Random Childhood Memory

When I was 6 or 7, I was at a Thanksgiving at my Great Uncle Manson's house (I used to call him Uncle Mansion...he had a big house). All the children went out when it got dark and were playing flashlight tag. At some point, this got boring, so they decided to play a different game. I don't know what you call it, but one cousin grabbed my hands, the other my legs, and they picked me up and started swinging me.

this, sans black guy jumping around.

This was probably the most terrifying thing I had experienced at that point in my life. I don't know why, but probably because I gave neither my consent, nor would they let me go when they heard me screaming and crying. They just laughed. I should mention they were all quite a bit older than me, 10 or 12 maybe. When they finally put me down I'm pretty sure I ran to the grown-ups, sitting with them the rest of the night. I remember feeling shame at being so helpless, and rage at their ridicule. Rage at the way the grown-ups dismissed what I felt was a great indignity.

I saw that GIF the other day and it brought that terror and shame back to me in a perplexing flash.

Looking back on this, I realize the only reason I reacted that way was because I was singularly unused to other children. I was an only child still, I had no close relations my age around, and my friends were church kids. Every childhood indignity was deeply traumatizing to me because of my lack of interaction with other children. Now that I'm older, I can set it on a grander scale and say I probably still struggle with this as an adult. Which is just a little ridiculous, I think.