Embarrassing Moments
As you can see from the photo above, I wasn’t the coolest kid on the block in elementary school. And that photo is really me at my best. Sans huge glasses.
I only had a few friends in elementary school – yeah, my friend group was small. And I was made fun of a lot. I’ve alluded to some of the bullying I went through in my younger days, and I won’t go into all that here, but needless to say, I was tormented.
I also had a propensity for doing a lot of embarrassing things. Heck, I still have a propensity for doing embarrassing things. 99% of the time I’m ignorant to the fact that said embarrassing moment is even happening.
I feel like everyone has that one embarrassing moment that happened to them as a kid that will stay with them forever. And I’m going to tell you about that moment.
It was 5th grade. I was in Mrs. Fleming’s class and we were going on a field trip to the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. So, since we were going on a field trip to such a fancy place, we all had to dress up.
I didn’t have the nicest clothes or anything and I was a tomboy so dressing up was not my thing. And I hadn’t worn stockings or tights in forever.
I was wearing a velvet skirt, a white blouse, black shoes, and black stockings. We were at school getting ready to load the bus to the Kennedy Center and our teacher encouraged us to go to the bathroom. Me, having had bad luck with not going to the bathroom before field trips before, hurried my tush over to the ladies room.
I went, did my business, and went about my merry way and loaded the bus.
30 minutes later, we arrived at the Kennedy Center, we got off, we began doing the whole tour thing, and whatnot. Now, while all this had been going on, I heard a whole lot of snickering behind me. Probably for a good, I don’t know, hour or two. But, again, snickering in my presence was not uncommon.
After watching whatever highfalutin’ show we were there to see, we headed to a nearby park for lunch.
I remember sitting alone at a picnic table munching on my PB&J and Dunkaroos looking over at the table of cool kids wishing I could eat with them. I quickly brushed off the feelings and had to go to the bathroom. So I got up and headed over to the building where the facilities were located, walked into the bathroom, passed the mirror on my way to the stall, caught a glimpse of myself, and did a double take. I stopped in my tracks.
Suddenly I realized why they’d been snickering for the last five hours.
My velvet skirt was tucked into the back of my K-mart stockings revealing my Marvin the Martian underwear for all the world to see.
I fell to the ground. I was so embarrassed. Suddenly my brain was going over all the scenarios I had been in over the last five hours and I was quickly losing count as to the amount of people that saw my underwear.
I cried. Hard. And then I just got mad. Why did NO ONE bring this to my attention? Not even a teacher?!?!?!
I didn’t want to leave the bathroom. I wanted to stay in there forever. Quickly, I gathered myself together and walked out to more and more snickers – my classmates now realizing that I’d realized what had happened. I made some joke, I don’t even really remember what it was, but humor was (and still is) my defense mechanism of choice.
I remember getting home that night and telling my mom and dad about it and then asking to get transferred to another school. They denied my request, behind their own chuckles, naturally.
The truth is, to this day, whenever I’m wearing stockings / tights whatever, I ALWAYS check to make sure my skirt isn’t tucked into the back. I’m paranoid. Scarred for life.
What about you? Have you ever experienced an embarrassing moment that will stay with you forever?
The same thing happened to me in third grade. We went to the capitol building in Lincoln and I was mortified! Lucky for me I changed schools again the next year, so I only had to endure the teases and nicknames for the rest of the school year. Now I always check multiple times before leaving the bathroom.
aww 🙁 that’s so sad!! but i guess those childhood moments just make us who we are <3
They definitely do! Now we are strong, confident, compassionate women! (Who always check their dresses before leaving the bathroom 🙂
haha AMEN to that, chelsea!!
Seniour year of high school I was going up the steps to where all the busses are waiting when school gets out and it was snowy outside. Well, at the top of the stops i fell, my books and folders flying EVERYWHERE. I was a nerd, and seriously NOBODY was helping me pick anything up or even helping me up, even though there were hundreds of people out there. Finally someone helps me up and it turns out it is the class president/quarterback of the football team. I was mortified! But he was super nice and helped me pick everything up. Ill never forget it! Now he is a news anchor on nbc in denver! And still super nice.
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aw sarah! 🙁 🙁 🙁 that’s so sad! that’s great that someone came to your rescue and he was a good guy!! 🙂
Oh, I so remember the humiliation that comes along with being a kid sometimes! I can’t think of anything specific but if I do I’ll post about it – it’s a good idea for a post! 🙂
amen to that!! 🙂 i hope you write it cause i’d love to read it!
I think my brain blocks out the super embarrassing things that I have done but I do remember going for a walk in the neighborhood with my friend when we were lilke 9 or 10 years old. I had to pee really bad and my friend was taking a long time to walk (stalling perhaps ?). We were on the street where a really cute, popular boy lived and she started saying something that made me laugh so hard I peed my pants, right there on the street 🙁
oh no!!! that’s so sad!!! i know things like that have happened to all of us. they make us tougher people, right?
Ohhhh girl! You are definitely not alone here! I was bullied really bad too – isn’t it awful?!! It gives me suh a soft spot in my heart for kids now! I actually almost beat the crap out of some kid (exaggerating, but I have him an earful) at the movies harassing another kid.
Anyway, the skirt thing actually happened to me a couple of months ago when I was in NYC with my hubby and parents. So don’t worry, it happens to us all. But how crappy that nobody told you!!!! Once I peed my pants in 2nd grade. I couldn’t help it, I don’t even know what happened but it was a lot. And my teacher made me move my seat and nobody wanted to sit next to me. It was awful.
oh it was the WORST! but honestly it’s given me thicker skin over the years. and oh my goodness i’m so sorry that happened to you in the 2nd grade!! it may have been the 2nd grade but those things stick with us!!
Oh Molly, you were so super adorable as a kid! I’m so sorry that you had to go through bullying as a child. I think it is so wonderful that you can talk about it now. I hate to laugh, but that story made me giggle, well…that is until I read your reaction. That must have been just so terrible to go through. I’m sure I’ve gone through horribly embarrassing things in my life, but for some reason, I just can’t think of them right now. I probably blocked them from my memory! 🙂
xo Jenny
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aw thank you so much, jenny! it’s totally okay to laugh about it now!! it was horrible at the time but hilarious now! haha it happens to us all at some point! it’s part of growing up 🙂
I had to laugh at your embarrassing moment, but only because it was the one that I was going to use. My dad wouldn’t let me wear shorts or skirts in middle school without stockings because of scars on my leg. I walked out of the bathroom with my skirt tucked in, but lucky it didn’t take that long for a friend to bring it to my attention. I would have to say the worst moment would have to be the seventh grade. I, too, was low on the friendship scale and often tormented by the popular kids. We were playing some stupid game in class and had to do what we were dared to do. They made me sing some song (a dirty kind of song like Do Me Baby or something like that) Truth be told, the exact song eludes me, but they made me sing it to someone who was considerably lower on the totem poll than me. Those are just two of many and I still do embarrassing things today that do not dawn on me until way after I’ve gotten home and have a chance to sit back and think.
oh no!! i can’t believe they made you sing that song!! i swear – kids are the WORST. so mean!! but hey – at least they’ve made us stronger people. right??
Kids are the worst, but unfortunately the older that I get and the more people I meet I begin to realize that they really do live by example. That in which doesn’t break us, does indeed make us stronger. At least I try to believe that.
amen amen and amen!!
I had my pants pulled down as a joke while I was talking to my math teacher in 7th grade (apparently track pants made me a super easy target). In the front of the classroom. Worst part? Wearing a thong. Yepppp. I had to stay after class with the guy who did it and sit there while he got lectured. Mortifying.
oh no!!!!!! so embarrassing!! i am so sorry that happened, lauren! oh middle school.
Well, getting a blood blister on my index finger during the first service of my first Sunday on stage at Newhope’s main campus last year was pretty embarrassing. Not sure if you ever found out about that mishap of mine, but playing with that blister was painful (and took weeks to heal). Also, my wireless battery died right in the middle of the third service (during Stronger, if I remember correctly) because I forgot to turn it off between song sets. However, I somehow managed to play all that off (pun not intended).
By far, one of the most embarrassing days of my life happened a couple years ago when I was playing in the praise team for the church I used to attend in Lynchburg. So much went wrong. First off, the place in the guitar rack where I’d put my bass was occupied by some random acoustic guitar that I’d never seen before. I whined to my friend Susan about it, telling her it was some kind of omen, but she ignored my lament and told me things would be okay. During the song that I had to lead, the worship leader forgot to give me his microphone since there weren’t enough to go around. One of the vocalists tried to give me his wireless mic, but it wouldn’t fit in my mic stand, so the drummer had to get up and give me the worship leader’s mic and stand. After the congregation got a nice two minute intro for Be Unto Your Name, I started singing and sang the song the wrong way (thankfully, the congregation didn’t notice). It only took a few seconds to realize what I did wrong and fix it, but they felt like an eternity. For the offertory, we played I Will Rise and I sneezed into my left sleeve right as I was supposed to start playing. Thank God I was wearing long sleeves because there was a ridiculous amount of snot on my arm. All I could do was wipe it off (on one of my best pairs of dress pants) and start playing.
After that was done, the praise team sat down so that the worship leader could lead the hymns (which were done with piano and organ. Right in the middle of the first song, my bass (which I had to lean against my amp since the rack was full) crashed to the ground with a loud bang. As the worship pastor looked back at my fallen bass for a split second, everyone sitting around me (including my friends) laughed and looked at me. I covered my face with my hands out of shame and embarrassment and I almost cried, especially since I remembered at that very moment that the audio for the service was being recorded and the mics probably picked that up.
The rest of the service went off without a hitch, but the icing on the cake came after the service was over. I walked up to my still fallen bass (which, thankfully, wasn’t broken) and dusted it off with my hand. Then, I looked over to see Susan’s husband, Tony, walk up from the pews and pick up the mystery guitar from the rack. Overcome with emotion, I exclaimed, “That was YOUR GUITAR!!!” Tony explained that it belonged to his uncle and he put it there for safe keeping, but I couldn’t hear his explanation or myself subsequently ranting to him about how it was the source of all my problems that day because all I could hear was the sound of Susan laughing at the whole thing.
I doubt that anyone else remembers that day, but I sure do. Haha. It still makes me embarrassed to think about it. Anyway, moments like mine and the one you described are never fun to experience, but it’s always amazing to see how God uses situations like those to grow us and prepare us for what He has in store for us down the road.
hahahaa oh my gosh i hate to laugh but that is so funny – especially the sneezing part! and you’re so right – God uses those moments in the strangest of ways , but something ALWAYS comes out of it!! thanks for sharing, jason!!
OMG I’m cracking up! I too was a tomboy and had to dress up for 5th grade pictures. My humiliation begins when I remember the DENIM MAXI DRESS that I wore (slim fit naturally) and continues when I was horsing around and the seam up the back split…up to my back. It is complete when I had to sit around and wait for my mom to bring me something because she was out shopping. Bahahaha memories. I also use humor to deflect but I remember being sooooo pissed that I’d even had to wear the dress and missed recess and everyone was making fun of me because I couldn’t “be a girl”. Wow. Thanks for making it all fresh again Molly! Now I only wear dresses 🙂 Do you think its connected?!
oh hannah!! that is both hilarious and so sad, too!! it turns out a lot of us have those memories as a child. it’s probably connected!!
That is one of my biggest fears!! I once walked around with a large line of toilet paper stuck to my shoe. I always check now when I leave a restroom to ensure this never happens again.
oh that’s the worst!! that’s happened to me too 🙁 🙁
I love how, at such a young age, you OWNED it. That is SO awesome 🙂
I too was constantly teased at my school – first my first name is Justiss so at pledge time all eyes were on me during the “… and justice for all” part of the pledge. My maiden name was Armstrong, and that got a laugh too. Oh, my hair??? Did I mention, 80’s style afro on a white girl with a mom with bone straight hair who just braided it in crazy braids because she just couldn’t figure it out.
I remember seeing pictures of Farrah Fawcet and the Mandrell sisters, even Cindi Lauper and Madonna all had kind BIG or Different hair, so one day I wore my hair curly and down to school. Without all the great products they have today for curly hair, but the end of the day my hair looked like sponge bob square pants, was knotted and big and frizzy. I was made fun of until I was, oh, wait… I still get made fun of hahahaha. But, like you I owned it. I feel like it is who I am and it has made me who I am. I know women (AND some men) who pay a lot of money to have bounce and curl like me… I also love my first name, it’s unique and it suits me now.
Thanks for letting me share. And that is totally the CUTEST picture of you!!!
thank you so much, justiss!! i’m so sorry you went through a lot of that same bullying as a child – but you’re so right – it made us who we are!! own it!