When I see pictures of myself in middle school, I’m amazed that people considered me a human. Clothes hang off my frail body, making me look even younger than I was. My teeth were a situation in and of themselves. I’m convinced that the only uniting characteristics among them were the bright braces plastered across.

Even worse than my physical awkwardness in middle school was the way my friends and I acted. I’m horribly embarrassed when I look back on it, and I’m shocked that I still have any friends from that time in my life.

What reminded me of all this, you might ask? Well, it all came back to me while I was at work this afternoon…

The middle school lacrosse team practices after school in the yard of the elementary school that I work at. I was minding my own business when out of nowhere two kindergarten boys stop everything and just stand. Their faces looked like the spacecraft from “Men in Black” was landing.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“We’re not doing anything, we’re just looking,” the boys said.

“The one looked at me. We’re in love, I think,” one of the boys added.

Sure enough, the middle school girl’s lacrosse team had arrived to practice. Only instead of put their equipment on the field, which would make sense, they put it in the middle of our basketball court.

Seeing these girls reminded me of all the reasons I am so happy that I’m out of middle school. It also reminded me that I’m happy we didn’t have digital cameras, because the few pictures I have are bad enough.