Wednesday, February 18, 2009

From the Chronicles of My Life's Most Embarrassing Moments

I've decided to share with you some of those times in my life when my face turned red. I don't know what is possessing me to do this, but go ahead and enjoy my discomfort. Here's the first installment:

The year was 1994 and I was a junior in college. It was summertime. (I loved going to BYU so much that I stayed and went to summer school instead of going home. Is that normal?). Going to school in the summer was intense but I managed to squeeze in quite a bit of fun. And a serious crush.

We'll call him Chuck (because that's his name). Chuck and I did a lot of group activities with our friends: went to the drive-in, jumped off bridges into water
of questionable cleanliness, had giant wrestling matches on mattresses in my living room, drove to Manti for the pageant--all kinds of fun stuff. And through it all Chuck and I would flirt endlessly. I liked him, but, of course, was sure he didn't like me.

As smitten girls are wont to do, I started thinking about him during my classes and hoping I'd go home to find a message of his on my answering machine. I doodled his name intermittently in my class notes. I doodled my name with his last name. *Cringe* I think I even named our children and wrote their names in my notebook. I was head-over-heels.

It started to seem like maybe Chuck liked me, too.
Although he didn't ask me out on a "real date," Chuck would frequently come over and visit when I got home from working my custodial job on campus (9 pm). We could and would spend hours chatting about anything and everything (exept slavery--we quickly discovered that was a topic not to be touched; Chuck was from the South and had a completely different take on the Civil War than this Yankee). But I digress.

So, Chuck was over one night and we were studying/talking/flirting. At one point, he reached over and grabbed my notebook to see what kinds of things I was studying. I thought nothing of it. Until he started leafing through it's pages and stopped on a page of doodles. And by that, I mean my doodles of names. I was horrified. I grabbed notebook, snapped it shut and clutched it to my chest.

Chuck choked on a laugh, "What was that?" he asked. I remember thinking, How can I get out of this? and then realizing that there was no way I could get out of it. The boy I had a terrible crush on had actually seen my "Mendy Simpson" doodles in my English notes! I wanted to die. Instead, I sat in petrified silence and then opted to confess.

It turned out to be fine. I'm pretty sure he already knew I liked him and he didn't immediately run screaming from the room (in fact, he kept coming back); I think he liked me, too. But for a moment there, I dreamed of a natural disaster hitting my apartment and making it possible that I'd never have to look at Chuck again.
And boy, was my face red!

16 comments:

Christie said...

Thats a pretty good one Mendy. Very horrifying at the time I am sure!

Joni said...

I like Mendy Hunter much better:)

(I've never been a fan of Stimpson, and that goes for Simpson too.)

That would be so embarrassing!! I don't think I've gotten over my own humiliating moments enough to share them, so I'm impressed you can laugh about it now.

Christy said...

That's a classic! <3 it!!!

Heidi said...

I would have crawled into a hole and died!

Life In a Blended Family said...

I am with joni...I like Mendy Hunter much better also.

Tracy said...

Oh, that's not fun! You should have just made out with him and then he would've forgot about the doodles!

carilarkins said...

My face turned red while reading this. I was thinking about how easily the same thing could have happened to me.

Deb said...

oh man, mendy. THAT is an embarrassing moment. i did my share of that sort of doodling, but never got caught. i would have died.

Jeri said...

I know so many Mendy's, I can't believe he didn't buy it. =) This story was too good not to share!

Rachelle said...

WoW! I mean really WOW!

Cami said...

Oh my HECKNGOSH!! That is horrible. Who flips through someone else's notebooks anyway? Crazy.

Colette said...

I'm with cami, who flips through other people's notebook anyway! But i have to say i remember the chuck era and i am so glad You do tell your stories. They make my life worth living!

Angela said...

If I recall correctly I believe this crush even continued through your mission. What ever happend to good ol' Chuck anyway???

maia papaya said...

WOW WOW WO-OWA! OH MY GOSH THAT IS WEIRD!

Jenni said...

Oh I am dying for you in this memory!! SO funny, but wow I'm sorry it happened to you! What was he doing going through your notebook?!!

saramarilee said...

I remember this story--oh the memories!

Quotation of the Month

There is no way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one.

-Jill Churchill