Soooo, ummm, thank you, humans

If I were in school in these modern scientific times, I would be labeled with some kind of official diagnosis rather than just the quaint terms “shy” and “awkward.” Someone with skills would teach me how to be a real kid.

I learned the hard way, like the way Dad taught me to swim. I learned to dog paddle, then he tossed me off the end of the dock in a trial by water to make my way to shore. Apparently I could add “scrappy” to my list descriptives.

If you saw a movie character modeled after junior-high me, you would think the actor and director were just taking this shy-awkward...