Shout Out for Doug

Most of the time when I explain I was shy as a child, people don’t believe my statement. I remember being in Food World as an elementary student with my mother and hoping I would not run into any of my schoolmates. But of course, there they would be with their mothers. They were probably in the frozen food section buying dinner like us. My mother’s interests do not include cooking, and she’s a vegetarian, so I was probably contemplating the choices, three cheese or vegetable lasagna. My mother has always been a strict enforcer of friendliness, which I am so thankful for looking back, but at the time I disliked the awkward encounters. At family reunions my cousins would come up, asking if 6-year-old Chasley had a boyfriend. There I would be, clinging to my mother. I would embarrass her, which is why she would never let me get away with the I’m going pretend like I don’t see you and ignore you attitude. As I got older, I got better. I wasn’t hiding my face in my mother’s side at 14, but I definitely needed a little encouragement, and that encouragement came on the first day of my sophomore year at Scottsboro High School. Doug will talk about the first time he tried talking to me. He says I just put my head down, and gave him short, to the point answers. Everyone loves him, and he is one of the nicest guys I have ever met. He was SGA President, starting point guard and Class Favorite just to mention a few. He sat behind me in my first class of the day, and as I sat in my desk waiting for my second class to start, in walks Doug. I don’t really know what happened for our second encounter, but somehow a friendship would form. Doug brought the silly, goofy and real me out, something that I had been holding back. I’d like the think I kept Doug in line for his senior year of high school. He attended my volleyball games, and I attended his basketball games. Every Sunday night he would call while he was working at K-Mart. I don’t really know how he got away with the forty-five minute phone calls every week, but he did. Last year during the Holiday’s, I talked Doug into meeting me at the basketball courts for a game of one on one. I missed a shot and lost a bet, so for a week last January I had to call him everyday. He claims that I slacked and missed a few days, but I would do no such thing. Still to this day, Doug and I have a great relationship. He always makes me laugh, and our phone conversation last week while he was in Kansas City was no different. Doug always gave me shout outs as he made the morning announcements at Scottsboro High School, so here’s your shout out on Chasleyland. Thanks for allowing me to be the person that I am, and taking the time to get to know the “shy, sophomore girl”.