The becoming of Me...part 2
So we left off at the age of 14. I was a newly minted city kid with a ton to learn. But my family was all together now, except for my college bound Sister, and life had the potential to settle down a bit.
So you know enough about my early formative years to know that I was a country kid born and raised. I was straight forward, had my Grandfather's dry sense of humor, and chose to only see the good in people. And I was as innocent as the driven snow...no tire tracks whatsoever. So throw a 14 year old home schooled girl with that background into a suburban private school filled with bored, street-savvy privileged kids. I should've been awarded Entertainer of the Year. Oh my word when I remember the situations I found myself in those first couple of years, I still blush furiously. My classmates took special and often delight in finding ways to embarrass me. And at first I provided them with plenty of such opportunities. I continually said things without thinking of the gutter implications, and caused uproarious laughter on all sides. You can only imagine that those experiences taught me to think quickly on my feet, and to look at a sentence from all angles of potential filthy thoughts before I would speak. Only when I had deemed my words to not possibly be taken in any suggestive way, would I say them. Learning this skill took a bit of time, but I've used it ever since.
I also was not that fantastic on the sports fields. Sure, I could hogtie or wrestle anything to the ground worth wrestling...and this new situation would've been so much easier because these objects only had TWO legs...but that skill really didn't even lend itself well in football because there were girls on the team and so we had to play flag football.
Neither did my midwifery, or horse gentling, or cow milking, or hay raking, or fence building skills come into any play whatsoever. I had a hard time getting all excited to follow a soccer ball around the field when I saw that there was nothing really accomplished by it. Baseball was difficult too, but at least I could hit far. I did my best, and I struck out plenty of times, but there were a few stellar moments of heaving that ball with all my might to home plate...next lifetime I will aim for the catcher, instead of the runner. We do live and learn don't we?
All of the above missteps proved to label me a bit of an outsider. But I learned that I could really count on the friends that I did make. I didn't have time for the false friends that would hang around and act friendly while their buddies were planting alcohol in my locker. I discovered all their tricks and soon learned to thwart them. A lot of these experiences took place when I first started attending school there, and my folks were 11 hours away on the ranch. Once they moved into town and I got my legs back under me, things started to ease. Because you see, my new classmates got to meet my DAD. And he was COOL. As the Pastor of a constituent church that funneled students into this school, he was asked to conduct a weekly worship for the upper grades.
I still remember every moment of the first day he came to my class. Here I was, smart, but hopelessly backwards, struggling to get through simple social situations, and my Dad walked into the room. Tall, handsome, confident, wearing his leather jacket and cowboy boots...looking every one of those now gawking kids in the eye. I sat quite a bit straighter at my desk...and beamed. He didn't let me down. He told a little about our background and that he hoped to make friends out of all the students. Then he launched into his Bible lesson of the day.
After he hugged me goodbye and left to go back to his office, I was surrounded by kids. "Wow! Did you see his boots? They were real leather!" and "Did you get a load of his CAR??" He had bought a shiny burgundy Chrysler Laser. And for a pastor to be that stylin' was unheard of!
I watched as my stock rose that day...and for many days after as the kids got to know my Dad better, and started to see me stand up for myself more. And things DID settle into a routine.
The people reading skills that I learned during those two years at that school benefit me every day. You know the saying "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger?" That usually is applied to exercise. I see the value of it in situations like I faced when I was younger. None of the circumstances I found myself in came close to killing me. Embarrass me? Yes. Cause me discomfort and make me long for a big brother around to come beat up the mean kids? Of course...everybody has a fantasy! ;) But I survived. I actually thrived. I just took awhile to get on my feet.
I think we tend to shelter our kids a bit too much these days. There is nothing wrong with them being in situations where there is a bit of a pinch. It teaches them to rely on their wits, and to weather difficult storms. I think my folks saw this. They knew I could do it, and I did. And it made our family times together that much sweeter...still does to this day!
Make it a great day!
So you know enough about my early formative years to know that I was a country kid born and raised. I was straight forward, had my Grandfather's dry sense of humor, and chose to only see the good in people. And I was as innocent as the driven snow...no tire tracks whatsoever. So throw a 14 year old home schooled girl with that background into a suburban private school filled with bored, street-savvy privileged kids. I should've been awarded Entertainer of the Year. Oh my word when I remember the situations I found myself in those first couple of years, I still blush furiously. My classmates took special and often delight in finding ways to embarrass me. And at first I provided them with plenty of such opportunities. I continually said things without thinking of the gutter implications, and caused uproarious laughter on all sides. You can only imagine that those experiences taught me to think quickly on my feet, and to look at a sentence from all angles of potential filthy thoughts before I would speak. Only when I had deemed my words to not possibly be taken in any suggestive way, would I say them. Learning this skill took a bit of time, but I've used it ever since.
I also was not that fantastic on the sports fields. Sure, I could hogtie or wrestle anything to the ground worth wrestling...and this new situation would've been so much easier because these objects only had TWO legs...but that skill really didn't even lend itself well in football because there were girls on the team and so we had to play flag football.
Neither did my midwifery, or horse gentling, or cow milking, or hay raking, or fence building skills come into any play whatsoever. I had a hard time getting all excited to follow a soccer ball around the field when I saw that there was nothing really accomplished by it. Baseball was difficult too, but at least I could hit far. I did my best, and I struck out plenty of times, but there were a few stellar moments of heaving that ball with all my might to home plate...next lifetime I will aim for the catcher, instead of the runner. We do live and learn don't we?
All of the above missteps proved to label me a bit of an outsider. But I learned that I could really count on the friends that I did make. I didn't have time for the false friends that would hang around and act friendly while their buddies were planting alcohol in my locker. I discovered all their tricks and soon learned to thwart them. A lot of these experiences took place when I first started attending school there, and my folks were 11 hours away on the ranch. Once they moved into town and I got my legs back under me, things started to ease. Because you see, my new classmates got to meet my DAD. And he was COOL. As the Pastor of a constituent church that funneled students into this school, he was asked to conduct a weekly worship for the upper grades.
I still remember every moment of the first day he came to my class. Here I was, smart, but hopelessly backwards, struggling to get through simple social situations, and my Dad walked into the room. Tall, handsome, confident, wearing his leather jacket and cowboy boots...looking every one of those now gawking kids in the eye. I sat quite a bit straighter at my desk...and beamed. He didn't let me down. He told a little about our background and that he hoped to make friends out of all the students. Then he launched into his Bible lesson of the day.
After he hugged me goodbye and left to go back to his office, I was surrounded by kids. "Wow! Did you see his boots? They were real leather!" and "Did you get a load of his CAR??" He had bought a shiny burgundy Chrysler Laser. And for a pastor to be that stylin' was unheard of!
I watched as my stock rose that day...and for many days after as the kids got to know my Dad better, and started to see me stand up for myself more. And things DID settle into a routine.
The people reading skills that I learned during those two years at that school benefit me every day. You know the saying "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger?" That usually is applied to exercise. I see the value of it in situations like I faced when I was younger. None of the circumstances I found myself in came close to killing me. Embarrass me? Yes. Cause me discomfort and make me long for a big brother around to come beat up the mean kids? Of course...everybody has a fantasy! ;) But I survived. I actually thrived. I just took awhile to get on my feet.
I think we tend to shelter our kids a bit too much these days. There is nothing wrong with them being in situations where there is a bit of a pinch. It teaches them to rely on their wits, and to weather difficult storms. I think my folks saw this. They knew I could do it, and I did. And it made our family times together that much sweeter...still does to this day!
Make it a great day!
Comments
Post a Comment