I remember it. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was 12 years old. I was in my 4th year of playing football. I was good long before that October day. But then...it happened.
We were down by 4 pts with less than a minute to go. There was very little hope from the kids on our team that we'd win. They didn't care. We weren't that good and everybody knew it. We'd be getting our ass kicked and I'd hear some of them talking about being "happy about going fishing after the game". Huh? I cared about the game. To hell with anything else. I wanted to WIN.
Nevertheless, we were headed for a loss. We were down to one of our final plays. We were standing in the huddle and I told the quarterback..."Throw me the ball!" I yelled it! I may have shocked the rest of the team b/c I never raise my voice. The next play...the ball is thrown my way. I was running a crossing pattern across the middle. I saw it coming toward me and then everything slowed down. I caught the ball and proceeded up the field. There was only one man in front of me. I shook him so bad that he fell down.
The next thing that I know...I'm standing in the end zone. Just like that! The game winning touchdown. It happened so fast. It was fast...but in slow motion. That day...a star was born. On and off the football field. The kid who was kinda reserved and laid back suddenly became outgoing. The kid who was once quiet...became even more talkative. The confidence shot through the roof. That day I learned that I could do anything. The unbelivable self-confidence/swagger(arrogance) was born that day. And it has lived in me since that day.
What was your defining moment? What was that great memory from your childhood?
27 comments:
I remember when: I saw it so cute and furry to others but a beast in my eyes. While the other kids went to touch him, he decided to sniff me. I yelled and ran for dear life. He chased me and then it happened. I fell and blood slowly ran down my face. I cried and was comforted by my grandmother embrace.
That day I learned a valuable life lonG lesson: DO NOT RUN FROM DOGS! THEY WILL CHASE YOU AND YOU MIGHT FALL DOWN AND BUMP YOUR HEAD! LOL
Great Post.
I remember when I was 12 also. I was playing for an all white baseball team in an all white league. My coach gave me the ball and said you're my starting pitcher today. Shocked..scared...worried...nervous. Man I was throwing a wet ball cause my hands were sweating so bad. But I went out and threw 8 strikeouts in a complete 6 inning game. We lost 3-1 but I only gave up 2 hits. The rest was errors.
Sadly, the coach that let me pitch got either fired or quit. I'm not sure which because he never came back. My brother later told me it was becuase the racist parents didn't want that N-gger striking thier kids out anymore. WOW...
thats classic, a memory u will have for a life time
Awe, that was so awesome. Mine would be when in was 13 years old. I begged my mom to enroll me in Wendy Wards Modeling School...and so she obliged and started my classes. At the end of each session they have a fashion show and modeling contest. The Model of the year. I remember watching one of the most beautiful gurls strut by, and in awe of the winner that year Monica Fisher. I vowed to one day wear that crown. So the next year, i enter the contest, but not so good, i fell at the end of the runway...but that didn't stop me, i came back the following year...it was that year that i captured the crown of Model of the Year! A very defining moment for me...from then on, i captured many crowns.
wow...see this is why extra- curricular activities are so important for kids. I wish there had been more opportunities like that in my neighborhood or even at the neighborhood schools.
I was a pretty troubled teen. Smart, but a know-it-all that chose to do next to nothing at the gifted and talented school I attended.
I was not headed down the right path at all...the defining moment for me was seeing my teenage friends die and get caught up, selling and/or using drugs. Scared my azz straight.
Cute Kyle...really cute. LOL
My defining moment happens to have taken place in high school. I was the reserved chic that nobody could really read, but wanted to get at. I became cool with a group of footballers. They flirted, and I reminded them that they had girlfriends, so I gave them no play. The girlfriends started hating, saying that I was trying to take their men. At that moment I realized that I was a stunner that posed a threat, and I've been working it like the model-type dyme piece that I am every since. LMAO!!!!! I kidd, I kidd...well maybe not.
i was 15. girls would sing a song making fun of my hair whenever i was walking to class. it was so embarrassing. so i started to cover up in oversized clothes and find other ways to walk. then i walked past a mirror one day and realized i looked crazed in that get-up. i threw on a mini-skirt, let my hair hang down, and put on some girly sandals. that was the day i realized girls were evil, catty wenches....and they HATED ME CUZ THEY AIN'T ME-LOLOLOLOL!!!!
seriously, i started presenting myself the way i was most comfortable, regardless of the evil people. kids can be so cruel. once i did that, everyone wanted to be my friend then...ironic
...turned you into the WR beast that you are till this day...still can hit the break without having to down-weight!!!
Most defining moment...visiting the Doors of No Return at the Elmina Slaves Castles in West Africa, on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. 100 million slaves passed through those huge double doors and not one ever made it back from the trans-Atlantic slave trade. IT HIT ME while standing on those ocean shores....I was of the same elk of those who made it through the middle passage, endured 400 years of back-breaking slavery, traversed civil rights and were now prospering. I had made it back!
...changed my life profoundly.
Who can argue with your "memory"? Sure it happened JUST the way 12Kyle 'thunk-it-up' for THE Planet! LMAO
*thinking*
jury is still out on this childhood thing. it is a source of pain and frustration for your girl. a definite thing to be penned for memoirs sake. and that's not just rhetoric. i just don't talk about it as much (in blog land, lol). i think my defining moment will unearth in my ladder years. i'm such a late bloomer.
*age 7 not included*
Now that is a heckuva defining moment. It's funny that you never see them coming and sometimes it's years before you realize the role they play in who you ultimately become.
I used to "write" jokes, for and with my brother from another mother. We would hang out, have a good time and make each other laugh. One day he received the calling to go to Hollywood and pursue his dreams. I demanded that he teach me stand up, which he did.
The very first time I got on stage, nervous as all get out, they laughed. Then they laughed more, then more. When I was done, they all applauded enthusiastically and the MC went on and on about how it was my first time and blah blah blah.
Now you might think that meant the beginning of a career in show business. It did not.
What it meant was that I had overcome the fear of what 80% of people would rather die before doing: public speaking. The ability to be comfortable with public speaking helped me realize I have a gift for it. That gift has turned into both a vocation and a passion. Ultimately, it has clarified my role in the Kingdom of God.
As always, great post.
It was in HS sometime; I had this English teacher who was kinda one of those weird feminist types, didn't shave, etc, and she gave us an assignment where we had to take our vocabulary words and use them in sentences... I turned my assignment into a small story because she said we could.
She loved it, made me read it aloud, and the whole class loved it, too. And every week afterwards they were waiting for the next installment of my "short story"
That was sort of the "birth" of The Jaded NYer; she was the first person to tell me I had real talent, although I didn't really do much about it for many years.
I just thought of one... While crusing through my Alumni site memories: That fall I returned to college and moved off the damn yard! *got my grown and sexy on* LMAO I know you can relate; or did they make FB playas stay on dorm lockdown for the bust out?
c-r-u-i-s-i-n-g. need more higher education. whew.
I think women have several, I know I did.
The most important one for me was seeing my dad cry when he came to the hospital to see me.
gee, have to really think about that. will be back when i'm done thinking.
This may not be the answer that you are looking for but hey! It's my answer.....
July of 1994 I was heading to high school that fall and still hadn't got my period..... I started to wonder what was the problem with my body.... all of my friends and cousins had there's, where was mines...... but then it happened.....I had on this tight all in one outfit it was bangin', as I was walking back from the park it felt really wet down there, and at that very moment I felt a transformation taking place,I started feeling like a woman....I smiled and let nature take it's course with me.
TMI?....I know hahaha!
@ Keisha the Kitten
This story is all to familiar. You can't run from man's best friend. LoL. Good lesson, tho.
@ Brad
Wowwwwww! Your first introduction to how racist this world can be.
@ Torrance
Fa sho! I'll be telling this one until I'm 95
@ Miz
Awwwwwww. That is nice! You're right. You've had the crown ever since. Now, you're wearing the best poet crown!
@ OD
That is great lesson that was learned. We know how smart you were b/c u answered all the questions first in math class.
*i'm still hatin*
@ Queen
That's when you realized that you were the Queen...and they were NOT.
@ PCD
Classic!!!
"You hate me b/c you AIN'T me"
@ Rezidl
Thanks bruh. I put in a lotta hard work to get to that point.
I remember when you came back from the Mother Land. I noticed a change in you. You didn't even get mad when I put 1,000 miles on your car while you were gone. LMAO!!!!!!!
@ Sojourner G
I feel you, bruh. I loooooove public speaking. I like being in control of a room. As long as I'm speaking about something that I like...I'm str8.
Preciate the words!
@ Jaded NYer
Mannnnnn, you make me laugh everytime that I read your blog. But it didn't take me long to realize that you are a damn good writer.
@ PRO
Grown and sexy off the yard, huh?? That means you were off the chain! LOL
We lived in dorms on campus but we "lived" off campus, too. Haaaaa
@ Tabu
I'm sure that was a very touching moment
@ Smaragd
No problem. Take ya time. We're here everyday like a stray cat who is looking for food.
@ Sexxy Luv
Yes! TMI! LOL
It could have been worse. I remember a girl who got her first visit from Aunt Flow when we were in class in middle school. And she had on some tight WHITE pants! LMAO!!!
12Kyle...don't remind me!!!
another pivotal moment was Freaknik '94 in Atlanta....if you were there, YOU KNOW!!!....oceans and of beautiful us folks having a great time.
@ Rezdil
I'm just sayin'. LOL
Maannnnnn, Freaknik '94 is one of the reasons that I fell in love with Atlanta. I must have slept for 5 hrs...in 3 days!!!
I fell in love with the ladies soooooooooo many times over that weekend. It was unbelievable!
what great childhood memory would be going fishing with my grandparents to "Salt N Sea". I remember waking up in the morning in our camper and seeing huge diesel trucks dumping fresh fish in to the lake, that was so awesome.
Otherwise my childhood suck, for various reasons..
Have a good Weekend 12Kyle
i didnt really get to defining moments til later in life
but that fucked up spelling bee
maaaaaan
i swear thats the source of my stage fright
i was good up til then
I have been trying to post this all day.
I think I've had many but these this was from my younger days. I was learning how to ride my bike and this boy named Boo kept jumping in front of me ( I was about 10 he was 15). As I rode around the block finally getting comfortable this fool jumps out and grabs the back of the bike and I crash into a car tailpipe cuts my leg right open. But I kept on riding (to my sisters dismay). When I look at this scar it reminds me that I am stronger than I think and to keep on riding
i grew up a dancer and was always a writer...i think getting awarded the "best performer" award and becoming the editor in chief of my highschool newspapers are moments i'll never forget.
-KB
my dad still tells me this story.....(as if i forgot)
when i was like 5....early in the morning, a homeless man was digging through the garbage looking for cans.....
I was outside with my dad and i remember stopping what we were doing.... running in the house and grabbing all the can i can find....
went outside and handed all my cans to the man!
i guess at that point my dad knew how much of a kind and giving person i am...and he felt so proud.
everytime i start to get a lil selfish my dad always remind me of that time about the man and the cans!!!! dammit
Wow, Kyle - You really make us think!! I like it though!
I think one of my defining moments happened when I was dating THE FINEST guy in school (in my opinion) when I was like 16. He ended breaking up with me because I always cared about what other people thought in all aspects of my life. He gave me words of advice (he was only 17): "BGG, you can't please everybody, so stop trying to." I learned so much from those words.
@ Poca
That sounds like it was real cool.
I've never been fishing. I want do it one day.
@ dejanae
LMAO!!! That is too funny. I remember tha spelling bee. I won it at my school when i was in the 6th grade. I stopped there. I wasn't tryna go any further than that.
@ The F$%K it List
very inspiring! maybe you and your sister should have jumped Boo. LOL
@ karrie b
a dancer? word? buss a move for us! LOL
@ Flyyest
awwwwwwww. it's very nice that you are a giving person. if you ever wanna give money...holla atchaboi!
@ BGG
These words are soooo true!
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