My life consists of TOO many embarrassing moments, but for the sake of my sanity, I try to forget most of those events. However, there are some that every-so-often pop into my mind, and just the thought of them manages to humble me. To give you a sense of some of the bone-chilling, embarrassing moments I’ve experienced in my life, I’ll share only a few in an effort to preserve some of my dignity.
Most recently, on one of those rare days that my sister, Nelly, and I are on time for school, we arrived at the crosswalk all decked out in our sleepwear. We were dropped off, feeling great wearing our comfy pajamas. As we crossed the street we noticed the crosswalk aid smiling, rather amused.
At that moment Nelly turned to look at me and asked, “Are you sure today was pajama day?”
“I think so. I’m pretty sure,” I unconvincingly responded.
We started to look around. We noticed that nobody was wearing pajamas. I thought: maybe nobody wanted to dress up. That didn’t make sense since the weather was perfect for pajamas. I checked the school’s instagram to be sure. WE HAD DRESSED UP ON THE WRONG DAY!!
As if it wasn’t embarrassing enough, someone we know happened to be crossing the street at that exact moment (I wanted to find a hole and jump into it at that point). We tried to hide behind a tree that clearly wouldn’t hide us. The craziest part is that I always tell Nelly: “If you dress up for a dress-up day and nobody dresses up, it’s okay. You were just one of the few who wanted to participate. The bad thing would be to dress up on the wrong day.” Well, that bad thing had definitely happened. I still shudder at the thought. But don’t worry, dear reader. We dragged ourselves and our last shreds of dignity back home to change into normal clothes.
A not-so-recent embarrassing story is one from a trip to the orthodontist. At some point, after daydreaming, as one does when you’ve been sitting in a chair for an extended period of time, the dental assistant finally came by. After getting his equipment ready, and the usual small talk that takes place, he asked me to bite down, and so I did. Now, it could just be my knack for getting myself into the worst possible situations, or genuine mistakes that as humans we have no control over, but as I bit down, I knew something was not right. And sure enough, my guess was correct, as I must have bitten down too early and was now biting into his finger. All that was left to do was blink into each other’s eyes as we both realized the atrocity that had occurred, and for me to unlodge my teeth from his finger of course. Talk about embarrassing!
In all sincerity, I never thought that I’d faint in my life. It was only something I had ever seen in movies or read about in books. But as you may have guessed by now, if it’s embarrassing, it’s bound to happen to me. On May 25, 2022, a day before my birthday, I was feeling sick and didn’t go to school because a COVID- 19 test was required. My dad took me to get a test at the district office. Before leaving to get tested, I was going to take a shower and put on some fresh clothes because I was feeling really dizzy and hot. However, I opted against it, wanting to get everything done as quickly as possible. But the summer sun is unforgiving, especially at noon when you’re wearing warm pajamas. To make matters worse, there was a line of people waiting to get tested.
By the time we reached the front of the line I was feeling about ten times worse and entirely too overwhelmed by the heat. I mumbled, “Can I sit down?” The lady asked me what I had just said. Once again, I made an effort to say that I needed a seat because I wasn’t feeling well. But before I could finish what I was saying, I fell to the ground. It is hard to explain what it felt like, but in short, I just felt my body go limp. I was conscious that I was on my way to the ground, but I had no real control over my body. Then, everything just went black. The next thing I remember is feeling really refreshed after blacking out. Everyone was surrounding me asking if I was okay. A tear rolled down my face from the shock, but I was indeed okay. I think what took me by surprise was the commotion. People were even suggesting that I had a seizure! But the spectacle wasn’t over yet, because someone had already called an ambulance. After that, all I can remember is feeling hazy in the hospital for an outrageous three hours only to be told that I overheated. Since fainting that day, there is something I know for sure: it is embarrassing. Not just because I collapsed to the ground, but because my siblings still tease me about it to this day.
I could go on about embarrassing moments in my life (trust me, I have plenty), but I’ll stop there. Although, I’ll say this much: none of them haunt me quite as much as the ones that I share through embarrassing encounters with others. The thought of someone else standing witness to moments I would rather forget keeps me up at night. But as my sister says: bad moments always make the best stories to tell.
