“Did that seriously just happen?” I think to myself. I couldn’t believe what had just occurred. Only me. This would only happen to me. What was I thinking?

     It all began when I decided to take a shower in the family bathroom at the YMCA gym. I had been having a problem with little girls peeking into the shower and I was fed up with yelling at them to stop, so I decided to try the family bathroom. The bathroom had an entrance door from the gym with a waiting room inside, and then three shower rooms with locked doors. I entered the shower directly across from the entrance door. After washing up, I realized I had forgotten to pick up a bathing necessity, a towel.

     I began to panic. I needed a way to dry off and had little amount of time to do so. As an 11-year-old, a sense of fashion was a priority, and wet clothes were just not going to happen. Then I remembered that next to the entrance was a huge stack of towels. So I figured I could just run out and grab one before anyone would notice, but there were a few problems on the way. One, in order to get a towel I would have to run to the other side of the room naked. Two, any male or female could walk through the door at any given moment. But I was a stubborn girl and didn’t think it would be a big deal, and the plan sounded easy as pie.

     So I cracked open the door and peeked to see if anyone was out there. The coast was clear, and the towels were right across from me. I could almost feel the dryness. I then ran with all my might to the towels, when all of a sudden in the corner of my eye I saw the door knob turn. As the door swung wide open, my heart pounded and my feet flew up in the air when I slipped on a puddle of water on the tile floor. I landed with a big thump, legs and arms sprawled without a stitch of clothing and no towel in hand. I looked to my left in agony making awkward eye contact with an old man probably in his mid-80’s. He just stared at me exclaiming “Ohh ohhh ohh,” as I repeatedly screamed “go away!!!” like a broken track record. Meanwhile, I was unsuccessfully trying to stand up while attempting to cover certain private areas. He started to draw near to help me up, but finally my screams got through his head, and he left the room.

     I frantically got up, grabbing the one towel that caused this trouble and made my way back to the shower room. I sat there, trying to catch my breath, before leaving the room. This whole incident felt like a nightmare, and I didn’t want to show my face ever again. As I made my way through the gym, I passed the old man and he was talking to his daughter. I heard him say, “There was a little girl lying on the floor with no clothes, it was so sad, and I didn’t know what to do.” I covered my face with my hair, so that he wouldn’t notice me pass, and luckily he did not.

       With this embarrassing moment behind me, I have learned not only to be prepared and have everything I need ahead of time, but that no matter the obstacle or fear, everything will work out in the long run.