7 Things That Happened to Me as a Teen

(El Capitan – See number 5 – I got this picture from mariposa.yosemite.net.)

I was tagged for this meme by Michelle over at Scribbit.  She morphed it from one of those “7 random things about me” memes into the teen thing.  I’ve written plenty of random stuff, so I’ll stick with her morph, as she intended.   So, here we go…7 things that happened to me as a teenager.

1. We finally stopped moving.  This was huge, because prior to 6th grade, we moved pretty much every year (or we might as well have, because even if we stayed in one house, we were put in different schools).  Moving that often taught me to make friends quickly, but it also taught me to think of myself as a wanderer, and not to put down roots.  From ages 12 – 21, I lived in the same house, which taught me that I didn’t really LIKE being a wanderer, about keeping friends over the long term, and how to put down roots.

2. I got my braces off.  Oh god, what a relief THAT was.  I wore my braces longer than anyone else I know (except Michelle and Melissa, and I don’t know them in person) – 5 1/2 years.  Going to get my braces tightened every 3 weeks, every 3 weeks fresh bursts of pain?  Yeah.  That sucked.

3. I realized I wasn’t as smart as I thought I was.  Throughout my elementary and middle school years, things came very easily to me.  I was a good reader and I liked math as well, so I never really FELT like I was learning anything.  I felt like it was all just common sense, and you’d have to be brainless to not get straight As. (An opinion that oddly, I didn’t apply to my friends.  Just to myself.  Odd.)  Freshman year of high school was a HUGE wake up call to me.  Suddenly, with Latin and algebra, much more memorization was required, a skill that has always eluded me.  I mean, it’s BORING.  Plus, the need to work on these things every day, which helps so much with languages and formulas, wasn’t something I was used to with my “isn’t this obvious to everyone?” attitude.  Ouch.

4.  I met one of my ‘best friends’, who I still consider to be a best friend today.  Considering the early life moving every year thing, it’s pretty cool to me that I’m still so close to someone I met 25 years ago.  I’m also close to a ‘best friend’ from just before those teen years, but she and I lost touch with each other for over 20 years, so that one’s more of a reunion.

5. I went to Yosemite – twice.  Senior year of High School.  The first time was just for the day, with the honors club.  The second time was just a month or so later, after graduation, when my best friend from #4 and I went camping with our boyfriends.  I can’t even begin to tell you how fun it was, with the exception of the bear.  We even climbed El Capitan (the sneaky back way, not the face…don’t get TOO impressed.)

6.  I fell in love - a couple of times.  Whoever dismisses ‘young love’ as somehow less painful or less important than love in your 20s or 30s (or beyond) doesn’t remember.  Just because it is immature love, because you’re trying to figure it all out, and you’re not necessarily thinking of marriage and kids, doesn’t mean your heart isn’t fully vested.  So it was great in some ways, and in others, it hurt like hell.

7. I started really thinking about my place in the world.  From maybe 15 – 19, I spent a lot of time reading, watching, and trying to figure out which qualities were important to me, which ones really FIT my ideas of who I was, and who I wanted to be.  And which ones, even though I admired them in others, didn’t mesh with my inner self.  And which ones were qualities that I didn’t admire in anyone, and were to be rejected in my own personality.  I haven’t always stood as close to these ideals as I would have liked, sometimes I lose sight of the qualities I want to claim as my own, but the journey started in my teens.

Now comes the part when I tag 7 people.  You know you all want to play, so if I didn’t tag you, don’t worry, just play along anyway!  I’m tagging…Cherry, ML, Wendy, Dot, Beenzzz, Gina, and Tracy.  Have fun girls!  (Hey, I didn’t tag any guys.  Is that because so many guys don’t really DO memes?  Maybe.)