Something happen this morning at mini-me's school that made me relive an "episode" that happened to me about 20 years ago and it is still so fresh in my mind.
Let me start by telling you a little background on this issue. When I was growing up, back in the days that are FINALLY over, my mom was one of those moms who had no clue. None.What.So.Ever. It wasn't her fault. She didn't have the model childhood to follow, but she tried to raise me and my brother the best way she knew how. She didn't care what the other moms thought and would voice that opinion any time, any place, and I do mean any place. I was one of the kids who tried painfully hard to fit in. I never really made it into the "in" crowd until well after high school and that was only because I knew where to get all of the good drugs. Growing up, I was not pretty, I was not a cheerleader, I did not play sports, I was not skinny, I didn't have all the cool clothes, and I shared my brother's friends. I was painfully shy and was pretty much a loner in Junior High. In the front of my Junior High, there was a huge oak tree that grew up out of the parking lot in front of the school. Under this tree, every morning, gathered the "cool" kids to talk about the events of the day, make plans for the weekend, discuss boys who were discussing girls and wait for the bell to ring. If you didn't stand under this oak tree, you stood with the band geeks or the kids that smoked cigarettes. I didn't play an instrument and I didn't try smoking until I was well into High School. Basically, I just blended in to try and be "cool".
Every single morning for the entire three years I attend school there, I would tell my mom to please, please drop me off at the sidewalk and I would walk up to the tree. Every single morning, it never happened. My mom would inch her Volvo up closer and closer to that tree and every morning I would inch closer and closer to a panic attack. She finally did it one day. I remember it like I remember the birth of mini-me. My mom pulled her hoopty-ass Volvo right up through the middle of all the cool kids, turns to me and says "Have a nice day!" I wanted to throw myself under her Volvo and let her drive over me. As I am sitting her typing this story out right now, today, my chest is tightening and I've had to put my head between my legs. I made a mental note right then and there to never EVER, ever put my future mini-me through an embarrassing moment like that. One that would scar her for life, one that she would never forget, one that would be burned into her memory like a first kiss.
I am sure that one day, I will totally embarrass her and she will totally freak tha hell out just like I did. When it finally happens, I'm sure that I will laugh and tell her to "Have a nice day!" I am my mom's mini-me.
