I don’t know about you, but the world seems to be getting pretty (insert your favorite colorful word here) intense. While I like to stay informed, I also like to laugh to deal with stress. And, I need some chuckles these days.
Today, the wonderful Kris Bryant is here to help us laugh with an embarrassing story. Also, Kris is giving away an ecopy of Temptation. Below the guest post, you’ll find more details about the giveaway.
Take it away Kris.
Connect-The-Dots of Embarrassing Moments
My life is a connect-the-dots of embarrassing moments. I think this is true for a lot of us. Our experiences shape us. They make us stronger or weaken us. I grew up overseas and when my dad retired, he found a job in Kansas City, Missouri. I started middle school with students who had been friends since pre-school. Outsiders weren’t welcomed and it was very hard to make friends, especially since I knew nothing about American pop culture, music, television, etc. Eventually, I found a few students who were just as wonderfully nerdy as I was, but we were never popular. We were never on anyone’s radar for anything. One day, in the seventh grade, I woke up with a lip full of cold sores. Why not, God? Why not add to my anxiety of never fitting it? So, after begging my parents to please not send me to school, they made me get on the bus and go anyway.
For the full effect, let me explain the layout of my middle school. The seventh grade was divided up into three teams. I was on the smallest team – Team Alpha and a few times a month, we would open up the foldable walls so that all the seventh graders from all three teams (Omega and Spartan were the other two) were in one giant room. Probably about 150 students total. Well, that same week, the teachers were giving out fun little gifts (it was probably around the holidays) and in front of all 150 students, two teachers pulled me up in front of the giant classroom and handed me a pencil that was decorated with army green camouflage so that I could “hide my lip.” Not only was it embarrassing, but it was mean. They thought it was hysterical. Whenever I think of embarrassing moments, that one always pops up because it was horrific.
Several years ago, I coached YMCA girls’ basketball and I had one player who always had cold sores. I talked to her parents about prescriptions available because I remember how horrible I felt whenever I had one when I was in school. They blew it off like it was no big deal and I explained to them how it affected me and how it could possibly be affecting her. Middle school and high school can be brutal or it can be the best time of your life. Thankfully, I survived and am living the best time of my life now. Embarrassing moments, regardless of how small or large, have shaped me. Some of them have hardened me, some have made me laugh. I love my friends now because we enjoy sharing horribly embarrassing stories and laugh because we are human and we make mistakes. And embarrassing moments never stop.
Oh, and don’t even get me started on the time I had to wear an eye patch for three weeks in the eighth grade. Or the time last year when I asked a co-worker if she was pregnant and she wasn’t. To be fair, most of us have probably done that. Although, I insisted she was and she made it very clear that she wasn’t. Boundaries. I’m still learning them. And they are littered with embarrassing moments.
GIVEAWAY
TEMPTATION
by Kris Bryant
Cassie Miller is broke. Her parents cut off all funding when she dropped out of medical school, and graduate school is expensive. A full-time nanny job at the Wellington estate is the answer to her problems, except working for beautiful, successful Brook Wellington wasn’t in the job description.
Brook has always had a head for business. Born into a global shipping empire, she sits at the helm running it with skill and savvy. But success comes at a cost. Her priority is her six-year-old son, but she can’t be in two places at once. Hiring a nanny isn’t the perfect solution, but it would certainly help, and Cassie came highly recommended. If only she wasn’t so damn attractive.
Can Cassie and Brook deny their growing attraction and keep things professional? Or will they sidestep propriety and give in to temptation?
Temptation Giveaway
MEET THE AUTHOR
Award winning author Kris Bryant was born in Tacoma, WA but has lived all over the world and now considers Kansas City her home. She received her B.A. in English from the University of Missouri and spends a lot of her time buried in books. She enjoys hiking, photography, spending time with her family, and her dog, Molly (who gets more attention than she does on Facebook).
CONNECT WITH KRIS BRYANT
Thanks for stopping by today!
Kris thanks for sharing! I’ve also made the mistake of asking if someone was pregnant when she was not. Fortunately for me I was asking someone else (gossipy I know!) but it still became awkward.
It’s such an awful feeling. I have no idea why I felt the need to ask. Then when she really was, I jumped up and yelled – “I told you so” and she said – that was months ago. I’m only 6 weeks.