for the love of all that is awkward

Last weekend Barrett and I had a garage sale so we did a lot of clearing out and throwing away. In our pairing down, we found tons of old pictures. Among them was my absolute favorite picture of me and my youngest sister Hannah. Hannah is 7 years younger than me, and this lapse in time made our childhood experiences dramatically different. But one of my greatest joys over the past few years has been watching Hannah grow up and getting to know her as an adult. She is the most fun and adventurous person I know, and where there is Hannah, there is a party!

Hannah and I Summer 2003

This is my favorite picture because it captures her in her most awkward years--middle school. She was going through a hilariously awkward phase that I can laugh at only because mine was worse. But after teaching middle school for a few years, I have formed a deep attachment to children in that difficult and painfully awkward phase. Growing up, I never understood why my mom wanted to have portraits made of us when we were 13 because we were clearly so awkward. But it was because she wanted to capture the simultaneous beauty and awkwardness that only comes in middle school when a child becomes an adult. Looking at this picture and thinking about how beautiful and fun Hannah is now makes me love this picture of her even more.

It also makes me really excited about a whole new batch of awkward kids who I will get to watch God grow in to amazing men and women. Whenever I tell people I teach middle school, I usually get a deer-in-the-headlights look like I might be crazy or like pain. But there is such fun and beauty in the awkwardness of that stage of life because it is a time when so much change and progress are happening; these children are officially becoming adults--reasoning for the first time and developing a sense of humor. I will need to keep this picture in front of me this year as a reminder of how lovable awkwardness can be and how awesome it can become later.

Hannah and I Summer 2010