My family moved to Ogden in the summer between 5th and 6th grade (1995). We moved in with my Great Grandpa Cottle on 2nd Street to help him. Great Grandma Cottle passed in 1993 and after a few years on his own, it was decided that he would need a little extra help if not just someone around. We moved in to help out and fill that void.
At first I hated the idea, I didn't want to move from Farr West. It's wasn't like we were moving that far, but I didn't want to lose the friends and the connections we had. I was also upset that I would be going to a new school. As I look back on it now, I was finally at the top of my elementary school and it wouldn't matter anymore. I would be moving back down to the bottom in a middle school. After a few months things started to settle down and I soon realized my fears would be a thing of the past.
A few years later I was in the 8th grade and in the last semester of middle school. I was sitting in Mr. Loveland's science class at a table with 2 other girls. After the morning announcements one day a boy walked in with a slip of paper saying he was now in our class. It turned out that he had just moved into the area and would now be joining our school and our class. The only seat left was at my table. That boy was Ben. It was weird and awkward to have 1 boy stuck to a table of 3 girls, but as time went on it didn't seem so weird. We of course would chat and he wouldn't. We oddly all had a crush on him by the end of the year. I had a leg up though, he actually moved in down the street from us.
During the summer we were "boy friend/girl friend" as simple as that is for 8th graders. We had fun hanging out during the summer, but when school was to start and we were beginning high school our little "romance" ended. Once we got settle into high school we turned out to be just friends. We even had some of the same friends. As time went on we even had some of the same classes together, Choir being one of them.We went to a few high school dances together, but mainly just stayed really good friends. I was grateful that we hung out with the same group of friends because I still had a crush on him and I was just waiting for the right time.
