When I was in elementary school, we were allowed to join band once we reached third grade. I played clarinet (at least to start with; other instruments came later!) and the way our band was arranged in the multipurpose room had the clarinets sitting in front of the trumpets.

The trumpets were so loud and the sound was so painful that I had to wear a pair of earplugs during band.

I was made fun of* incessantly for this.

I didn’t stop wearing them because I didn’t want to be in pain, and at least they helped to drown out the ridicule, haha.

But yeah. I wish Baby Claudia could have the same “I no longer give a shit about what other people think of me” attitude as Current Claudia, at least when it comes to clothing choices and wearing a mask.

I don’t care what anyone thinks about my wearing a mask.

Anyway.

*I was made fun of for a lot of things, honestly, but this is one I really remember. This and that one time I wore shorts to school and a kid in the grade above us told me that my legs were ugly and hairy and I never wore shorts again; THANKS, RANDOM ASSHOLE KID