The other day I was “tagged” in a couple of photos from my childhood and I was amazed by the lack of memories that they inspired.
This first one is from a party that a “friend” had where the theme was “dress up like a grown-up/your mom.”
I’m the one in the front that looks like a crazy beauty queen.
The only thing that I thought about this photo was, “man I wish my mom still had that dress.” Other than that, I had no warm thoughts — nothing that inspired any sort of “aw” reaction. But I remember taking that picture and having to sit on that girl’s lap. At one point we were the best of friends. At this point we were not. And it was awkward.
The next picture, from some pool party that I have no real memory of, has been haunting me for the last few days….
I’m the one with the bangs on the far left.
I have no memory of this day except for the fact that I was terrified that I would be one of the unfortunate nerds to get pushed in the pool by one of the popular kids.
As it was posted on Facebook most all of the kids in the picture have been “tagged” and, as you can imagine, there have been a lot of comments. My favorite one was from a guy that I actually remember very well as being a nice kid, (in fact, he’s the only non-white or asian kid in this photo) he said, “this looks like we got kidnapped and this is a “proof of life” picture. all of us except nicole, megan and jackie look like POWs.” Which is was dead-balls-on hilariously true.
The thing that’s been bugging me is that there is now a continuous dialog, in the comments of this photo, about memories from this particular 4th grade class. Schoolmate after schoolmate are posting funny memories and good times of which I have either NO memory of or I had totally forgotten about them until they mentioned it. How do they remember all these things when I can’t even remember even being in this particular class!???
I honestly think I’ve purposely blocked those memories. Going to this school was awful for me. I cried every morning as I put on that itchy uniform. I had been pulled out of a school that I was happy attending and put into this school in the 3rd grade. I think my parents thought that I would have no trouble adapting as all the neighborhood kids went to this school — instant friends! When in fact, becoming friends with me was equal to committing social suicide as, once we were all in a school setting together, it was easy to see that I was VERY different from all of them. So all the neighborhood girls that I used to be friends completely ignored me as a schoolmate. And that was how my life as a nerd became solidified.
So, all because I had been “tagged” in these damn photos just made me realize that I can’t think of ONE good memory from these times. And although that really bugs me, I’m just glad I survived to become the girl I am today. And let me just say that being an adult nerd is a MILLION times better than being a young nerd.
