New Favorite Song/Least Favorite Memory

Anyone who has ever been a teenager (and I think that is most of us) will LOVE this song. Does anybody remember thinking that they weren't going to survive the heartache and stress of it all? I think I had this thought at least four times a day for most of my adolescence. It's time for me to share another embarrassing moment with my blog world ... a story that I have shared with very few people in my life.

Let's see, where to begin. It was in our OLD house on Glade, so I must have been about 14 years old when this tragedy took place. I was sitting in the front yard ... WITH A BOY! I hadn't peaked in my ugliness as of yet, and I did have a few little friends that were boys who thought I actually resembled Farrah. So it was a nice afternoon and Mark Latham came over for a "flirtvisit". Of course I couldn't give him too much flirt back since David Richards had claim on me since I was knee high to a grasshopper. But I was young so I was leaving my options open and enjoying the attention and the occasional flirtvisit.

So there we were, sitting out on the front lawn, probably talking about music or something equally as intense when I saw our mutt "Buster" come out to join us. He had something in his mouth that he was trying to devour and was flaunting it with pride. As he got closer, we became more curious as to what he had found. It looked as if he may have actually caught an animal for dinner ... gross! It didn't take too much longer before I realized how gross it really was. Buster was chewing on, and by now completely dismembering, a bloody Kotex pad.

Let's all say it together ...

OH MY GOSH!

So here I was ... fourteen-years-old, sitting on the front lawn with a cute boy, and my dog gnawing on a used sanitary napkin.

I had a choice, but the choice didn't even occur to me until I was a mature adult. I could have played dumb, giggled a lot and ignored the entire incident, OR I could tackle the dog and strip him of every last piece of that nasty trash in a very unladylike fashion. So as I mentioned, the first choice didn't even cross my mind as I leaped for the dog and began my ferocious wrestling match with Buster and his teeth. As I recall, I left no piece unclaimed. I had removed the evidence that I was actually a girl from the family pet ... and it was now in my hand ... with the boy still nearby.

To be completely honest, I don't remember anything after that. Why would I want to? Why do I even have to remember the first part?!!! I guess I have to remember it to prove to myself that I have grown up. If something like this were to happen again, surely I would react differently and be able to walk away with my chin held high, instead of grass stained. I shared this story with my class of 16 & 17 year old girls at church a few years ago, hoping to help them retain their own dignity as their own times of crises would occur. They laughed. Hopefully that's what we all learn to do as we remember the pain and tragedy of our histories .... just laugh.

After all, these were nowhere near the best years of our lives. Please go listen to this song. I dedicate it to everyone who ever was or still is a teenager.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fqtbMHfpXY