Who among us has not been humiliated or humbled by that one naked picture our parents just had to take of us when we were babies? Then there were also the “baby’s first bath” and “potty training” pictures. Maybe your mom had you sit on the baby potty with a magazine or newspaper? Perhaps it’s just one of those things that doesn’t seem funny until you are a parent. For whatever reason, there are photo albums all over the world filled with embarrassing baby pictures. Once you move past the naked baby stage, you get into awkward kid phase where your teeth are missing, your leg is broken, and you are just a little too young for contact lenses. Next comes the teen pictures, where you think you looked so cool, but ten, twenty, and thirty years later you laugh about how corny you looked.
It is amazing how many memories can be evoked by one flip through the family album. There is no way we can have all our childhood at the forefront of our minds at all times, so it is nice to occasionally sit down and reminisce about the years gone by. If you are dating someone you are considering marrying, take them home with you to see those embarrassing family albums. If you are seriously considering marriage, then let them see the home videos.
If you are positive that you are dating “the one,” let your family and friends sit down with your spouse-to-be and tell him or her tons of embarrassing stories about you. A little humiliation for the sake of bringing him or her into your life at that level is worth it. Plus, if you are sure that this person is the one for you, you should trust him or her enough to know those parts of your life. Your friends and family will enjoy telling on you (although, depending on your past, you may want to only ask friends over that will keep your stories appropriate), and it will give them a chance to spend quality time with your future spouse. Laughter and humor are great ways to get comfortable with someone quickly.
So, here’s the deal: if one of you is subject to this potentially embarrassing trip down memory lane, both of you should be. Both people’s friends and family should be swapping embarrassing childhood stories. Some families are naturally more jovial than others, but almost any family would be willing to share those stories even if they are not as funny as others. Also, hearing stories about his or her childhood can give you great insight into your beloved’s personality.
If you know you are going to spend a chunk of time with each other’s families, make a list of questions for them. Ask them a mixture of fun and serious questions about how she was as a little girl or how he was in high school. Even though you will be, or at least should be, the most important person in each other’s lives after marriage, you will likely have missed a significant portion of each others’ lives (unless you grew up around each other). So, why not take the opportunity to bring yourself up to speed and have a lot of fun in the process. Get out your luggage (if you need it) or just take a drive across town, and come ready to learn all you can about your potential spouse!
What’s one of your embarrassing childhood stories?
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