While middle schoolers these days look and act more like we do now, you know…AFTER our glo up, we can look back and appreciate our journey to the top. No, I’m not going to go over all the fashion mistakes made or all the makeup horrors we shared with the world. Instead I would like to go over the top four things we all spent most of our time doing, whether we realized it or not. Either to pass the time or set ourselves a part, these four things were a big, unrecognized part of our time in the early 2000s.
1. Choosing your Top 8 on MySpace
It felt like life or death. Pick the right 8 and you were gold. Put your crush up too soon? It could be social suicide. Now, we keep our circles small so choosing a top 8 today would be no sweat.
2. Perfecting your hair style
Everyone had a signature style. Whether you rocked braids every day or had a perm, you made a choice and if it paid off, you were a trendsetter. One trend some of the guys set was growing their hair down past their eyes and rocking the “perfect swoosh” to keep it all to the side. This was a trend long before the Biebs made it famous as a young teen star. Can you imagine how much time guys have spent flipping their hair? Sounds like strengthening exercises for your neck muscles to me.
3. Choosing the colors of the bands in your braces
Many of us went through this awkward stage of wearing metal brackets on our teeth and being tormented by if our braces would lock together on our first kisses. The thought of picking out the colors for our braces was much harder though. The long minutes spent agonizing on the way to the orthodontist’s office, wondering what color(s) we wanted for the next few months were exhausting. It was hard to commit. Now, we’re thankful for those months but the pictures are still unbearable.
4. Answering Facebook notes & tagging friends
These cute questionnaires circulated every few weeks with more or less the same questions. Confessing you had a crush but left others wondering who, sharing your favorite candy, and stating what the last thing you ate was, was exciting! You couldn’t wait to see your friends’ answers when you would tag the required ten. I remember late nights spent wondering if answering “umm…idk ;)” was a cute response. Facebook doesn’t even use notes now! But as adults, we still like playing 20 questions sometimes.
As much time we spent obsessing over little details like these of our lives, they make reminicsing over our middle school years more relatable and bearable because we know we all did it. Kids today will never know the beauty of these awkward, fun, and exciting times. Let’s embrace them and definitely force our children to do them one day. It’s only fair, right?
HCXO!