A new seat at lunch....

So, where to start this journey? I reached way back into my black-hole of a mind (that seems to get more and more like a black-hole the more children I have!) to find something risky I did in my younger days that was also empowering. Sad to say, this is the first thing that came to mind... so here is where I begin.

My highschool was small, very small. A graduating class around 69 students and 7 - 12 in one building. However, I imagine lunch is pretty much the same everywhere. You had your "assigned" table. Assigned by 'rank', who you were friends with, who you were dating, or whatever the rules were in your school. My table was with an odd artsy bunch, borderline hippies I would guess. Anyway, they were all a year older than I was. So, my Junior year they all graduated and left me behind. It fleetingly crossed my mind a few times that year (when they were all gone on Senior events) that I would have no home in the lunch room that next year. But it didn't really sink in until a week before school started. Suddenly, I started to become aware of the seriousness of my situation. I avoided the issue the first week of school by managing to forge notes to eat in other places. But soon I realized that I needed to do something. So, I did the unthinkable. I walked up to a table (one that most considered to be invitation only) and asked to sit down. No one even batted an eye. They simply gave me a spot. And there I sat the rest of the year. As a result, I got to know a group of kids that I would never have known otherwise. Kids that I thought of as stuck-up or snobbish really weren't at all. It completely changed the course of my Senior year, prompting me to try out new things (sports teams), date new people, and go places I would never have ended up had I still had my comfortable little off-beat cadre. 

So, the point? It is time for me to try a new table. I have been here for 9 years and have gotten very comfortable in my own little seat. Except that I am not. I am missing certain interactions that I don't have anymore. I am missing that spice that comes from ending up in new places and trying new things. The question is, how to try a new seat? You can't just call up a stranger and say "Wanna hang out? What do you do for fun?" So, I am going to start "small". My goal is to meet every single teacher at WWR. Put a name to every face that I see. Try some different things. Maybe putting myself out there professionally will eventually give me the guts to put myself out there personally. We'll see!