To All Geeks, Nerds and Outcasts

This is for all you guys and girls who are outside of the norm...particularly those of you who may be in high school or freshly graduated.

I was just sitting around today talking to some of my (much) younger co-workers and they were venting their angst to me. (I guess because I am old enough to be petrified I am the one they talk to about their troubles because I have been through most of them already.) Anyway, what I told them is what I would like to tell you.

When I was in high school I was a geek, a nerd, an outcast. From the wrong side of town, and coming from the wrong bloodline. So, I was not accepted by anyone. Too academically minded for the thugs without enough money to be accepted by the elite. I was picked on and pushed around and was too shy and reserved to say anything or to stand up for myself. I thought life would always be like this.

However, when I turned 18, my mom gave me one piece of advice. She told me "It's a whole new world now. Do with it what you want." And I realized that I could do just that. Because it was a whole new world. I was technically a grown woman who didn't have to give a rat's red rump what people thought of me anymore. And so it began. I started talking to people even when I was afraid to and lo and behold most of them talked back....nicely, even! And I started to take risks with how I looked and how I acted and sometimes even I thought I looked crazy but that was okay because it was a whole new world and it was mine. And it was the greatest feeling.

But, still being young and naive, I engaged in the rituals of the young. Clubbing, primping, preening, still trying to impress people , just after a different fashion. That is something that we all go through and that we all have to outgrow.

Once I hit 35 I realized that I no longer had to impress anyone at all. That I could just be me, what I had wanted to be my whole life and no one wanted to let me. And that is freedom...true, unadulterated bliss at times even.

My point is this.....even if no one wants to accept you now, eventually everyone grows up and it ceases to matter. There are no more cliques, clubs or social scenes where you have to pass muster. You can just be who you are and that will be okay. Just give it time, because that is all we really have.

And don't forget.....if all else fails you can always show up at your class reunion and whip the snot out the guy who made your teenage life hell. We all have one. Chris Coultas, you better hope I never see you because you've got one coming.

Peace to all....