It's the first day of religious school for my daughter, I'm the new parent and I'm nervous. When I'm nervous I tend to reach for things that make me happy, chocolate or sunshine, things like that. I also try to be more outgoing in order to find more experiences for you fine folks to read about. :)
So - I put on my best happy face and approached another pair of moms. I notice right away that I'm the tallest one - which is odd, because I'm usually shorter than everybody. I begin with the standard.
"Hi, I'm Janet."
The first mom looks up. She looks startled and a bit confused. She takes my hand and shakes it, then says, "Oh, yes, hi, I'm Diane."
"Hi Diane. Wow, first day. How was your trip in today, do you come from far away? "
etc.
I think it's kind of funny to look at myself this way - I'm really a shy person, I still find myself wanting to hide in a corner at these events and think "Nobody wants to talk to me, they all know each other, I'll just stay out of the way." Two years ago I was just a mouse in the corner, head down, trying not to make eye contact with anyone. Not to say that I'm still not shy, I am. What I notice is that it hurts less now to push myself out in front of people, perhaps because I've been doing it so much.
Janet
