Home Base

It's the end of junior year, and I have a cheerleading awards assembly to go to.  It is also around my birthday, so my mom takes me and my bestie Amber to the mall to go shopping, and to eat at my favorite restaurant, Don's Drive-In (if you're ever in Traverse City, MI- OMG must eat there).  She buys me a cute new outfit, consisting of a blue shirt that laces up to the neck, a pair of blue jean capris, and some white mules with some crazy design on them.  White shoes and I don't go together, and especially half-shoes, due in large part to the fact that I am constantly tripping over things, including my own feet.  I just had to have them, though.  I have no idea that my first time going to home base in this outfit will not be in the way I expect it.

The day of my awards ceremony, The Drummer tells me he can't go, but will wish me luck before I leave.  My stepsister happens to visit at the same time, so we're waiting on the porch for him to show up.  I'm dressed in my new outfit, when The Drummer arrives in my driveway.  I am so giddy (this is within the first month we were together) that I gleefully skip down the steps and down our dirt driveway to greet him.  Only, I don't make it all the way there.  At least, not on my feet.

It took all of two seconds to realize what was happening, and that I wouldn't be able to stop it.  One- I tripped over said new white shoes.  Two- I was going to fall, as I was skipping way too fast and would be unable to catch myself.  Three- All of this would happen in front of my stepsister, my mother, and my new boyfriend.  Two seconds later, my arms were out in front of me as if I was going to slide head first into home base, my face was planted in the dirt, and I was soon gliding right into The Drummer's work boots.

For about a minute nobody moved.  I kept my face down, wondering how I would pull off some smooth exit of this hellishly mortifying moment.  But before I could think about it, I began laughing hysterically, and when I do so, I do so silently.  My body merely bounced up and down as I cracked up at my own expense.  Finally, Drummer Boy reached down to help me up.  I took his hand and met his face, and I could see that I had dirt on my nose.  And apparently, my forehead, as he wiped it off with the sleeve of his shirt.

My mom and stepsister were laughing hysteically from the porch, but The Drummer didn't know what to do, because we had just begun dating and he wasn't sure it was appropriate to laugh.  Later on he told me that he had stood there covering his mouth, looking at me, wondering if I was crying or laughing.  I could only picture this but it made me laugh harder at myself.

I didn't have time to change before the ceremony, so I wound up going to it with my new white shoes covered in dirt.  The entire time I sat on stage, I had to concentrate on not laughing becaue I could not believe what I had done.  My teammates asked me afterwards why I was covered in dirt, and I couldn't tell them without busting up.

The worst part is, that isn't even the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to me.