Take yourself back in your mind to probably the most embarrassing moment of your childhood. Not that one; have another think. Bingo! That dreaded moment your parents decide to teach you all about the 'birds and the bees' and how 'special hugs' make babies. Now that is a moment pretty much everyone I know will recall as an embarrassing moment from their childhood. On the other hand, when people ask me what mine is it usually refers to me talking about how i fell over in front of a lot of people or how i split my trousers in assembly when walking up to the stage. In a sort of weird way, I kind of feel a little left out having not endured the 'birds and the bees'.
Can you remember your first year of secondary school? When everyone thought talking about sex was cool and how embarrassing the 'birds and the bees' was. I couldn't really join in. You feel so foreign in an environment you are told you are supposed to be in. Being surrounded by other children and not knowing anything they are talking about. I just felt so invisible. For some unknown reason, I was so desperate to learn these things.
Did anyone experience that awkward moment of walking into science class to be faced with a sea of cucumbers and being shown by a teacher how to put a condom on? AWKWARD. Especially for someone who doesn't know what a condom does or is!!! It's funny looking back now. At the time; not so much. There was also that time I walked into maths class all prepared with my times table homework - lets just say we didn't do times tables that lesson.
At the current age of 20, I am still unable to comprehend the fact that practically 99.9% of people I know would have learnt all the basic life things like: periods, how to put in a tampon and how babies are made, just from their parents. Not me. I'm the 1%. To be completely honest with you, I've never really seen myself as the minority but I guess the world has a funny way of making us not really know who we are.
I'll tell you what I do know.
I am forever grateful to my teachers who took on the role of mother. Those teachers who went beyond their role in the educational sector to provide me with a maternal bond that I was deprived of. I am forever indebted to those who gave up their time to teach me all the things that my mother should have taught me. Looking back, I've realised how lucky I have been in such an unlucky circumstance. Having the people I did back then allowed me to keep up with all the other kids as opposed to being left practically drifting with no knowledge of anything.
The only message I can really give from this is to never forget these memories. These experiences, we see as horrible at the time, are the memories we look back on and actually help us to justify the people we are today. Once the experience has happened, good or bad, it stays with you forever. Keep these memories alive. Share your memories. You start to realise we are all quite similar without even realising it.
So, what do me and you have in common?
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