Reflection on my own experience

The situation I can think of goes way back to when I was a child, about fourteen or fifteen years ago. I know there are more, but this particular situation left me feeling uncomfortable and had somewhat of an impact on the person I am today. I feel as though the situation I was put in somewhat shaped me to be the person I am today; quiet and reserved when in front of large groups of people.
I remember my childhood quite fondly when I think back to the days my mom would drop me off at my grandma’s house and we would do whatever in the world we could think of. Shopping, going out to lunch, watching TV, and playing cards and board games were most of the things we took part in during our long summer days together when I did not have to attend school. It was the best time of my life. I was completely spoiled by my grandma and she saw nothing wrong with it. I spent endless nights at my grandparent’s house and my grandpa was just as much fun as my grandma, teaching me about golf, computers, boxing, and flying (he was a pilot and had his own small plane at the time). The list could go on forever about the things I learned and did with my grandparents.
Although I had the time of my life from the moment I was dropped off at grandma’s to the time I left, I was missing some interaction with kids my age. I went to a small, catholic school, so I had lots of close friends there, but the best ones I had always seemed to go away for the summer. This left me to find kids to play with around my grandma’s house. The day I met Melissa, a neighbor from own the street who was two years older than me, was what I thought to be the start of a very good friendship. She was older, knew better games to play, and she had a brother one year younger than me. The perfect sized play group, or so I thought.
The first couple days I new Melissa we had a blast and could mostly be found playing outside in my grandma’s nicely kept, big yard. It wasn’t until about three days into our friendship when she said something to me that left a part of me scarred and sometimes afraid to speak in front of large groups of people. Melissa told me to my face that I “talk like a baby.” She did not mean it in the sense that I cooed and gurgled, yet she said this meaning that I had a voice like a baby. My voice was never loud or unbearable, as I was always a mild mannered kid yet, there was something about the tone I held when I spoke which lead my new BFF (or what I had thought to be) to say something hurtful like this to me.
As I looked back on the situation as I was growing up, I always kept in the back of my mind, the look on her face and the tone of her voice as she told me that I talked or sounded like a baby, a little kid even. I was eight years old, I did not want to be viewed as a little child… I thought I was big and smart. Now that I am an adult, I still look back on that day and realize that she did not actually mean the words she spoke; she was upset that my grandma had called me in to get cleaned up before my mom came to pick me up. Melissa spoke those words out of frustration that I had to go inside and could not stay out to play with her and her brother any longer. Even though I know that Melissa may not have truly meant those words, I always keep that comment glued in the back of my head and I feel as though it has given me the type of personality I have today.