Yay December!!!

In case you missed it, it’s December! The year is almost up. There is much to reflect on in every which way – personally, professionally, etc.

What’s been on my mind quite a bit lately is the first time I realized that the world is not a fair place. Allow me to take you back to 1991. Middle School. 7th grade. The age of French Cuffs on your jeans, Vanilla Ice was still the man, MTV actually showed videos, and Britney, Christina and Justin were all best friends on Disney Channel’s Mousekateers show. Me, I wore pigtails to school, had a crush on a guy named Richie who ended up dating my ex best friend Jennifer, and was entering that awkward stage that required shaving and deodorant. Oh the memories. In between all this high drama, writing was my escape. I loved everything about it. For better or for worse, I wrote all the time. So how excited was I when my English teacher chose me along with a few other students from her class to write an essay for a contest. The best essay would get submitted to compete in said contest which was national. She placed us in a room for an hour to write about something that was important to us – toy, clothing, etc – and why. It had to be a true story. I chose my teddy bear. His name is Teddy. Creative, I know. I got him because there was a Christmas play in elementary school and for one of the routines we had to carry out a box and open it and there needed to be a toy in the box. My dad, the ever specific engineer, went out and bought me this tiny little teddy bear. We became best friends. I loved him so and he represented a lot of things for me. Comfort, love, friendship. For a girl who was still very new to this country and didn’t quite get all the customs, Teddy was my saviour. I wrote about these things as best as I could for being only 13, only in 7th grade and only in the country for some 7 odd years.

I had many insecurities growing up (still do) but one thing I never questioned was how smart I was (until I got to high school but that’s another post!). I was sure that I was a shoe in for the contest. I had the highest grade in my English class and although there were some faces I didn’t recognize in that room I was confident that I would have no issues winning this round.

How shocked was I when the teacher told me she chose another essay. Another essay? Who? What did they write about? How could it possibly have been better than my Teddy Bear story?

Turns out it was this 5’6 girl (yes she was a 7th grader) with big, frizzy hair wearing a pink shirt and blue jean overalls (it was a very traumatic moment for me and so I remember every detail) who won and over an essay that wasn’t even true. She made it up! She told me she made it up! One thing I had learned being in the States for 7 some odd years was that tattling never got you anywhere. I didn’t say anything to the teacher but I did tell Teddy. I stopped writing after that too. I did what I had to for school but nothing beyond that.

Up until this blog, that’s the relationship I have had with writing. Not at all committed. I write when the mood strikes me. I think about it all the time but I don’t do it all the time. This blog has been a saving grace in lots of ways.

I digress…the point of this post was to explain the first time I realized that the world is not a fair place. So there it is. It was over a writing contest in 7th grade that I lost to someone who made up something that was supposed to be important to them while I poured my little 13 year old heart out on the wide ruled pieces of paper. It was a good lesson to learn because the fact of the matter is the world isn’t a fair place. But I tally my life not with the actions of others but with my own actions and I tally them up with God. While the world itself may not be a fair place, He finds a way to make it all balance out in the end.

Amen to that.