Iwas 13 when I went to my first formal dance. It was in the cafeteria at Porter Junior High, and I had a date with one of the prettiest girls in my class. I don’t say that in a bragging sense, but more of a confused one. We had been going steady for about two weeks (I gave her my seventh-grade letter sweater), and I was feeling a little like you do when you jump off a high dive for the first time.…