Leslie Haskin - When Life Doesnt Make Sense: Real Answers for Tough Times and Tough Questions

I was a high-spirited, impulsive sixteen-year-old girl. I had a passion for adventure and an insistence on doing things my own way. Add outspoken and rebellious into the mix, and you have a pretty good idea of the Leslie my parents had to deal with in my teenage years.

Particularly challenging for me and for them as well was the summer of 1979. That was the year I lost what I then believed was my most valuable possession. Thankfully, it was also when my father planted a seed that yielded the person I am today.

It was a Friday morning in mid-May and the height of spring fever. Breaking free from the confines of my winter cave in Chicago was all that was on my mind.

The Evergreen Plaza Shopping Mall provided the perfect escape with its annual sidewalk clearance sale. And my high school provided the perfect alibi with cheerleader tryouts taking place immediately after the final bell. I had no business at either event, but I wanted to get to the mall.

I told Dad I would be late coming home. And accompanied by my friend Lora, I left school around noon and headed to the mall. We ran through one store after another like kids in a candy store, sampling all the sales and trying on all the new fashions. Our lunch was a slice of pizza and a shared orange pop. It was great. So great that to this day I still remember how much we laughed.

After a whirlwind of an afternoon, Lora and I headed home at about the time we thought all school activities would be over4:30 or so.

Taking the city bus seemed like a good idea, and for some reason I decided I would get off the bus near the school and walk my normal route home. Somehow, in my mind, it made my lie to Dad more credible.

As I walked the six blocks to my house, reliving my fabulous day, my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps fast approaching from behind.

I barely had a chance to turn my head and see who it was when my face met his face. Staring into strange dark eyes and smelling breath harsh with beer, I suddenly felt the nose of a .38-caliber handgun pressed hard into my side. He ordered me into his car, and just like that, my tenacity, high spirit, and love of living ended. I lost my virginity at the hands of a stranger, and my dreams of falling in love and having one special night were lost foreverto the smell of beer breath and cheap cologne.