Learning,
but at a weird
in-between
stage.
For the most part,
junior highers tend to be
uncoordinated and
awkward.
Their limbs are growing too fast
for them to handle,
so they seem to lose gross motor skills
for a time
and bump into stuff
everywhere.
They have a hard time
paying attention to, well, pretty much
anything.
I worked with junior highers
when I was in college.
There was something so fun and raw
about that stage of life:
the attempt to figure everything out,
the glaring insecurity,
the amazingness of so many new things,
the ignorance of even more and
the a-ha bulb lighting up all over the place
like fireflies.
When I think about how awkward I was
when I was in junior high,
I cringe
wince
recoil,
eventually laugh and
shake my head
at the absurdity.
But then the a-ha firefly lit up
and the puzzle pieces started to put themselves together
in front of me.
(I think) I loved those kids so much
and could identify with them so well
because in many ways,
I am still an awkward junior higher.
Sure, I’m an adult –
but I bump into everything,
trip on things that aren’t there,
talk toofastsometimes and
too slow others,
overshare and
undershare,
trying to figure out the balance
with different people
and myself,
and I’m still trying to make sense
of the world and
the mess
in my head.