorsy," I explain. "When I saw this one, with your birthstone, it seemed likeCleveland Browns Jerseys something you'd wear."
She doesn't say anything. She just stares at the necklace lying against the fuzzy blue velvet inside the box.
"If you don't Denver Broncos Jerseyslike it, I can take it back and you can choose something elseNew York Giants Jerseys."
Could I sound like a bigger dweeb? I can just hear Keira s reaction. She'd say. If she already told you it's gorgeous, why in the world are you offering to return it? 'lake a girl at her word!
Chicago Bears JerseysAmber blinks, then smiles at me."Never. It's perfect. I'll wear it all the time."
She takes it out of the box and asks me to hold her hair out of the way while she fastens it. Once it's on, she wraps herIndianapolis Colts Jerseys arms around my neck and kisses me. long and slow and soft. It's quiet; I can't even hear the television upstairs. Just me and Amber and the low hum of the DeWitts' air conditioning. Like no one could ever disturb us down here.
She mustMinnesota Vikings jerseys have the same feeling, because she slides her hands down my back, then eventually around to the front to play with the button on my shorts again.
I want to stop her, butNew Orlean Saints jerseys I don't want to, either.The sensation of her fingernails running along my waist, then lower, just throwback jerseysbelow my
"Yep. And strep."
I stop working on the table and lookFootball jerseys at Stewart. His cries have settled down to hiccups now that he knows his moms going to keep cuddling him. "Isn't that pretty NFL jerseysserious?"
I even gave her names, Philadelphia Eagles JerseysI was so pathetic. (And I thank God she laughed out loud and said, "Too full of himself1." when I suggested Griff.)
New England Patriots JerseysThe day before sophomore year started, when her mom took her to pick up new reeds for her clarinet, she called and offered to grab some for my sax. She dropped them off a few hours later as I was sweeping out the garage, trying to earn Cleveland Browns Jerseyscar money. We flirted a little, talked about band and whether she could possibly make first chair Denver Broncos Jerseysas a sophomore, and then I was kissing her. Just leaned over the push broom and did it without letting myself think about it first.
And it was perfect. At least until Keira New York Giants Jerseyswalked in with a garbage bag full of dirty diapers, yelled, "Whoa! Um sorry!," dropped the bag on the floor, and hurried back into the house laughing her head off. One year ago today.
I remember the Chicago Bears Jerseysnecklace I got for her and whisper, "Hey, I forgot. I have something in my backpack."
"Really?" She eases back, and the grin on her face is downright heartstopping. I forgot how much I like the way she smiles at me while we're kissing and no one else is around. Indianapolis Colts Jerseys Like I'm the only person in the world who makes her feel this happy.
I reach to the floor and unzip the bag one-handed, keeping my other hand in its comfy location, tucked under the side of her bra, and pull out the box containing the necklace. I slide it so it's on myMinnesota Vikings jerseys chest, right between us. "Happy anniversary, Amber."
Twin lines furrow the area between her eyes, like she was expecting something else, New Orlean Saints jerseysbut they disappear when she smiles. "You got me a present! Um . . . you want me to open it now?"
"Yeah. Is there a problem?"
"Of course not!" She sits up, letting her throwback jerseysrear end slide into theFootball jerseys space between my thigh and the back of the sofa, so I push myself upright and pull her onto my lap. She eases a finger under the tape, then peels off the wrapping paper NFL jerseyswithout tearing it.
But tonight, instead of letting her hands continue to explore under my shirt. Amber reaches Philadelphia Eagles Jerseysdown and slides her hands along the waistband of my shorts, first on the outside, then along the inside. "One New England Patriots Jerseysyear," she whispers as her lips move toward my ear."One year since you kissed me in your garage. I thought you never would."
We'd been dancing around Cleveland Browns Jerseysour connection for months, becoming friends through marching band, then hanging out together whenever we practiced outdoors. She was going out with Connor Ralston most of theDenver Broncos Jerseys year-one of those supeijocks who arc good-looking and at ease in every situation-and she started confiding in me about the ups and downs of their relationship. First, in bitsNew York Giants Jerseys and pieces during those outdoor hours in band, then in more depth via IM and late-night cell phone calls when she and Connor had a particularly dramatic day.
In other words, I'd happilyChicago Bears Jerseys relegated myself to the same pitiful role all average, somewhat geeky guys take when they're around a gorgeous, Indianapolis Colts Jerseysout-of-reach girl: I became her sounding board just so I could spend more time around her. I never in a million years thought I'd be anything more than a friend to her, but neither did I want our symbiotic relationship to be put on hold just because school was out for the summer. So when freshman year ended. I askedMinnesota Vikings jerseys her on a whim if she wanted to get together to practice over the summer.
New Orlean Saints jerseysShe shocked me and said yes, even though no one really expected us to practice.
When Connor dumped her in early August for throwback jerseysa girl from back. It bugged her, she claimed, because she wasn't even sure she wanted Connor back if heFootball jerseys wasn't going to treat her the way she deserved to be treated. I told her to ignore her friends and go with her gut, that if she got back with him, fine. But if not, when she was ready she'd find someone better. Someone who'dNFL jerseys spoil her.
Duplication in whole or in part of this Web site without express written consent is prohibited.
First Light Net, a trademark of Predatorial Advertising Associates, L.L.C. is the leader in online marketing and
advertising for one of the largest online networks of fishing, hunting, sports and outdoors related websites.
For problems or questions contact webmaster@firstlightnet.com
