I am joining the amazing Laura Tremain of 10 Things to Tell You in her latest Instagram challenge #10thingstotellyou. Laura will provide the prompts and we provide the conversation. Her goal is to get people to “share the things about yourself that usually get glossed over. They type of things you want friends to know, but for some reason never come up.” Please follow me there @staceyloscalzo and if you don’t follow Laura yet, definitely do that too. You can find her on Instagram @laura.tremaine. 

Prompt #1: I grew up…

I grew up… slowly. As the mother of two girls, I find myself reliving my teen years each day. There are clear pros and cons to this experience. The one moment that I come back to again and again is walking in to our high school dining room and feeling every single eye on me and my rolled up, plaid uniform skirt and my rolled down hunter green knee socks. I felt all the eyes as I stood in the windy line, as I chose what foods to put on my tray and then most intensely as I walked fearfully to a table. At different times, I have images of girls shifting trays vertically to make room for more people to join and then moments when trays would be turned horizontally sending the silent and subtle message that no one else was welcome. When I try unsuccessfully to remind the girls that no one else cares about what they are wearing or how late they are allowed to stay out at night or what jokes their parents tell when their friends are around, I remember the dining room feeling. I remember the time when I truly felt that all the eyes were on me. That every person cared what I was doing. When I felt like I was the only one that felt different. I don’t think I felt grown up until I realized, just a few short years ago, if truth be told, that everyone feels different, that everyone thinks that all the eyes are on them. It was only then that I was able to take a deep breath and really look outward. And grow upward. #10thingstotellyou