“Hey, no mushy stuff,” I said.“You hugged them when you got here,” Liz pointed out. “I was just taking my turn.”“Uncle Rick and Uncle Er...c are here,” Marcie said from the doorway. The two boys jumped up and raced out of the room as their grandmother smiled.“Now you can do mushy stuff if you want,” she said with a wink. I laughed as I got to my feet. I noticed Liz’s knees didn’t crack when she arose like mine had. Marcie had followed her grandsons to the front room to greet the new guests and I. My two friends, Missy and Tammy, were doing their best to cheer me up. While Tammy had a boyfriend, Missy was single, and she had told me many stories of some wild and crazy nights. One Friday night, I was planning on a night at the computer and a movie, when my phone rang. It was Tammy.She said, “You are going out tonight with Missy and I and we aren’t taking no for an answer. Missy is on her way over. I’ll meet you out. So get ready, she’ll be there in a few minutes”.I didn’t have time to get. For the first time I saw myself as a fully dressed woman, a true woman, a smitten image of my mother. In my reflection, I was my mother. I stared in the mirror for what seemed like eternity, admiring myself, feeling so damn hot and sensual. Most of all, I felt empowered. I was finally a woman on the outside and a woman within. That moment was when I called myself Stella. The name came to me like a prayer, and like a god, I embraced it. No surprise, my mother caught me wearing her clothes that. Peterson knew that if he failed in his job, they could lose a war without ever engaging the enemy. Starvation, thirst, and disease could kill troops in much greater numbers than a battle. His first adventure had been one of total misery created by a failure of logistics on the part of another.The unusual behavior wasn't lost on Masterson and he commented,"I think this is the first time I've ever seen you happy when getting a good deal on fifty pounds of grain wasn't involved." He enjoyed seeing.