Pioneer Park

When I was in Kindergarten, I was really shy. I'm still introverted, but then, as my dad puts it, I probably would have sat in a corner all year if I hadn't known somebody.

I'm sad to say, it's probably true. I was terrified of talking to people. So when I began to be bullied, it was pretty awful for me. The reason behind it, as far as I know, was because I was short. I still am short, actually. I was afraid to stand up for myself. I believe I told my parents, and it stopped for some time, but then they started up again. The bullies were three boys who were bigger, stronger, and faster than me. Every day, at recess, they would chase me around the playground, and when they caught me, because they always did, the teasing would ensue. It wasn't serious, really. I didn't need therapy or anything, but I have to say, it was fairly traumatizing.

This is a pretty depressing story, right now. But then, something amazing happened. I must've told my friend, and soon, she was supporting me. Others began to as well, and before my eyes, in less than a week, the entire full-day Kindergarten class was on 'Brynn's team'. It sounds silly, but I was the 'queen', as they called it. It was so great. Everybody in my class, all 25 or so except for the bullies, had my back. That was one of the most beautiful feelings in the world, right there, knowing that people liked me enough to stand up for me. After that, they bullying stopped, and I haven't been bullied seriously since.

Since this, I've had the incredible good fortune to find an fabulous group of friend who support me everyday. They accept me and my strangeness wholeheartedly, and I couldn't ask for anything better.

The funny thing is, at that same park that I got bullied on, I also broke my arm. So you'd think I'd absolutely hate that park, or be afraid of it. But just recently, I went there with a couple of my friends after an event, and we had tons of fun playing on equipment much too small for us. That's what I remember now, and I also remember all the great things that have happened on that park since those incidents, or between them.

Having a friend say goodbye and give me his picture (which I still have to this day), right before he had to move. Posing in front of it at the end of second grade. All of the times I laughed and played with my friends and classmates there. I think that I have the ability to always see the glass as half full, be the optimist. I take the good in something and put that in front of all the bad, because that's just the way I am. That's what makes me special, and I've found some very special people in my life to embrace that.