High School Days

I remember being in high school, I was always different. Honestly, I can think back to middle school it was the same way. I was picked on for not having name brand clothes, for being shy, for not doing what the "popular kids" did. I grew up with both parents in the home, my father went to work every day and watched us get on the bus every morning before he went to work. My mom was home every day when we came home. We may not have had the "name brands' but we had a home, lights, running water, a hot meal every day, food in the pantry, etc. My parents balanced taken care of the home and providing for their three children that lived in the home and one that was grown and continued to come by for food, groceries, and to drop off her children to be watched. I remember being picked on in the hallways and in the classroom especially in middle school. I had what old school would consider a little shape as I began to age.

The peer pressure to fit in was something else. The pressure wasn't as you suppose, no one was in my ear trying to convince me to do anything but to fit in with certain groups there were expectations to do certain things.

I have always been the protector of my sisters even though I'm the middle child. I was the one that didn't talk but I was also the one that would fight when it came to my family and integrity. I wasn't just out there fighting any and everybody, it had to be something truly important to me. I can recall getting in trouble twice during my K-12 years. Once was behind my sister; her boyfriend was being verbally abusive and another time when someone made a comment about my grandmother being their family's slave.

I never realized how much weight I carried on me trying to be the "protector" during my school years. It didn't hit me until I was in my 20's that I was seen as the protector for the entire family, the problem solver, the one everyone would run too.

Can you imagine be all those things to everyone in your family but when you need an ear no one is available. It was like carry a 1000 lbs. on my back and only 20 lbs. belonged to me.

I fast forward to now, granite I do not have children yet, but I think of all that I faced during those years and how technology has grown and how people are much more abrasive. When I was growing up there was the square Nintendo with Super Mario Brothers and if we knew someone with a game system that allowed us to play it that was a bonus.

If we are honest with ourselves children now are raised differently, it's not saying that its wrong but different what I may have been able to take in my personally life another teen may not. As parents to be, or parents we have to learn that now and be flexible and understanding. For me that key thing is to remember how I was treated and strive to treat others so much better.

If I could tell middle school me and high school me anything it would be, never allow other people's perception of you stop your movement. There is more after this! The high school days are not permeant. Continue you to be different, encourage, inspire, and build others. Cherish every moment, don't dwell on the small things, time will pass you by.