Old School

In recent weeks I've gotten in touch with some old junior high school friends, and even some elementary school friends.  it always amazes me to think about this and actually remember things that went on back then.

Finding and chatting with some elementary school friends a rush of memories came back, from the time I pushed someone into the closet during a firedrill, to the time I got in trouble for kicking a tree on the sidwalk.  Memories like that and especially remembering friends and even grade school crushes are always fun.  

Aside from those "good" memories, we also have those other times in our school lives that we wish to forget but somehow can't!  Who knows, maybe they traumatize us too much?  

Being that junior high school isn't as far back as elementary school, it's easier to remember details.  A few days ago I reconnected with a friend from junior high and we talked about things that had happened back then, I guess me having the memory that I have, I remember things to great detail and keep them in my head for just such an occasion.  

I can go on and on about all these wonderful memories and also about the not so wonderful times too, but what this is going to be about those "crushes" that we have as kids, and yes we were kids at that age even though at the time we didn't see that.  

Having a crush at that age is awesome, but at the same time it's so scary!  You're at that age in junior high school, well at least I was, where you haven't "dated" or had a girlfriend/boyfriend yet, and if you did, it was something that didn't have much substance.  

So onto one of my junior high crushes ... there was a Filipina girl that I thought was pretty, but I don't think I told anyone since I didn't trust that it would stay secret.  This was a friend of my cousin that I had a crush on.  At this age, being the guy who I was, I didn't try to talk to her or anything, I was shyer than I am now!  You gotta give some credit to my cousin who did try to play cupid and tried to "hook us up."  

I remember the lunch room being segregated with the boys and girls not being able to sit together.  There I was with all my friends, trying to be "cool" and my cousin comes over and calls me over to their table.  This was definitely uncharted waters for me, talking a walk to the girls side of the lunch room and being out in the open like this without any of your friends around.  It's still plain as day for me where I stood there at the end of the lunch table as my cousin takes a seat leaving me standing all by myself.  It felt as if all eyes were on me and I knew that all the girls at her table were looking at me.  There would have been a difference if these girls at her table weren't in all of my classes and were just girls that I pass in the hall from time to time, but these were the girls that I had class with, so I see them for those seven to eight hours a day!  

This felt and seems like a Wonder Year episode as I'm typing this.  

My cousin introduced me to her friend, it was the girl who I had a crush on and apparently she had a crush on me too.  Yeah I was quite the hot stud back then in my prime, but that time has since passed.  As we were introduced, a sudden feeling of deer syndrome came over me.  I stood there, no words were said, I just remember her face as she looked at me and smiled as we were being introduced.  Unfamiliar territory with no protection ... I did the only reasonable thing when you're introduced to someone who likes you in the middle of the female section of the lunch room.  

I walked back to my table where my friends were.  

There I was seeking comfort in the "guy bonding" but apparently everyone was watching and knew what happened, or at least saw me walking away.  So that was the topic of discussion for the next thirty minutes.  I can't remember what I was saying, but I can only imagine me talking to my friends and painting a picture of me not being interested in the girl, instead of me acting like a deer in headlights.  

Ahhh the wonderful memories of grade school.  There are many more to come as with these chats about the old school brings a flood of things remembered back into my brain.  From the time I bit a girls arm for touching my pencil, to the poop in my pants, the list goes on and on and might be listed here for your enjoyment.

If anyone out there is reading this and is in grad school, do yourself a favor and learn from my mistakes.  Should something like this happen to you, don't just walk away and don't stand there as if the headlights of a car were coming right at you ... but maybe you can try and muster up the courage to say a simple "hi."

+ mon