We’ve all had at least one major embarrassing moment at some point in our lives, but I, on the other hand, embarrass myself a lot. They may not be huge embarrassing moments, but they happen on the daily. However, I went through a phase of really embarrassing moments around my middle school years, so get ready for a little storytime. 

Let’s take a trip back in time to when I was in 6th grade. I was at a new school, and they always took an annual beginning-of-the-year field trip to the roller skating rink. I was petrified because I had never roller skated before, and I was surrounded by people I hardly knew. There I was, one of the oldest out of the K-8 school, clinging to the side of the rink, making my way around at a snail’s pace. To make matters worse, the little first and second graders who had experience were zooming past me all by themselves doing turns and tricks. As I was rounding a corner, I came up to the boys in my class who were huddled in a little group at the side of the rink. The problem was, they were blocking the edge where I needed to hold onto to keep my balance. I wasn’t about to say “excuse me” to all of them, looking dumb while clinging to the side for dear life. I thought, “I can do this, it’s only a few steps by myself.” I let go, started taking a few steps, and it went well until a little kid almost ran into me. I started leaning back, but one of my feet slipped. I tried to catch myself by putting my other foot down, but that one slipped too! There I was skating in place with my arms flailing, not going anywhere until I fell HARD on my tailbone. All the boys turned around at the thud, and all I heard was “Oohh.” I dragged myself back up trying not to cry at both the pain and embarrassment. The rest of the day went okay as I got more comfortable, but I will never forget that traumatic event. 

Fast forward about a year to 7th grade where my class was practicing for our field day. We were being tested on how fast we could sprint different track distances in order to be placed with fair competition for the real race. I was wearing new slip-on tennis shoes that were slightly too big for me, but being a super competitive person, I wasn’t going to let that stop me from getting a good time. I lined up with my practice partner, and my teacher blew the whistle. We took off, and I was doing great for about three quarters of the sprint. I could feel the backs of my feet starting to slip out of my shoes but kept running anyway. As I neared the last five yards, I gave it all I had, but one of my shoes flew off and to the side a few feet away as I finished with one shoe. I could hear everyone back at the starting line explode in laughter, even my teacher! All I could do was laugh it off while picking up my run-away shoe (no pun intended).

This last one is a bit similar to my last story. I was running again at the real field day in 8th grade, but don’t worry I was wearing shoes that actually fit me this time. I was paired with two other boys to compete against and was determined to win. I took off from the starting line and was winning until the boy in the next lane started coming into my lane! He accidentally stepped on the back of my shoe which made me trip. If you’ve ever fallen before, you know that sometimes it feels like you’re in slow motion. I started to fall forward, but in the process of falling I was still running, which made me run basically with my upper body parallel to the ground. I took about five steps (which felt like a hundred) in this awkward position with my face inches from the grass, before breaking my fall with my hand and getting back up as fast as I could. I don’t think other people saw that he tripped me, so it looked like I clumsily fell on my own. Not holding a grudge or anything against him for causing me to lose. 

Anyway, I hope these stories brought a little smile to your face because sometimes we have to learn to laugh off our embarrassing moments no matter how much we feel like crawling into a hole.