I don't like to answer "What's your most embarrassing moment?" Not because it's so embarrassing, but because I've had so many embarrassing moments that it's hard to choose. I started to wonder if I'm just prone to creating embarrassing situations while others just have a way of avoiding The Awkward or what, but then... it happened. Someone finally did to me what I've done to others.
It wasn't falling. I've fallen in many settings and don't usually find the humor, because I've done it so much and worry about the people getting hurt. My most recent fall occurred at the television station while we were on air. I tripped over one camera in time for the weather guy to go on and he laughed so hard that he couldn't start his forecast. Instead, he announced it to our viewers and while I was steadying myself, I moved his camera so it looked like he was floating around his weather map. Smooth.
No, this person's incident was something I've, again, done many times, but could easily be avoided with a little smarts. The last time I personally did this, I was driving to work last fall. I had switched cars with Kevin that day and as I was approaching an intersection, I saw my beautiful, angular maroon car! It was exciting for me to catch a glimpse of Kevin on my way to work, so I wanted to make sure to catch his attention as I drove past. About half a block before I drove across the intersection, I began waving. He didn't seem to see me, so as I headed toward the middle of the intersection, my wave became more ferocious. My head got involved, bobbling from side to side as my arm flailed about. Finally, I noticed that his head was tracking my car, but he wasn't responding.... that is because, as I realized when I was directly in front of the car, it wasn't Kevin. In fact, the car wasn't even a Mitsubishi like mine. It was an Alero. It was just a tall older man, probably somewhere in his 50s, wondering what sort of maniac I was. I had about eight more blocks to drive before I got to work, and I spent it laughing so hard I wouldn't be surprised if he heard it. I was wailing and tears were streaming down my face.
If I had just looked closer at the type of car it was, this awkward situation could have been avoided. On top of that, if I didn't decide that all tall men must be my husband and maybe, um, paid attention to his hair color when I can't quite see his face, this could have been avoided. Smarts. Most of my embarrassing moments could be avoided with a little smarts.
So I was driving home a few days ago when I had stopped at a red light. I was in Kevin's silver Camry, which is a pretty common car around here. I was doing that thing I do at stoplights where I sit perfectly still and sing to music without moving my lips, because, you know... I don't want to embarrass myself and get caught singing and dancing alone. As soon as the car moves, though, I dance and sing without abandon. Anyway, so a car drives through the intersection and a man in his 50s looks at me excitedly and starts waving all crazy-like, then halfway through the intersection, when I study his face to decide if I know him or not, he gets that look on his face. That, "Oh no, I don't know her. Should I keep waving and act like I do so she thinks she's wrong and knows me? Or do I look stupid and abruptly put my hand down??" Face. And I don't know if I should play along and act like I knew him to make him feel better. You know, do my good deed for the day. Or just let it go and let him tell someone his embarrassing I Waved At Someone And It Turned Out It Wasn't My Wife story.
