Lies we tell ourselves

Uncle Rico bragged about his football prowess. 
Doesn't everybody brag?  Remember way back when the world hadn't beat them down and hope spewed forth from them like an open hydrant.
Take that into consideration when I say that those young days I see someone only tolerated.  Tolerated in choir because I could sing what needed to be sung.  Tolerated by friends who were at times amused at the lengths I would go to be liked.  A pet, a mascot.  Someone who could be talked into calling a bunch people to gang out when the others got bored and wanted a new scene. 
Of course, like all of us life only came to tear down what little confidence one has.
Uncle Rico may be stuck in the past but at least he was ON team.  He wasn't the mascot.
So I sit here now longing for the past when I didn't realize just how much I was merely tolerated.  I could pretend.