Behind The Awkwardness

Bikeless

“Christmas morning, and everybody except young Tim (middle) gets a new bike. We as parents should have anticipated the reaction.”

(submitted by Scott)

Tossed

“This is a picture of my younger sister – she was determined to win the elementary school Halloween Costume Contest that year. My mother came up with the brilliant idea to turn her into a salad for Halloween. Her hands were a fork and a spoon and her feet were also tomatoes to match her head. Of course, that year they decided to forgo the Halloween Costume Contest and she was just plain miserable all night, next to her friends that were dressed as princesses and ballerinas.”

(submitted by Toni)

The Steal

“Here’s my wife tossing the bouquet… two of my sisters, a friend, and only a distant cousin reaching for it. Believe it or not, the flowers were caught but my sister in the center– off-hand snag. Funny thing is that everybody in the picture got hitched within five years… that is, except for the young lady reaching for the flowers.”

(submitted by Duncan)

Twins

“This is a photo of my sister and me, taken around 1991 (she is on the right, I’m on the left). I remember being incredibly grumpy that day, as I loathed getting our photos taken for three reasons:

1.) I had to sleep in uncomfortable curlers the night before, which always made for a poor night’s rest.
2.) I hated being dressed as twins, especially since my sister and I are not twins.
3.) Wearing identical “Spumoni” sweatshirts: Spumoni was a line of clothing from the late eighties that appealed to young girls with its screen-print overkill: it utilized repetitive patterns of dogs, cats, flowers, and bows–resplendently displayed as puffy white vinyl designs. While I had been fine wearing this sweatshirt two years before, donning this again at eleven did not hold the same charm as it once did, and thus walking through the mall to the Sears Portrait Studio felt like a death march. However, I am sure my mother believed that my sister and I were simply darling in our matching attire with complimenting curls, so this photo bears witness to that crappy day so long ago.”

(submitted by Brenna)

White Alert

“So my father was a police officer and was generally very up-to-date on techniques for ensuring child safety. That meant that anytime we went on vacation as a family to a place with the slightest crowd, all four of us had to wear the same t-shirts so that we could easily be spotted in a crowd. I’m the cool kid on the right with the Flock of Seagulls haircut, wearing my shirt as a dress apparently. I guess these shirts weren’t nearly effective enough either since they were later replaced with bright purple t-shirts with various dinosaurs on each”

(submitted by Matt)

Win Win

The award was for the 1979 Boulder High School marching band winning the best in the state. I played the snare drum, which was extra hard since I had to use one hand to keep my dress/kilt down in case a swift updraft whooshed by. Even though the outfit is gone, I still have the trophy and always manage to bring it on first dates as a conversation starter.

– “Mitch, what’s that 3 foot trophy doing on the table?!”
– “Oh, that old thing? Lemme tell ya a story, m’lady…!”

(submitted by Mitch at http://www.mitchoconnell.com)

Love Triangle

“This is a photo with me, my husband, daughter and all my in-laws. In the very center of the picture, my mother in law is pressed up against her husband and ex-husband on each side. AWKWARD!”

(submitted by Jennifer)

Rope Burn

“My twin brother and I tied to our side porch by my father and grandfather to prevent us from walking in the concrete they were pouring out back. In his defense, he did leave us a box of toys and a sweet pair of boots within rope’s length. Mom and grandma were not pleased upon their return.”

(submitted by Chris)

Motor Mouth

“I used to be a chatter box when I was younger & my mom had this sweat shirt screen printed for me during a winter vacation. As you can imagine, I was thrilled about it.”

(submitted by Savannah)

You May Kiss The Bride

“I’m the bride and these are my two sisters. The photographer asked my sisters to give me a kiss and well, this is how it turned out.”

(submitted by Tasha)