Write about a humiliating exposure.

Oh, Gawd. Which one should I choose? So many humiliating exposures, so little time.

I could recount an incident when I was about 13 years old and opened the front door to get the newspaper. I was wearing an unattractive, old-lady, floor-length robe; my hair was in giant rollers underneath the bonnet of the hairdryer stretched over the top of my head; and my lovely retainer was in my mouth, giving me a lisp and making my voice sound eerily similar to Elmer Fudd's. Unfortunately, little did I know that my mad, secret crush from down the street was just about to ring the bell. He wanted to speak to my brother. Utter embarrassment! I did one of those numbers that you see in the cartoons; I immediately shut the door in his face and called for Mike to re-answer it. Classy move.

Then there was the time I unknowingly walked into the empty men's restroom at the airport when I was a young girl. I had no idea what a urinal was and wondered curiously about those funny looking sinks as I hurried into a stall and closed the door. Moments later, I realized my embarrassing mistake when I heard the sound of men's voices entering the room. Painfully aware of my telltale girl's legs and shoes visible under the doorway, I silently waited in the stall, finally emerging when I thought the coast was clear. It wasn't. I scurried past the lone man at the urinal, walking as fast as I could and not even daring to glance sideways. His shock at seeing me in the mirror probably matched my humiliation!

At least half of the online world has probably accidentally pushed the reply button rather than the forward button, or vice versa, at one time or another. There's nothing like those ensuing few moments of panic when you realize you just sent a snide comment to exactly the wrong person and there's absolutely nothing you can do to retrieve it. It happened to me with an older, retired man who was interested in researching our common surname. The problem was that everytime I'd go online, he'd start chatting with me and it was hard to extricate myself once the conversation got started. I complained about it to my buddy Darlene, intending to forward a copy of my latest lengthy chat session with him. Unwittingly I hit the reply button instead, and my unflattering remarks instantly went back to him. Oh, I still cringe at the memory! I sent him a profuse apology, explaining that I usually signed on with the intention of only spending a minute or two to collect messages. He told me not to worry about it. Soon afterwards, we both attended a big family reunion in Texas. As he walked into the meeting room, he loudly proclaimed that he had trouble checking into the hotel since they had lost his reservation. "I figured SHARON probably canceled it," he added, winking at me. Turns out that he had a great sense of humor and we're still friends via email. He rarely attempts to chat with me anymore, however. :)

I guess everyone encounters many embarrassing situations as they go through life. The trick is not to dwell on the humiliation. As I've grown older, I've also gotten better at laughing at my own embarrassment and forging on ahead. Or, in more serious cases, apologizing sincerely before moving on.