When I was little I was never the little girl that played with dolls, painted my nails, or any of the things the other girls did. I was the little girl that hung out with the boys and skateboarded, rode bikes, played in the mud, would play fight, and play with frogs and bugs.

One day I got my very first skateboard. I would take it to the park and try to do tricks and other things like I saw the older kids do. While I was playing with it at the park and hurting myself trying, a bunch of older kids showed up and saw me with the board, they asked to see it and I let them because I was just a shy 8 year old while they were big 16-18 year olds.

They were the big kids and I wanted to be one of them.

I gave them my board and they started doing cool tricks, I sat and watched patiently as they did so, hoping they’d remember me and teach me something. They didn’t notice me sitting and watching as they talked and shared my board.

I felt forgotten and unimportant.

While I was sitting there watching one of the three girls sat next to me and started talking to me, she asked me a bunch of questions and made jokes. She asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up.

“Tony Hawk!” I told her excitedly, smiling up at her.

She laughed and told me that if I worked hard enough that I could become as good as him but I should always remember to be myself.

At first I was just really confused but when I went home to tell my parents, after the big kids left, my mom explained to me what she meant and I felt overjoyed that she had told me that.

“A big kid cares about me!” I shouted as I ran to my room to put my board away.

I learned that day that being myself was a great thing and that I didn’t have to be like the other girls to be normal, that I was good just the way I was. I felt like I had learned a whole new meaning to life at the age of 8 years old.