Awkward

It’s the person looking at a new born baby, the apple in the eyes of others, and realizing that at this moment this child isn’t all that beautiful yet just as someone asks this person which parent he thinks the child looks like. 

It’s the pre-schooler, dimples and curls, who plays alone on the playground for a few minutes before realizing she is all alone then wonders how to fit in to one of the groups laughing and jumping and playing nearby.

It’s the teenage girl, self-conscious and not as confident as she lets others know, whose eyes meet that boy’s eyes briefly then dart away just as quick leaving behind a smile aimed somewhere in his direction. She thought all the drama with other girls her age was tough last year but here and now just wondering if he thinks she is pretty seems to the toughest thing she has ever faced.

It’s the teenage boy, peach fuzz and brimming with bravado that deserts him quickly, who looks at that girl’s eyes until they meet forcing a smile on his face until he looks down at the ground only to peek back up hoping he finds her smiling back. He fumbles with the simplest words like “Hey” while wondering if he has to rely on his words to make her notice him if he will ever get past this point with her.

It’s the person who steps onto a slick floor and loses his balance and falls rump first to the ground and as he begins to get up finds himself hoping no one saw him take this tumble.

It’s the acquaintance who recognizes someone from their past across a crowded room and who readies to meet them and then just as they are about to come face-to-face realizes that the other person has no idea who they are, so they just quietly and quickly duck out of the way.

It’s the person who happens upon a former supervisor and while the two update one another about their lives this person struggles with wishing the other person well because of how they were treated when the work relationship ended.

It’s the person who realizes a split second too late how they should have said something to lift up somebody who really needed it but that the moment is lost forever.

Awkward: when it happens to you, it never really goes away does it?