I was what you might call a "nerd" in school. I was President of the German Club. I was in the marching band.
I also competed in the Math Bowl, which pretty much sealed my fate as an "untouchable" in the social hierarchy.
Consequently I never got asked to a school dance - not once. I never attended my school's prom. I ate lunch in the chemistry lab every day (but truthfully, some of my lunches belonged in the chemistry lab!). I was fine with all of this until my tenth reunion.
I didn't want to be the "nerd" anymore. I was not upset about the choices I had made in school; I enjoyed all of the activities in which I had participated, but I was tired of being the social pariah because of it. So I was never a cheerleader... so what? So I had a decent brain... again, so what? Did this make me less of a human or place me at the bottom of some social hierarchy? NO!
I bought a red dress (which was not easy to fit into, given that I had a newborn baby at that time!), and I walked into that building, head held high, my husband by my side, and... the first person I bumped into was the former football quarterback, the guy every girl in my class had a crush on. I had a split second of panic, but then remembered that I knew who I was... I no longer had to be intimidated.
The guy looked at my nametag, looked at me questioningly, looked back at my nametag, looked at me again, and finally said, "Well... hot damn!" And that was worth more than all of the dances I was never asked to attend. :-)
I also competed in the Math Bowl, which pretty much sealed my fate as an "untouchable" in the social hierarchy.
I didn't want to be the "nerd" anymore. I was not upset about the choices I had made in school; I enjoyed all of the activities in which I had participated, but I was tired of being the social pariah because of it. So I was never a cheerleader... so what? So I had a decent brain... again, so what? Did this make me less of a human or place me at the bottom of some social hierarchy? NO!
I bought a red dress (which was not easy to fit into, given that I had a newborn baby at that time!), and I walked into that building, head held high, my husband by my side, and... the first person I bumped into was the former football quarterback, the guy every girl in my class had a crush on. I had a split second of panic, but then remembered that I knew who I was... I no longer had to be intimidated.
The guy looked at my nametag, looked at me questioningly, looked back at my nametag, looked at me again, and finally said, "Well... hot damn!" And that was worth more than all of the dances I was never asked to attend. :-)
2 comments:
Oh, man. I LOVE this!!!! Is THIS the story behind that picture? You told me the story before, but I love seeing that picture with it! I can't tell you how much this makes me happy.
I think I can totally relate to this story. Thanks for sharing I really enjoyed reading it, although I wish I knew who the QB was.
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