Girl walks into a highschool

My favorite adolescent male from Freaks and Geeks

Last night at 11pm while muffling my laughs as I read Rachel Dratch's new book I was reminded of several priceless moments of adolescent embarrassment at good ol' Provo High School so I thought I'd share. Rachel told a funny/sad story of how she rudely blew off a really great guy in high school and has regretted it ever since. I could completely relate to her plight of not understanding the male species as a teenager. Being raised by a single mom who shared my love of BBC dramas, all I knew of men took place in old castles, Italian countrysides (ah, I can hear the Puccini now!) and scenes of dashing young men on horseback, all of this unfortunately had zero relevance to striking up a conversation with a teenage boy in Provo, UT. Thus I basically avoided talking to boys for most of my high school life, even when I accompanied them to dances I still managed to say next to nothing, quite a feat!
Some really cherished memories that came back to me last night include the time I saw a guy who was a few years older than I and one of the 'popular' kids come up to me after a volleyball game with his hand up for a high five. I was shocked and flattered so I reached up and intercepted a high five between him and my older much cuter volleyball teammate, awesome. Also the time I walked down the empty hall between classes and seeing another popular older guy (why was it always these guys!) walking toward me I began having that internal panic trying to decide if I should I say hello and act like a normal person or just avoid eye contact and hope he doesn't notice that I exist. Well that nice young man actually did say hi to me and I proceeded to croak out some bizarre sound in response as I apparently hadn't spoken in a while and had a frog in my throat, and he laughed the whole way down the hall, good times.
I'm actually thankful for my awkwardness in retrospect as it kept me from the dramas of the teenage dating scene (I'm praying all my teenagers experience similar teenage awkwardness so I can avoid it as a parent as well) and has provided me with a good laugh ten years later.