Seventeen Magazine has a fairly new section called “Traumaramas.” It is all about embarrassing moments of celebs and average people. Being a teen, this concept inspired me:  I would search the far reaches of the Upper School to find some of the much-feared, “awkward” family moments that all of us know too well.

However, these aren’t your typical “lost-swimming-trunks-in-the-pool,” “forgot-all-the-words-to-a-speech” type of moments. These embarrassing moments aren’t YOUR fault: these moments are the consequence of being born into a not-so-normal family.

Personally, I feel my family takes every opportunity to embarrass me in public. For the most part, it’s out of love, but sometimes, I think they have a secret plan to embarrass me on purpose. Only a handful of lucky people can say their family has never humiliated them. To those lucky few I would like to send my sincere apologies, because it’s going to happen sooner or later. Until then, here are a few funny experiences, told by Saint Stephen’s students.

I was preparing for my first day of 6th grade at a new school. Previously, I went to the same school nearly all my life so this new change was really something hard to get used to. When I arrived with my mom and dad, they hauled me into school. I remember walking from room to room, hearing my new teachers talk about the upcoming year with so much enthusiasm. The whole experience seemed absolutely formidable, until I came upon the one class that seemed familiar. I walked into band and it made me feel like this year might not be a scary as it seemed. In the corner of my eye, I saw my mom talking to a girl in the classroom, but I thought nothing of it. That was a big mistake. My mom asked this 10-year old girl: “Do you want to friends with my daughter?” I was filled with horror!  My mom always tries to play matchmaker…

~Tiffany 11th grade

In my old school, there is a carpool line in front of the school where most students that don’t drive get dropped off in the morning and picked up after school, by their parents. In the morning my dad would drop off my sister and I. Students would stand at front of the school by the carpool line and wait for the bell to ring. It was the normal thing to do, but my sister and I were completely embarrassed of my dad’s car so we always got dropped off in the back and never told him why. My dad has a white van so you can understand the feeling. One day, my dad got mad at us for always being dropped off in the back. We got out and as we were walking to the front, he drove his car around and announced to the world, “Those are my kids, running away from the car.”  We were mortified.

~Anonymous, 10th grade

My mom has a blog that documents the daily activity of our dog. I’m pretty sure she pays more attention to the dog than me.

~Anonymous, 10th grade

I blame myself, but above all I blame my sister. We went to Macy’s to shop for nice shirts for my sister’s graduation. We were walking through the men’s department section, and my sister wanted to stop and smell a cologne by Ed Sheeran, the musician.  The cologne was behind the glass display and a sales associate saw us struggling and waltzed over to assist us. She reached in and grabbed the cologne out from behind the glass display case. She asked us if we were sisters and we said, “Of course, don’t we look alike?”

She laughed and agreed that we do look strikingly similar. Then she asked,  “Is the cologne a birthday gift for your dad, a brother, or a boyfriend.” 

We were too embarrassed to say we just wanted to see what Ed Sheeran smelled like, so at the same time, we both blurted out whatever came into our minds.

My sister said, “boyfriend!” and I said, “brother!” 

The sales associate gave us the strangest look. I really didn’t know what to say, so I just added, “It’s complicated,” and we swiftly walked away. We definitely avoided her for the rest of the day.

~Samantha, 11th grade

We were taking a family trip early in the morning so we all went to bed early. Around 4am, the fire alarm in the house went off. I was tired so it took me a while to wake up and see what was going on, and by then the fire alarm had stopped ringing. I finally got the energy to get up to see what was going on, so I rolled over to get out of bed, but in the corner of my eye I saw a figure dressed in black standing in the room next to me!

I was confused, tired, and scared, so I uttered out the first thing that came to mind: “Who are you?”

Before I could speak again, the figure ran out!

 I was beyond scared for my life.  I thought I was in a bad horror movie. I leaped for my light, but it wouldn’t turn on. So I ran for the closest light.  As I was about the flip the switch, my brother, sister, and dad jumped out and screamed, “boo!” I started balling, because I didn’t know how to feel. I thought I was about to be murdered, but it was just my sick family playing a prank on me. To make matters worse, they went on to tell the story again and again.

~Anonymous

Regardless of where you come from and what kind of family you have, being part of a loving family teaches you two things: One, your family will forever embarrass you, and two, you will come to love your not-so-ordinary family because without them you lose part of yourself. Looking at our families from a birds-eye view, if we dig deep enough we can see ourselves. As different as we are, I see myself in my mother. When she laughs, it reminds me of my laugh and my happiness. Many people are embarrassed by their family and that is understandable, but family will always be an important part of who we are as individuals.