Anyway, when I was 10, I was in 5th grade and still new to my Elementary school. See how pale I am in that picture (or any other of my pictures)? My whole town is 98% Hispanic. I was surrounded by beautiful olive-skinned dark-haired girls. Add that to the normal weirdness that comes with being a tween, and I was pretty much an alien.
I had no friends. Wait, yes I did. They were so cool. They were well spoken. Even better, they spent all of their time with me. For example, Rosemary. She was awesome. See her here:
Oh, yeah. You got it. I was that girl who considered the characters in her books her best friends. Dead serious. (Don't worry, mom, you were my only real-life friend).
Before you feel sorry for me, wait! My school had a special competition for people like me. I got to enter a contest called Accelerated Reader (please tell me you remember this). We got points for reading books and taking quizzes. Now, reading had more of a purpose. I had a mission. Get more points. Because at the end of the year, they were going to give away a prize. I didn't know what it was, but maybe it would make me cool. Or give me real friends.
You guessed it. I won. I set the record for the highest points ever made in the Elementary school. Yes, now you may feel pity. It did not give me friends. In fact, in 6th and 7th grade, I had kids coming up to me saying, "Hey, aren't you that girl who won that weird book contest?!" Oh, shame.
The worse thing about all of this is the prize. Are you ready? For being the best reader, the most secluded person, the biggest nerd, they gave me...
A Bike.
That's right. They might as well have hung a banner behind it saying, "Get a life!"
You want to know something? I still have that bike. It was an adult sized bike, because I guess they have some big 5th graders and they wanted to let us grow into it. The bike is still usable. It's not really worn out yet, well, because I still read more than anything else.
Maybe I still need to get a life.
Hahaha! At least you got a prize - congrats!
ReplyDeletePS - you SO were not the only "awkward" one at that age. My husband tells me all the time that I get better with age - I've definitely grown into my beauty over the years!
Oh man, this post is awesome! I mean because I'm pretty sure all of us had that awkward stage! Too funny that the prize was a bike...not really fitting for the contest but at least you have never had to buy one yourself :)
ReplyDeletehey A BIKE IS AWESOME! :) oh my gosh I was so weird and awkward at that age! My hair and clothes were weird. Oh Middle School! ha
ReplyDeleteYou just had to make us go back and relive our awkward childhood years, huh? :) My stepson does AR. I have heard reading makes you smarter. Anyways, love your post. So funny.
ReplyDeletewe all had awkward stages!! ha!!!
ReplyDeleteaiken, sc is about 25 min from here...i went to USC-Aiken =)
small world!!
you crack me up...i have no life either...but instead of reading...I'm BAKING....come on over:)
ReplyDeletefrom one book worm to another... this makes me so happy!!! :):):)
ReplyDeletei was the weird one who read, too. i still love to read; hopefully, i'm not still weird. ha!
ReplyDeleteAs long as your not reading while riding, your good to go. I love to read so I don't judge. ;)
ReplyDeleteoh sarah, you are too funny! I was definitely awkward as well- i think we all were! that's amazing that you still have that bike!
ReplyDeleteHA HA! The prize is so funny!
ReplyDeleteI was 12 when I moved from NY to San Antonio. And I was awkward! I was like you, I kept my nose in a book most of the time :-)
I guess everybody goes through an awkward stage in life. But you have got to be the bravest I knew who was able to talk about it! Enjoy the glorious day, Kellie xx
ReplyDeleteLOl x
ReplyDeleteOh the days of Accelerated Reader!! Grr...I look back on that with such distaste now, though! We never got cool prizes like bikes. ha! And awkwardness was my middle name from 5th grade through probably at least the middle of 7th or beginning of 8th. Thanks for the reminder. ;) Just kidding! Such precious, stress-free days, though!
ReplyDeleteHaha love this post! I dealt with the transition from straight to curly hair too - though only after a few years of the 'bad perm' phase. Too much gel = crusty hair. Thank goodness there are better options for us now!!
ReplyDeleteEveryone has an awkward stage for sure...I remember mine all to well. About the straight to curly thing---I'm going through that now! After GG was born my once stick straight hair began to curl and hasn't stopped since (16 months later). My flat iron has become my best friend!
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed this post, then again I enjoy them all!
That's a great story. But, you really don't look that awkward to me in that photo. You look like a cute girl on the cusp of growing up! I always look back at photos of myself at that same age thinking OMG, I felt so ugly, so awkward... and then I'm like, wow, I was a little cutie. How did I see myself so harshly then??
ReplyDeleteLike you, though, I went through a lonely phase at that same age. Thank God for books, right? And it just made being a teenager more bearable, since I was so thrilled to have good real-life friends by then. :p
This is such a sweet post! I actually won a Journalism prize in Highschool too, everybody thought it was soooo lame that I participated... until they found out I won 500$!! I was pretty proud of myself haha.
ReplyDeletexoxo
That's an awesome prize for winning the AR contest!!
ReplyDeletePS my hair went from straight to curly in my adolescence .... it was lots of fun :(