The Bully with Short Hair

My daughter had a sleepover this past weekend with eight friends! It was a camp-out sleepover because our house is small. We had two tents in the backyard and a campfire. I slept - or rather attempted to sleep - in a hammock on our deck so I could guard against wayward raccoons and foxes. The girls watched a scary movie before bedtime so I was also the defender against any ghouls that wandered into Smokey Acres. 

I loved listening to them chat about hair and boys and music and boys and clothes and boys. As I listen to them giggling my daughter said, "Oh, my mom has the best bully story!" And, I thought, "Omigosh! Which one?" And then she said, "Remember the picture girl, Mom?" And, oh yes! I remembered that story!

When my son was not yet one, I went shopping at the local mall. I never go to the mall! The mall is my nightmare! But, I was at the mall and went into the Bath and Body Works shop to smell all the new lotions and bath gels. I was behind a display and I heard a voice at the counter. My head whipped up because I knew that raspy whine from years before. I peeked around the display and there stood my nemesis. The little pipsqueak that had tormented me in high school. She still had her snarl but she looked weak. She was far less intimidating off-campus with 14 years of life under my belt. 

The cashier was complimenting her on her hair. It was still big 80's hair but it was shorter. It was like cotton balls dipped in black and piled on her head. I heard her tell the cashier, "Oh, my hair was much longer in high school." And the cashier replied, "It must've been very pretty." And then it happened! My nemesis said, I kid you not, "Would you like to see a picture? I have my senior picture here in my wallet."

WHAT?

We graduated 14 years ago and your carry your senior picture around IN YOUR WALLET!?!? 

Well, I had seen all I needed to see. I whispered to my Mitchell, "We are all done here, buddy!" And off we went.

The girls laughed when I told them the story. I said, "There is a lesson here. Bullies are just cowards and when they get out in the real world they often don't fare well. Be good people so you can show people pictures of you and your friends...not you and your 80's hair-do."

I have thought of the moment a few times since it happened. Mostly I find it sad. I find it sad that this girl was so mean in high school and likely out of high school that she carried her own picture around in a little plastic photo case. Were her high school years her best? Did she peak in those four years? I may have suffered through those years but I am so thankful those years were not the years that defined me. I think my life began at high school graduation...it definitely was not the closing act.