Embracing the Inner Weirdo

I have nothing better to do right now than compose a blog post with an insane number of horrifyingly embarrassing pictures. There is certainly no laundry to be washed and no baby clothes to be folded and put away. There aren't dishes overflowing in the sink, nor clean ones in the dishwasher waiting to be unloaded. In fact, there aren't even a bazillion toys strewn on the floor from the kitchen to the living room.

So, whew! Thank goodness for that. . . because these pictures can't wait.

{okay, okay, fine. So maybe there are about forty-five other things I should be doing right now. But I just don't want to. So there.}

. . . . .

Now, before we get crackin', I just want to make it clear that I'm not berating my younger self. I'm not trying to humiliate or degrade myself, either. What I'm really trying to do is lighten the load of everybody who is trying to be perfect and squeegee their past {or present} of anything embarrassing.

I mean, come on. We were all a little weird at least once in our lives, so why try to sweep it under the rug? Can't we look back and laugh instead of cringe and judge? Embrace your inner weirdo, my friends. Embrace that little awkward kid in your family albums. They made you who you are today, after all. ;)

. . .

I started out pretty darn cute in a "Oh, look at that sweet little girl!" kind of way. . .

{I was a fan of corn on the cob, OKAY?}

But to say I was a "late bloomer" is a bit of a massive understatement.

I really can't put it any more delicately than that.

I have two older sisters {referenced to in THIS post in particular}, but my closest sister happens to be 6 years older than me. As you can probably imagine, she really didn't appreciate having a knobby-kneed-uni-browed-tom-boy following her around everywhere as she was growing up. When she was at the age where boys were all the rage, I was still playing with toy dinosaurs and wearing the knees out in all of my jeans.

Both of my sisters rapidly became beautiful boy magnets early in their teenage years while I was hanging out like. . .well, this:



'Nuff said.

I wish I could say it quickly {and magically} got better. . . but, nope.

Not so much.



Yeeeeeah. Definitely not so much. {But don't you be hatin' on my Tweety Bird shirt. . . we both know you're just jealous.}

. . .

The years marched on and I meandered my way through my early youth in stunning socks and sandals. . .

{Remember my post about my violin teacher found HERE? That's her at the piano, in case you were curious. Yay Judy!}

. . . and other miscellaneous accessories.




But don't worry. I made up for my complete lack of social skills and fashion sense by wowing everyone with squeaky violin music at every available opportunity.



{I honestly don't know how I ever found my way out of that massive sweater. I surely could have gotten lost for days.}

Things only got better when my eyeballs finally decided they were degenerates and I added glasses to my ensemble.



Maybe I figured the puppy would help. :)

. . .

I tripped awkwardly into my teenage years and floundered around for many moons:

But let it be said that I could finally be found holding something other than my violin or a poor animal:




{Um, yes. That's a slingshot. And, yeah, I could hit things with it. Like a barn or large trees. And, why, yes. That's a hoodie tied around my neck. . . It was my innovative ammunition-holder. Don't argue.}

As I neared the dissolution of high school, I was asked on my first official date, which also happened to be my first {and only} dance.



Hallelujah.

. . .

Now, I like to think that college was the beginning of "the bloom" in my life. . . but it sure took a while to fully come to fruition! :) There were many emotional and mental bumps in the journey, but we're not talking about all that here. This is a post for embarrassing pictures, and I shan't disappoint.

However, the realization that men were still quite content to "leave me be" was a hard one to come to terms with, especially because everyone {and their dog} would find out I was going to a small-town college and heartily bellow, "Oh, you'll be married by the end of your first year there! I sure was!"

Well, that freshman year came and went and I was still trying to find myself and fully "bloom".  I was still weird, and the menfolk knew it. I wasn't completely comfortable with myself and if there's one thing I've learned thus far, it's that you have to be truly YOU in order to find the right fellow for you. Make sense?

But that didn't stop my roommates and I from trying to woo any available males by making spudnuts. . .



. . .

After college, my spudnut-making-roomie and I moved to a bigger city and I spread out my wings a little more. I got a full-time job to support myself and, eventually, my own apartment. I put on my big girl panties about being a real-live adult and LOVED it.

I decided to cut off all my hair for the first time since I was in third grade {which is another story for another time} and also started to embrace my goofiness.



And let me tell ya. . . there's nothing quite like embracing your inner quarks and learning to truly love yourself. That's when I finally bloomed. I finally became comfortable in my own skin when I stopped trying to outrun my prior, abundantly awkward self.

Of course, embracing one's oddities is not always easy and I'm definitely not the best at it. There are still moments when I beat myself up for being less than perfect. There are still moments when I wish I was different. But you know what? I'm human and I make mistakes every dang day of my life.

So just remember that as you plod along on your journey through life, don't overlook what made you who you are. Don't be afraid to acknowledge the good and the bad that has molded you.

Life isn't always pretty and there are certainly moments from our past that we have struggled with {or continue to struggle with}.  But trust me when I say that you are an amazing person. Really and truly. You might not think so, but I happen to know so. So take THAT.

Cut yourself some slack. Love yourself! Judge yourself less and trust yourself more. You've turned out pretty darn swell despite any obstacles in your past, so you can certainly face your future with the faith that you'll only get better.  

Because you will!