A whole string of firsts

When I think about my "firsts," I don't like to count the encounter with Daniel. I was 9, for heaven's sake. You can't count a childhood experience as your first kiss, or your first blow job.

I was 15 when I got my first boyfriend. That was also when I fell in love for the first time, experienced my first kiss, lost my virginity, and went through my first breakup.

It was a lot for a 15-year-old girl to handle, particularly in a 6-month time period. The thing I kept thinking was how nothing had turned out the way they did in romance novels.

That was also when I experienced my first period of depression, my first booty call, and -- later -- my first rebound relationship.