Graceful Parenting in Austin

(Blue Eyes and Noel are still blogging for me, but I managed to get in a post myself today.)

I like Facebook for the random things that happen. I don’t get sucked in like some and I don’t pass around little green patches or knight duels or pretend presents. I have a basic profile, I search for people now and then and I like to see who comes around. Rebecca came around today and she made me smile.

In the ninth grade I was best friends with Frances. We played tennis, had sleep overs, watched General Hospital and both had a crush on Greg Harrison. My parents said I couldn’t have a gerbil, so Frances gave me one for my birthday and we named it G.H. because our two favorite things, General Hospital and Greg Harrison, both had the initials G.H. There were a group of girls that we hung around with and Rebecca was one of them.

In the tenth grade, things started to change. Our High School had a ninth grade building, which made it feel more like middle school, but when you moved to the big building, with the tenth-twelfth grades, things got more serious and the sorting out between the popular and unpopular became more severe and it didn’t go well for me.

I was awkward. I dressed funny. I doubted myself pretty much all the time. I had a lot of ideas in my head, but they stayed all bottled up inside, as if they were in a different language than the one spoken in my High School, so no one would understand them anyway.

I remember the day in the tenth grade when I knew for sure I was in trouble. Frances didn’t like her history teacher, so she requested a transfer into my class. On her first day in my class, she checked in with the teacher, then turned around to see two empty seats, one next to Jennifer, who was popular, and one next to me, her best friend. And Frances chose the seat next to Jennifer. That sucked.

When I was in eleventh grade, my parents took a trip. They knew I had been friends with Rebecca and they knew her parents from church so I was going to stay at Rebecca’s house. My parents didn’t know that Rebecca was popular and captain of the drill team and had tons of friends and I was not popular and we did not hang out anymore. It was so awkward showing up at her house. I felt like a stray cat looking for shelter.

Rebecca could have acted like Frances and distanced herself from me and made me feel even more like a dork. But she didn’t. She was nice. I don’t remember much about what we did, just that she was nice. We didn’t end up best friends or anything, but I still remember that week, when I felt a little less like a dork.

Without Facebook, I wouldn’t have had a chance to say thanks to Rebecca. So, thanks Rebecca and thanks Facebook and thanks to life for cool little random things that happen.