Then, I found this in another box.
This is a drawing of me in the seventh grade. I was 12 years old and had just gotten glasses. A word of advice to current/future parents out there: get your kid in glasses BEFORE junior high hits, puberty hits, and self-conscious anxiety take over a girl's life. In the seventh grade, I had never felt lower and more down on myself than ever. Entering junior high was tough for me.
But...there was one boy that liked me, and I did not know about it. He drew this picture of me from memory and I managed to find out about it from his cousin, who was a friend. Was I ever kind to this boy? I don't really recall. He was curious about me being a Christian because he did not believe in religion or God or anything so spiritually-based. I was such a good girl - no bad language or bad behavior. Nothing bad at all. I did not know what to do about getting this picture and processing the feelings that came with it. My mom salvaged this picture from me, afraid that I would destroy it. My mom was a smart cookie, because a 12 year old that hates her glasses could wreck this piece of homemade ephemera.
Finding this picture made me empathize with my oldest child, Darby. She is in the seventh grade now. Does she feel as down about herself as I did that year? Is there some boy drawing her picture from memory that she does not know about? Will she regret her hairstyle, like I regret my very 80s hair in this drawing? I hope my daughter feels more confident at 12 than I did. I hope she can recognize the honor of having a boy like her, because I do not think I recognized it very well. Maybe it was because he did not believe in God - that was a definite turn-off in my books back then as well as now.
My husband has been teasing me about this picture for a couple of days now. I would like to point out: no one drew him when he was 12.
That's kind of awesome...and creepy.
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