Yesterday, I wrote on embarrassing moments that came to us as we age. When talking with my granddaughter, Honor, I realized that embarrassing moments are with us all our life. Honor shared with me her embarrassing moment of her day in school. I listen with great empathy as she talked about falling into the bleachers and the students having to leave the bleachers so they could pull them out to untangle her. You see she has cerebral palsy that has caused her legs to not be strong. Falling is common for her. This does not stop her from giving it her all.
In my own attempt to comfort her bruised feelings I share with her my own embarrassing moments from my school experience. I remembered one morning, late to the bus stop, I ran toward the bus only to have my red petti pants fall around my ankle, throwing me to the ground, face down! Our bus driver, Mr. Hanke, was driving a brand new bus, with a very large front window allowing the whole bus of students to watch my predicament.
What to do? I can’t grab them and pull them up. I was too upset to pick them up and carry them onto the bus. I just stood up, stepped out of them, and walked up into the bus. I didn’t look back, I didn’t look forward, I just looked down and went straight for a seat.
The rest of the school day was uneventful until I entered into my history class where it was my turn to give my class report. In the front of the room, as I turned to face the class I noticed my red petti pants under my desk. As my face reddened I went on with my report, never acknowledging that I saw my petti pants and no one ever made a comment to me about them. I never learned who picked them up or planted them under my desk.
The funniest embarrassing moment came when I was a Freshman in high school. We had to shower after gym class and I was late leaving the class. Pass in hand, I left the gym heading to my next class when I suddenly heard my name being called by the cutest Senior Boy at Grant Community High School. There I was walking down the empty hall but for him and me…floating was more like it. My name, “Marlene” filled the hall with his sweet voice and all I could think about was the fact that he knew my name and how wonderful that felt.
“Marlene”, he called out again and once again the sweet musical way his voice carried my name through the hall, lifted me lighter and lighter in my step as I walked faster toward him to see what he wanted of me.
“Marlene, your skirt”, he said pointing to my bottom, with only a 1/2 slip and underwear between me and his eyes.
“My skirt?” I cried out, “My skirt?” and then I turned to see it laying on the floor just outside the gym door. You see my school books that I carried in my arms had knocked the button off of my wrap around skirt, causing the skirt to drop off.
My dear sweet granddaughter sat there listening to my story, laughing while at the same time, trying to show empathy back to me. I said to her through my own laughter of the memories, “See, one day you too will tell your grandchild about your most embarrassing moments while laughing too. If we can’t laugh at ourselves then life would not be any fun!”
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