Ladies, I have to be honest. Back then we thought we looked so good in those layered tank tops and bows/headbands in our hair. Throwing up peace signs and making those kissy-faces in every picture, we thought we had all the boys crushing hard on us. Well, take a look at those pictures from your junior high years and think again. I don’t know about you, but I was horrified… and so were all of my guy friends when I showed them the pictures of the times we had lived through together just years earlier.
“How did we think you were cute back then?” –One of my boys. Thanks.
Well, to those guys who lived through those years with me, I don’t know how y’all did it, but you made it through that horrible era of mine. The years of braces and colorful rubber bands, raccoon-like eyeliner, awkward interactions with opposite gender, the bold choice of a short haircut, those awful bangs that just never looked right on my face and so much more. You managed to make it through those years and stay friends with me through the process. Thank you.
Maybe it was because we saw each other every day through classes and the hallways and were forced to be friends, or maybe because we had grown up together leading up to those awkward years, but despite the circumstances there’s a greater meaning in this that I’d like to thank you for.
Nowadays young girls are constantly judging themselves. Social media, peer pressure, expectations from society and trying to impress boys all makes a girl look at herself differently and can negatively affect her self-esteem. Guys, even in my roughest days you never did anything but raise my self-esteem. Simply by talking to me, joking with me and being my friend during and after those years, you raised my self-esteem.
Y’all were able to look past those terrible bangs and silver mouthful of braces and see me for me, and I can’t thank you enough for that. You never judged me or made me feel anything less than beautiful and worthy, and I will always be thankful for your genuineness (even if you didn’t realize that’s what you were doing for me at the time).
And the fact that we’re still friends today just goes to show how you are and always will be there for me. Yes, I may not have that awful haircut anymore, but there are other equivalent things that I may be self-conscious about nowadays. And just like back then, you see past my flaws and see me for me. Knowing that I have a guy in my life who will never judge me for the way I look or how goofy and awkward I may act is one of the most comforting things.
So thank you, because even though you didn’t realize it then, you built my confidence and my character in ways even I didn’t realize until years later. Yes looking back at those pictures may be embarrassing (and sometimes almost painful to look at), but I wouldn’t trade those awkward years with you for anything because they have given me a friend who I know will stick with me through it all… including bangs.
(But really, though, how did I ever think I looked good with those?)
