The year I was 13 meant I had to give up "freedoms" for "responsibilities". It was also the year I got braces, was teased because I was tall and skinny, flat-as-a-pancake, and had glasses, not to mention a straight-A student. I hate looking back at photos from that year and the ones following, because my self-esteem has never fully recovered from the feeling from being teased as "ugly" and not being able to fit in with what culture/society said was "cool" from that time in life. (though my husband says I was cute!) Today, I'm a beautiful, smart, self-confident and very successful business owner (just ask my husband)—yet I still cringe when my family pulls out the photos from 11 years ago, when I was the ugly duckling.
Liah
Queensland, Australia

My life at 13 was much of a transitional state. My grandfather had passed away and I was changing into a new social group. My mother found a new husband, so I moved the summer before 8th grade started, right after I had just adjusted to junior high. It seemed like my life was turned upside down.
Michele
Irvine, Calif.

I am turning 13 in 12 days and I am looking forward to it. I am sick of being "too young" or "not ready"! It's time to become a teenager and move out into the world.
Jen
Buffalo, N.Y.

Life at 13 was very confusing for me. My mother was sick all the time and trying to raise 6 children. She died when I was 14. I felt I didn't fit in at school, becasue I didn't have the right clothes. I was also very shy. I miss the time with my family, but not the social aspects of being 13. If you didn't have nice clothes or money, you were an outcast. Very thankful to be an adult now.
Patty
Louisville, Ky.

I thought it was supposed to be the worst year because nothing was going right at all.
Nicole Williams
Kansas City, Mo.

I was a 13-year-old HS freshmen in 1971. With all the craziness going on in the world, my world revolved around my childhood friends (boys and girls). We went to the local pool in the summer, went to New York Mets games, rode bikes and spent all of our free time outside! The tweens of today are exposed to things, in the movies and TV, that are maturing them way to soon. I'm happy to say that I'm still friends with most of those kids. Whenever we get together we laugh at all the fun and crazy things we did together and how innocent we all were at that time of our lives.
Dianne
New York, N.Y.

I am 13 right now. Being thirteen meens a lot of things. Most of us are trying to be cool and popular and getting all of the girls, and most of us care too much about video games and violent movies. We don't care about our school work anymore. I'm asking all the thirteen year olds out there to look deep into your life.
Michael Rodriguez
Bridgeport, Conn.

It was the worst year of my life—1982. I have never talked to anyone who reflects happily upon that age. It was a confusing time because I was changing and my parents were too busy fighting for custody of my younger sister and me to be a support system for that delicate time. I floundered socially through school but excelled academically ... still, I never knew the joy of that "magic" age.
Dianne Lopez
Olympia, Wash.

I was 13 two years ago. It wasn't like everyone thinks—I didn't have all the clothes and all the friends and all the perfect stuff. I had anger—my parents had just moved the family cross-country from Arkansas to California. Talk about culture shock. It was one of those years that I'd never give up for anything but wish so badly that I could have done without. It was horrible and it was part of growing up. And no one except my fellow teenagers get it.
Rachel
San Diego, Calif.

That was way back in 1979. I was in my third year in high school. I was lively. Had my first ever boyfriend, but no sex; not even a kiss. Just a few talks every now and then. The relationship fizzled out in no time. I was naive and was afraid of being pregnant. Had my first period, too. Was rather afraid that everyone knew about it! Not exactly the best age in terms of emotional fulfilment. Academically, I was good, and I went on to graduate from the university at age 22. I could be naughty—hanging out with friends of like social and moral persuasion. Pimpled all over—chest, back and face; though I now have a better skin. As a mother of three girls now, I think I know how to prayerfully take my kids through those tricky, trying and future-determining teenage years.
Adetoun Fakoya
Lagos, Nigeria

It's the best time of your life. You never know what's going to happen and you always expect the best. You start finding out who your real friends are, and you start to wonder ... what am I going to do with my life? Things come to mind like high school, college, even marriage. But what I remeber most about being 13 is drooling over all the "hot" girls.
Tommy Passafaro
Closter, N.J.

1976 - I was very shy, unaware of what was really going on around me, didn't talk to many people, was not in a group or anything. Kept close to my best friend since 2nd grade and still best friends.
Julie Edwards
Kansas City, Mo.

I was 13 and in the eighth grade because of a late birthday, but I have to admit that year was better than my seventh-grade year. I had friends who liked me for me and looked our for me, and kept the bullies from making fun of me. Here it is 12 years later, and I still greatly appreciate those guys each and every day!
Stephanie
Charlotte, N.C.

Reagan was president. Debbie Gibson was on the cover of YM. My parents had already been divorced for nine years. I received the most popular present for 1988, my own phone line. My grandmother bought me a blank journal, which opened up my life to writing. Now, seventeen years later, I am a published author.
Robyn Stockwell
Westland, Mich.

At 13 I'd started high school and was one of the best JV debaters in the state. I'd become politically conscious and began reading the New York Times. I liked girls, but had yet to begin actively pursuing any. Seven years later I'm a law student in Washington D.C., and now realize that was a crucial period in my development as a man.
Luiz Bravim
Washington, D.C.

I think that 13 can be a very challenging time. For me as a girl, we had the "this is what's going to happen to your body" talk and it didn't happen for me until I was 17. So I thought that there was something very wrong with me. And kids can be very mean and not understanding at all of other people's feeling. I felt so not in the "in crowd" because of my parents not buying me the expensive attire that some of the other kids had (smart parents!). It was fun and scary all at the same time, but I would not want to do it over again at all. Thank goodness for 14!
Cheryl King
Jackson, Tenn.

It wasn't that long ago, so I still have a clear image in my mind. I was skinny, the wrong color and my name was to difficult to pronounce, so I tried fitting in acting like what I wasn't. It worked but it didn't make me feel any less self-concious. Thank goodness I'm not 13 anymore, although I'm still the same colour (though not necessarily the wrong color) and skinny, and my name hasn't changed.
Nabeelah
Bloemfontein, South Africa

I was living in the world of imagination. Engaged in the thought of winning the whole world—to be the best footballer of the world, to be the Secretary General of the UN, to be the best benevolent human being and so on. A life [that] was full of dreams and illusion. But it laid the foundation of my present and helped me to grow and mature.
Sulav Chowdhury
London, U.K.

It was a great time. Nothing to worry and lots of time to play and play. I miss those days.
Jim
Bangalore

I grew up on the south side of Chicago. I played a lot of basketball on the eighth grade team and football too. I went to makeout parties at my friend's house. He had a furnished basement and we played Johnny Mathis records and made out with various girls on different occasions. It was not really experimenting with sex for us, it was kissing ... no one did anything else, and we didn't brag to each other. Basically I guess we respected each other and trusted each other. Making out was innocent and fun ... I also remember a few of my older sister's girlfriends teaching me how to kiss.
Robert Glassenberg
Los Angeles, Calif.

1992. I was just starting to mature and get a grip of what life was like. Drooling over girls, cartoons, video games, MC Hammer, and Ninja Turtles.
Rob Blue
Charleston, S.C.

I was in parochial school, and I remember the nuns being brutal. They were no better than the Gestapo. I was into James Bond movies; my favorite TV show was The Fugitive with David Jansen. Lost some childhood freinds in the Vietnam War.
William White
Bridgeport, Pa.

I was a good student with good grades. My parents encouraged me to excel academically. We were scheduling what classes I would take my freshman year. I look back and know my Mom and Dad gave me enough freedom matched with responsibility and consequence. Being social at school was difficult. I knew who was cool and who my friends were. I regret not spending more time with my friends. I was interested in sports but still small. Relationships with girls were nothing more than going to dances or saying you were boyfriend/girlfriend.
Ryan
Baton Rouge, La.

It was one of the most difficult years of my adolescence. My family moved twice that year and I attended three different 7th grades in three different states. By the third school I was feeling insecure and scared. I had trouble making new friends. I do not think I ever fully recovered from that year. My mother had been diagnosed with cancer when I was 12, but did not tell me and my sister. So there was that secret brewing under the surface of our family. She lived until I was 17. I never knew it was cancer until close to the end of her life.
Anne Dykstra
Minneapolis, Minn.

Ah, 1964. It was the clash of innocence and revolution. The Beatles edged out Pat Boone. I was in Newport Beach, California. The summer of 8th grade found my best friend and me going out every night "hitching a ride" with any duo of boys cruising in their cars. Unlike American Graffitti early sixties, we actually got in the cars. It was all so innocent. Drugs were on the horizon, but hadn't yet affected us. I learned to drink and smoke that summer, yet managed to hang onto my virginity for another three years. I shudder today to think of the things we did back then without getting into serious trouble. It's all so complicated and dangerous today.
Suzanne St. John
St. Petersburg, Fla.

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