Chess and Grow Up Underwhelmed

  We have proud moments in our life that make us who we are and who we were. I have a few of those moments that make me smile as remember them. When my child was born, when I got married, and the first time I saw my first car are just some of those events. Some moments aren't that easy to point out.
  Once when I was in first period in high school, on the first day of my senior year and I was trying to be inconspicuous. That was the way I was in school. I hide who I really was from the rest of my classmates. Note: I am not saying that they weren't doing the same thing I was, I believed I just better at it. I didn't do well in school on purpose; I didn't want to flunk either.
  The announcements came on and soon they were talking about chess club. I almost laughed when my name was mentioned.
  "CHESS CLUB WILL BE STARTED SOON AND JAMES FARNWORTH IS THE ONE TO BEAT."
  I looked up and around and found all eyes in the class staring back at me, including the teacher. Shock was the only word to explain want I say in their eyes. The weeks that followed left me playing against fellow students that thought they were better than me, both at chess, intelligence, and other things that go along with being a high school student.
  Lunch time, I sat behind the counselor's desk taken on students and a few teachers. The counsel ask me one day to even comment on who I thought would help us win at Chess meets. Our sports teams may not have won every match, but the Chess team, my Chess team won every meet. I was proud of myself and my teammates. Alas, no letter given for kicking the crap out of other Chess player from other school's.
  For a while was the best at something and it was defiantly out of character to who I wanted everyone to think I was, which was someone that didn't care about what people thought about me. However, it was the opposite of what I was, an insecure teenage like everyone else.