I Failed Gym Class

More than once too. I wasn't much of an athlete in the first place, although I loved gymnastics. The whole blind-as-a-bat-thing interfered with all sports played with balls....and alas, most of them are.I could run pretty fast and jump pretty high, but catching balls or hitting what I was throwing at...not so much.

However, I was a tough little thing and could perform with a reasonable level of sufficiency. I probably could have gotten by and passed...somehow....

So why did I fail? Because I was terribly shy and would not, could not, undress and shower with other girls.  I "forgot" my required gym uniform. Often. Daily in fact. 

The uniform wasn't the only way I skated around the issue either. It was possible to hide in plain sight. The whole invisible act, kinda like an ostrich. Even today I am a pretty good hider in full view and still not be noticed sort. I get stepped over in lines and nearly knocked off stairs all the time, by taller, more aggressive folks.

You could also wet your hair in the sink and sneak off between the lockers, more or less unnoticed, pretending to already be done with the shower. I was never a popular kid so I got away with it, but the whole missing uniform/missing class/sitting on the bleachers reading a book thing was hard on my grade.

I managed to graduate from high school and get in a couple of years of college without ever showering in public. (The one exception to my nearly perfect record was a trip to swim at the Y as an adult. And I still shudder.)

So I failed gym. My other grades were generally adequate to keep me from being held back so it didn't really matter.

I admit to being a child of the fifties, an era much more closed and private and secret than today. I am utterly an introvert. However, I suspect that there are plenty of girls today, not unlike myself, who are shy, and careful, and private about themselves. 

What on earth are they doing to do when boys are added to the misery of those public showers?

I hate to even think.