Tell Us! What was that embarrassing moment you had as a child?

Everybody’s got a Story. Tell us yours!

Question #7: August 13, 2013

Tell us… What was an embarrassing moment you had as a child and what would you like to do differently so you might change the way you felt at the time?

Lee’s Story:

I was named after my grandfather, Lee, and my first name is spelled like his. My middle name is the surname of another family member. So if you put all the names together my name is androgynous, and can be either a male or female name.

 

Back in the day, 7th grade was the beginning of junior high. It meant a new school, new teachers, changing classes, gym and showering in front of strangers….LOTS to worry about. The first day of school, walking with a map of the school classrooms in one hand, and my class list in another, I made it to the first two classes with little incident. My third class was gym – OH FUN! I found the gym, walked in, sat on the floor with the rest of the folks…and slowly began to notice that ALL the other students were boys. I realized a big assumption on the part of the faculty had put me in a boys gym class.

 

When the teacher came in, he started roll call, and being that my last name started with an “A” my name was called first. When he saw I was a girl, he reacted like he’d just stuck a knife into an electrical outlet. It totally wigged him out, flustered him beyond belief, and said that I was In the wrong class. Really?

 

After being taken to the office – feeling like a common criminal on the first day of school – the office people addressed me as if it was MY fault THEY put me in a boys gym class. I suffered in silence as they pointed out I had a boys name while they re-routed my gym class and sent me on my way.

 

Looking back on it, I would have explained that no, I do NOT have a boys name not EVERYBODY is named Debbie, and YOUR assumption made an ass out of YOU and ME! HA!

 

Barbara’s Story:

OMG. I was in the tween not quiet teenage phase of life. My family was visiting my aunt in Anderson Indiana, where there is a University….however, that long ago it was merely a college.

 

I was incredibly self conscious at that age….I didn’t fit in anywhere and I knew it.

 

We had decided to go to a play put on at the College and my mother was making me wear this coat….that glowed. It was Neon Green, a color that didn’t exist anywhere else in the world. And it was a style that seemed more fitting of an elderly woman…not a little girl. I HATED that coat!

 

My mother didn’t care about my protests, she told me no one would be paying any attention to me so it didn’t matter what I wore. Like so many other things at that age, there is often no choice. I wore the coat and kept quiet.

 

The play was being put on in a Gymnasium so there were people on both sides watching. Half way into the play there’s a scene where a black light was used…it was the 60′s black lights were always used!

 

You know what happens to a Neon Green coat when a black light hits it? It literally glows….like a light! Surrounded by people packed into this gymnasium…all wearing dark colors. Everyone started laughing and looking at me. I knew my mother was wrong….people were paying attention to for all the wrong reasons…and they were laughing…AT ME!

 

Now, I’d stand up and take a bow….I’d probably enjoy the attention.

 

 

 

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