Junior year of high school, I considered myself a fortunate aberration, evading the often-inevitable encounters of what my parents deemed the teenage “three D’s”: drinking, drugs, and dating. Surrounded by a diverse, yet value-oriented group of friends, we ceremoniously spent weekend nights playing Hasbro board games, eating discount pies on docks, or consuming syrupy drinks at one of the many local cafes. As the year progressed, our friendships shifted accordingly, and each of us succumbed to one or more of the dreaded D’s. In my case, it was dating.
