My senior year of college, I was walking with my friends, Eric and Michael. All of a sudden, without preamble, Michael turned to me and said, “you would probably win the hunger games.”
“Well, probably. I win most games.”
I don’t actually know why he said that, other than the fact that it was 2012 and the Hunger Games novels were at the height of popularity, but it stuck with. I also don’t know if he meant it as a compliment, he may have been pointing out the fact that I am a board game bully and that I am willing to lose every friend I’ve ever had to win a game. I have still chosen to remember it as a compliment. Actually, I have chosen to remember it as the best compliment I have ever received.
“Katie Daroff would probably win the hunger games.” It’s right up there with, “Katie would probably make a good Nascar driver,” and “huh, Katie’s actually a pretty good writer.”
There are just some things that you don’t forget, even if you forget the context for them. I think it’s because they are the moments in which your friends see something about you that you like or try to be. We all want to be seen as our best selves. We want our flaws to be seen as beautiful things. We want those to be the reasons to be loved not something we are loved in spite of.
I will tell you straight up, I am competitive. It is not my most attractive quality. It is a big part of my personality. I’ve had to retire from playing certain games at camp because winning is more important to me than making sure the kids have a good time. So, when someone sees that quality and says, “that’s great,” that isn’t something I forget easily.
That isn’t something any of us usually forget.
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