If you will, please think back to the early 1990's. Kids were basically the same then as they are now, we just had fewer electronic devices. We had a rotary phone. If you wanted to watch something on TV, you had to make sure you were home and on the couch when it came on. Everyone made mix tapes that were actual tapes, from songs you recorded from the radio.

I was in sixth grade. I was eleven years old. I don't remember exactly when it started, but at some point I saw a cartoon named Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Looking back on it now, it just started a pattern for me.  I find something I like, then I go WAY OVERBOARD with enthusiasm. I'm talking about being obsessed with whatever the thing is for months at a time. It would happen with other things in my teen years: Paula Abdul, Keanu Reeves, The Beatles.

I had to read all about the show, who created it, who wrote for it, who did the voices, everything. I begged my parents for every bit of TMNT merchandise that could be bought for me. Anything. Everything. I had a backpack, a blanket, toys, posters, books, video games, notebooks, folders, socks, trading cards, you get it.

Well, I thought they were the coolest thing ever. I watched them every day, and I would tape the episodes, trying my best to pause the recording during the commercials and resume at the right time. I would watch and rewatch those tapes so many times that I had episodes Memorized.  Then there was a movie. I remember going with my father and being so excited that I could barely sit still.

Turns out, though, that girls were "not supposed" to like this thing. This was supposed to be a thing for boys. I would get made fun of quite a bit for liking this show.  So many times kids would ask me if I was going to marry a ninja turtle, if I wished I was a turtle, and often they were call me masculine pronouns or nicknames - since I liked something for boys, that meant I was a boy, right?

The school bus was the worst. I remember carrying my big TMNT backpack down the aisle and jerking back and forth from kids grabbing at it.  The bus was often very overcrowded, and sometimes a bullyish girl would sit in my assigned seat, making me either cram three kids into one seat or ask someone else if I could sit with them. If I did sit where I was supposed to, it was non stop ridicule for the turtle thing. I won't get into too many details of what she said, but I think you can picture it.

I had friends, don't get me wrong. They tolerated my weirdness because they had weird stuff they liked "too much" as well.  One girl was a Disney freak (still is, really), another loved the New Kids on the Block, one was way too into horses, stuff like that. We all had our things.

But the day had to come.  One day I would just finally give up. It happened when I was in a social studies class.  There was a boy sitting behind me that would tease me a little (but he was mostly nice) and he asked me to see my TMNT trading cards. I passed them to him, and he got caught by the teacher.  She confiscated them, muttering something about how these looked like they were for Kindergartners. That was it. I was done.  As much as I loved these characters and these stories, I just couldn't take anymore.

So, I sat my parents down. I told them, please don't get me any more turtle stuff. I told them that I was going to use an old backpack and regular folders. I think they understood.  Now, it's something to look back on as a teachable moment. It didn't stop me from being obsessed with other things in pop culture. Soon after the Turtle phase I found music. And really, the way I found music lead me to become the person I am today. So for that, I am very grateful. I learned how to deal with teasing and learned to accept that I am not "cool" in the traditional sense. I learned a lot about myself, and what I wanted to be, and who I wanted to associate with.

So really, although I may have ruined my pre-teen social life by being a giant turtle nerd, it was worth it.  And now, I have a husband who bought me the complete series of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on dvd for a birthday present.

Cowabungily yours,
Behka

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