The awkwardness of youth

I need to post something, so here's a story...

Two months ago I had an uncomfortable encounter with myself. I mean, there I was at a Bar Mitzvah, and I'm looking at this other person, and this other person was me.

Well, he wasn't exactly me -- not in the sense that he and I were one and the same person. This isn't the Twilight Zone. But it was like putting a 20-year-old videotape in the VCR and watching old footage of myself. And seeing myself as I was twenty years ago was not pleasant. It's been two months, and it still comes out gibberish when I write about it.

Think back to a time in our lives before we had learned how to handle the everyday demands of life. Back when our flaws were so exposed -- because we were too young to know how else to be. It is something we want to be forgotten. And when we see it, we just want to cover our eyes and cringe.