I was in 6th grade when I plucked up the courage to ask a boy to dance for the very first time. Oh, my mother would have been horrified. Oh so, so, so very horrified. Girls weren’t supposed to ask boys anything. Much less to dance… in public! Oh the lewdness!
But I was a child of the 80s and grew up being spoon-fed another mantra: We girls can do anything! (Right, Barbie!)
I had had a crush on this boy ever since 1st grade. After nearly five years of sitting next to him in class and daydreaming about day we would have the most perfect wedding ever, I figured it was about time to move things along… eventaully.
I hesitated a bit. I would approach him, get flustered, then quickly retreat. I paced around the auditorium, agonizing over exactly what to say. I wanted to remember this moment exactly as it was. You know, for our rehearsal dinner in 20 years.
It wasn’t until just before the last dance of my very first school dance, I made my way over to him. The Barbie ad copy blaring in my head over the dreadful “Stairway to Heaven” that I would soon learn ended ALL junior high dances, I opened my mouth and squeaked, “Want to dance?”
“Huh?” he asked.
Undaunted, I repeated, “Dance? Do you want to dance with me?”
“No thanks, I don’t feel like dancing right now.”
“Okay. Umm.. Bye!”
I turned and walked away disappointed, but not devastated. I had mustered up all of my confidence, made the ask, and heard the worst that could happen. He said “no” and I SURVIVED. Even then, I had an “at least I tried” attitude.
Then, in the corner of my eye, I saw him moving towards me… Would this be my Pretty in Pink moment?
Oh, no! He was moving towards me while dancing with ANOTHER GIRL!!! “But he said… So it was me… I… I… I…” The words my little brain couldn’t muster at the moment were: I don’t understand. I fought back tears, but smiled brightly anyway.
It would take a few more boys and a number of awkward first dates to learn how exciting it feels when someone “likes” you back. Then, it would take my last first date to realize how much more exciting it is to fall in love for real.
However, on that particular day, during the last song of my first junior high dance watching the first boy who broke my heart dancing with someone else, I learned how to be resilient in the face of unrequited love.
Who cares if he didn’t like me back. That night, I discovered that I liked my fearless little self a little bit more. And that’s the kind of love that lasts a lifetime!
I believe every child deserves the chance to learn for themselves what it means to fall in (and out of) love. Sadly, not every kid get the chance.
A wonderful organization called Shot @ Life is doing everything it can to provide children around the world with life-saving vaccines so that they too can reach this milestone and more!
One out of every 5 children worldwide lack access to vaccines. An estimated 1.5 million children die every year without these precious life-saving vaccines. The sad and unnecessary reality is that around the world a child dies every 20 seconds from a disease that can be prevented by a vaccine.
This means that these disease are a 100% preventable with a simple shot. One. Simple. Shot at Life. But they can’t do it alone. They need YOUR help!
What Can You Do to Help:
- Make a donation. Just $20 gives a lifetime of immunity to a child.
- Tweet: “Every child deserves @Shotatlife to ______.” (Fill in the blank with whatever milestone you think it worth reaching.)
- Like Shot@Life Campaign on Facebook.
- Email Congress about its support of the Global Vaccine Fund
- Write your own blog post.
I was not compensated for this post. The views and opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not reflect those of Shot At Life, Type-A Parent conference, or any of their sponsors or partnering organizations.
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