28 June 2011

Perpetual Embarassment

Yes, I seem to live in a state of perpetual embarrassment. As the years go buy, I hope that at some point I will cease to care quite so much. But now, just as when I was a teenager, I just always seem to be embarrassing myself.

I had an article I wrote featured on the front page of a website I write articles for, chosen out of thousands of others. At first I was delighted but when I read over it this morning I noticed a stonking great big grammatical error in the second sentence. As if that isn't bad enough, I now have to wait for their admin to approve my edit, it could be another 24 hours, so until then everyone who sees it on the front page and clicks on it can see what an awful writer I am. Here is a photo of the error so that you can share in my embarrassment long after it gets corrected (why am I posting this?):

And this is the article in question.

G is working a lot as he has a massive project going on at work. On Saturday he left  for work early and it was just me and the wee ones again. We'd had that ridiculously hectic week of talent shows, beach party and much more and the house was looking pretty much like a bomb hit it. On any normal day, I would have got my stuff together before heading out. On that day I was feeling quite down and thought it would cheer us all up to just get out of the house and try a new playground close to us that we had been meaning to go to for ages.

We had a great time and when we got back I decided to start my chores by vacuuming sand out of the car. I had just plugged the vacuum in when a neighbor I had never met  walked past with her two children. We got to talking about all sorts of things and the kids were enjoying playing together. To my horror Littlest Bean took my neighbors daughter into our house to play. This was quickly followed by everyone entering the house and going in EVERY ROOM. I wanted to crawl under a rock, I felt so humiliated. I don't think the house has ever been in such a mess. There were clothes and cheerios on the floor, and every room was upside down. I usually try to keep things pretty much in order and always try to rush around before G comes home, but he has not been here very much. I was so embarrassed I couldn't sleep that night thinking about it. I'm still not really over it, pathetic.

Yesterday when we were walking home from a friends house we bumped into some other neighbors we are friends with. Cuddles proceeded to lift my knee length skirt up and climb underneath it. I was holding wet kids paintings in my hand (or course I was) so really couldn't do much about it. Yes, that was embarrassing too. It's not the first time either, last week it happened with a mercifully longer skirt at the supermarket in front of an old man.

It's not just these one off situations that embarrass me. I get embarrassed when I go into LB's school and don't know where to stand, I get embarrassed speaking in front of a group of more than two people. I get really embarrassed when talking to someone about my blog or any other online venture. I would usually rather say I don't do anything than risk being thought of as an idiot.
Here's to the day I get over it.

4 comments:

  1. Do not "buying" into the idea that you are alone in your embarrassment. :) My car is such a wreck right now that I park at the far end of the parking lot so that nobody will see inside it. My two year old routinely puts his hand down my shirt in public, usually exposing my bra or worse. Our dignity doesn't reappear after we leave the delivery room. Oh no, once we put on that gown and push the baby out, our dignity and pride never resurfaces. We can file that under "things nobody tells you when you get pregnant."

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  2. ha ha, my car is usually like that too, the worst is when my kids want their friends to play in the car when we are saying goodbye, so embarrassing when their moms look inside to retrieve them!

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  3. I just came across your blog and have to say--I just love your writing! I can very much relate to just about everything you're writing about, esp. this post--as much as it pains me to think that someone else feels this too, it is nice to read something so relatable!

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