Just get the corndog!

We all get embarrassed, that’s normal. Like I get embarrassed when I drop something at the store and everyone turns and looks at me, or when I stupidly turn the wrong way on a one-way street and cars are staring as I try to turn around. But I must have forgotten that when you’re a young teenager, everything is embarrassing! Dumb stuff that wouldn’t even cross mind to be embarrassing.

Like yesterday my middle daughter comes home at lunch just “starving!” I asked why she didn’t get a snack at the commons area and she went on and on about how she wanted to because they were serving pancake and sausage corndogs and how yummy they are but she just didn’t. When I asked why, her response was that since her buddy was homesick, there was no way she was going to get a corndog alone! WHAT?? To me, that was like saying, I wanted to eat lunch today because I was really hungry but I didn’t have anyone to eat with so I just didn’t have lunch. Duh! I’m sure my look of confusion and disgust irritated her but for Pete’s sakes, if you’re hungry, go get the dang corndog! I responded back to her asking, “Who cares if you’re by yourself? Just eat!” She was appalled and said, “MOM, there was no way I was go walkin’ down the hall, by myself, eatin’ on a corndog.”

Well, heaven forbid! We wouldn’t anyone to see you walking alone with a corndog. Can you imagine the gossip and rumors that would spread like wildfire? What weirdo would go buy a delicious breakfast corndog, anyway, let alone, walk down the hallways of the school, by HERSELF?? I would rather go hungry then be caught dead eating a corndog solo. Geesh!

Anyway, it just seems like it’s a weekly occurrence that something totally ridiculous embarrasses her. If I pull up to pick her up and the song in my truck is too loud, she rolls her eyes and gives me the look of “oh my gosh, mom.” Or if she misses a random layup in her JV basketball game, she’s pretty sure the entire crowd locks that in their memory bank and weeks later are still discussing her missed layup over their morning. No matter how many times I try and tell her that 90% of the crowd will leave and forget what the score 20 minutes later, she’s still kicking herself days afterward for that dumb missed basket. Or the time in softball where she sprained her ankle but was too embarrassed to ask the coaches to tape it for her, nonetheless show up in a brace. How embarrassing!! So she would have rather practiced and played on it injured, then have to ask for help or wear a protective brace. That makes seriously no sense to me! I had to threaten her on that one. Brace or tape or I’m putting you in a walking boot. Apparently the thought of lugging around a big, black walking boot scared her enough to find the courage to ask to have it taped.

I know she’ll grow out of this craziness as she gets older and more confident but holy moly, right now it’s mindboggling! And I truly never know what it might be that she sees as humiliating. Things I wouldn’t think twice about, oh ya know, like hunger and pain….. But apparently I have no clue. So anyway, I just do the best I can to try and understand. I figure if she’s hungry enough, she’ll put aside the fears of being teased and just go get the darn corndog! I know I would!