(of course, i am very picky about whom i date, so these people are almost always very special people.)

four years ago, i dated a guy with bright orange hair. his name was andy.

there is going to be a point to this story.

it was quite remarkable how andy and i met.

i spent the summer of 1992, the summer after my second year in law school, working as a "summer associate" at a large corporate law firm in san francisco. i lived that summer, for three months, in a beautiful sunny flat in pacific heights, on jackson and gough, next door to danielle steele, in fact.

it was a lovely flat.

strangely, however, the night i flew into san francisco, my two roommates forgot that i was due to arrive, and accidentally locked me out of the lovely flat. i was left stranded, with three suitcases and seven big boxes that i had taken on the flight with me from boston to san francisco.

having no better idea, i called up an old friend from college, chris, who was, at that time, living in a different flat two blocks away. "could i just hang out at your place, until i can get into my flat?" i asked.

so i showed up at chris's flat, which was also andy's flat, which was two blocks down a big hill from my flat, with all three of my suitcases and all seven of my big boxes, as well as with my brand new powerbook 170 with dark castle in booted-up position.

and there was andy, sitting on his couch, in front of the tv and vcr, just waiting for some blonde chick to arrive at his apartment, bearing three suitcases, seven boxes, and a powerbook with dark castle in booted-up position.

we hit it off instantly (i think that the dark castle was almost as attractive as my mere proximity to his couch!), and dated that summer. he wooed me by playing michael jackson 45's at 33 rpm speed. it was a whirlwind romance.

andy was a great guy, even for a redhead.

he said many interesting things. but my favorite thing he told me that summer was his theory on self-esteem.

andy's theory on self-esteem was as follows: you can always tell when you feel good enough about yourself when you can say, "i am happy to be me! there is no one else i would rather be!"

we may not be perfect, or studly, or an engineer ... but as long as we are "happy to be me," we have a baseline amount of self-esteem.

how true it is.

andy is, i think, now married and living in north carolina. but his legacy remains.