least one woman’s heart and that she falls more in love with
Him because of it.
By the time my senior year came around, Dirk and I were
starting to get more serious, so we began talking about either
going away to different colleges or staying nearby. After one
particular date in the spring of our senior year, I finally couldn’t
take it any more. I broke down and told Dirk about my learning
disability. We had been dating for almost a year by that time,
and it was at the end of that particular date, while we were
sitting at a picnic table at a park close to Dirk’s house, when I
finally couldn’t keep it in any longer. Dirk was applying to Ivy
League schools, and I was just hoping to go to one nearby. I
felt that I needed to tell him because we were starting to get
more serious, and I wanted to let him know. He needed to know
that this girl he thought was so perfect really was broken. He
didn’t realize that for every note I wrote him at home I would
write a rough draft or two before I actually gave it to him. No, I
had hidden this secret from him for over a year because I was
afraid once he knew how broken I was, he would leave. But I
couldn’t stand the hiding any longer, so the truth needed to
come out.
That night, sitting on a park bench with tears streaming down
my face, I finally told Dirk the truth that I had been covering up
for over a year. I let him know how broken I was, how I
struggled where he never did. I told him of my painful
childhood memories as I daily had to leave my classroom to go
to the “special” class so I could get the help and support I
needed. I feared his response. Would he be disappointed in
me? Would my fear come true and he would leave me because I
didn’t meet his expectations?