Blogtober Day 7: My Most Embarrassing Moment

We all have one.  The only reason I feel comfortable enough to share mine, is because it took place when I was quite young.  I can no longer be teased about it... right?

I still turn bright red as I remember it.  In fact, my face might stay this color all day.

It was in 5th grade.  I was kind of a smarty pants, and so I had made it into the spelling bee!  I spent weeks going over the list of words, practicing constantly.  I was set on winning.  I was kind of a competitive child.

So on the big day I dressed up.  I still remember.  I wore a long black skirt, and a blue button up shirt with my favorite black shoes.  I had this irrational fear of my voice cracking when I went up to the microphone, so I drank a ton of water.

Ah, it was my downfall.

About 20 minutes into the spelling bee, I realized I had to pee pretty bad.  In my 10-year-old mind, I deduced that if I asked to leave for the bathroom, I would be disqualified!  What if it was my turn and I wasn't there?  I'd get kicked out for sure.  Thus, I determined to hold it until the spelling bee was over.

Finally, it was down to me, and one other boy.  A fourth grader.  Psh, I had this thing in the bag!  The only downside was, my bladder was really struggling to contain all the water I drank that morning.  Fourth grader and I were going back and forth, neither one of us missing a single word.  "How long are we going to do this?" I kept thinking.  I started to pray he would mess up so I could just pee for crying out loud!

Then, I could not hold it any longer.  Yep.  I totally peed myself in front of the whole school, more or less. 

The thing was, my skirt was kind of wide, so it didn't get wet at all.  This puddle just kind of formed by my feet.  I was so mortified, I ran off the stage and into the nearest bathroom, where I hid and cried until my mother came and found me.  She then drove all the way home, got me clean underwear, drove back, and I changed.  I assumed, while waiting in the bathroom for what must have been half an hour, that I had lost the spelling bee by default.  Surely when I came out of the bathroom, everyone would be gone, and I could slip into my classroom unnoticed.

Not even.

They had WAITED.  So I walked back out to a room of people wondering why the little girl had run out suddenly.  My uhm, puddle was still there, so no one had put two and two together.

I was so torn up over my embarrassment, I misspelled the first word they gave me, and lost to the fourth grader.  The word?  Dandelion.

My mom took me to lunch, then home.  I guess she thought I had suffered enough.