Day Eight- First Impressions

I am thankful that first impressions aren't always right. For instance, a new girl has recently joined the office forces of the reservation agent flank.

We'll call her S. S. and I went to high school together and although we never inhabited the same social circles, one was aware of the existence of the other. She hung out with the typical preps: always holding a coffee, American Eagle attire, that brown-slightly-tinged-orange skin, messy buns and manicured nails. I hung out with the drama/music geeks: always humming, over-expressive, loud and goofy. Needless to say, our circles rarely mixed. Pictures of her in her senior slide show outnumbered my pictures 10-1. So, what does any popular-but-not-popular-enough-to-really-matter girl do in that situation? Naturally, I grew to hate S. Guilty by association, that's what I said.

A couple years have passed and S. has crossed my path again. She was recently hired by the company that I work for and she was set to work along side me. I was hesitant at first, whether or not I could like her. After all, it was her group who exiled me to a life of slightly-less-than-popular. 'High school is in the past' I had to remind myself. With strained maturity, I began to talk to her. Her warm smile and easy going attitude were a complete surprise to me and when she asked me to hang out outside of work, my jaw nearly dropped.

High school is a fleeting blip in our lives, when examined with a realistic perspective. But for something that doesn't last, and something that really shouldn't matter to anyone, it never really ends. There is always that voice in the back of your head, feeding you everything self-conscience and negative. The social food chain is always there to remind us that no matter how we try to deny it, we will always have a sweaty-palmed teen inside of us. But in this situation, I saw S.'s relationship with me as progressive. Maybe they weren't all bad.

I am not the best human being. Maybe not even one of the better one's. And that's fine with me. But the fact that I was able to change my mind about someone I had once hated, increases the faith I have in myself as an individual. Just goes to show you, you don't always know as much as you think you do.