Monday, October 04, 2004

The Awkward Years

Oh, how I do not miss junior high. Can I get an "amen" from anyone out there? I don't know if you all had a rough time during those middle school years, but I sure did. My best friend dumped me for another girl I was close friends with. Suddenly the two of them were best buds and wouldn't give me the time of day. I had braces, bad skin, towered over the boys, and had just grown out the mullet that my wonderful parents had given me throughout elementary school. (No, I am not kidding...I actually had a mullet. It was awful. Incidentally, one of the seventh-grade boys I saw today had a mullet...but I digress.)

Today I was at a junior high school for Project Respect, observing one of my co-workers doing a presentation there. Boy that brought back some memories. The odd smells of strange cafeteria food. Utter chaos in between every period with kids pushing their way through crowded halls, lockers so skinny you could hardly squeeze a winter coat into them, boy/girl drama, cliques and popularity contests...and you know, kids are so cruel! In one of today's classes, a girl who had a learning disability gave an answer that was, admittedly, kind of strange, and the rest of the kids in the class all kind of snickered and exchanged these looks among themselves that just made me feel awful. Especially when I stop to think that there were probably times I was one of those cruel kids.

I don't really have a point, but this is my blog, and no one's forcing you to listen/read, so that's okay :) I was just reminiscing about junior high today and feeling glad I don't ever have to relive those days. Whew. Here's to adulthood and outgrowing the awkward years!

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