Too Shy? There's an App for That.

I haven't been listening to NPR much lately.

Understandably, it's been dominated by election coverage. I already know who I'm voting for. Or, more accurately, who I'm voting against. I find the entire debacle mortifying. I've blocked several sites on my Facebook page, and I'm considering moving to that log cabin in the woods until it's all over.

Of course, it won't be over. Whoever wins, there will continue to be plenty of mud slinging and a lack of statesmanship. Alas, the days of both parties working together to get things done has gone the way of the dodo bird. All we're left with is dodos.

But, back to NPR. I was driving home last night, and I decided to listen for a little while. There was a story about a 16-year-old girl who created an app for teenagers who face the lunch table dilemma.

Anyone who has suffered from excruciating shyness (a la yours truly) knows this is not the trifle it would appear to be.

After I was asked to leave a lunch table early in my high school career (I was "scaring the boys away with my clothes"), finding a place in the cafeteria became a burden.

I have a vivid recollection of trolling from table to table in search of a seat that was at the end of a table that had some but not too many kids -- I didn't want to "butt in," but I didn't want to look like a sad sack sitting at an empty table. The trick was to appear that I was at least on the outskirts of a group. I didn't try to jump into the conversation, I just sat and listened as others complained about  schoolwork or teachers or their parents or some party at somebody's house or who was smoking what.

Eventually, I think in my junior year, I stumbled into a group of misfit toys like myself. We were weird but wonderful.

How I wish there had been an app back in the day.

The girl who invented the app is Natalie Hampton, and she lives in Sherman Oaks, California. Her app is called "Sit With Us." It helps kids who are looking for a place to sit and enjoy their lunch, and, more importantly, belong.

Natalie had trouble finding a lunch table at her old school. She's at a new school now, and although she's doing just fine there, she felt she had to do something to help the other kids who experienced the angst of approaching groups of already-friended teens in search of a place.

In high school, fitting in can be tough. Especially when you don't know anyone, and you're not an outgoing person.

So far, the app has been well received and is enjoying success at her school.

I hope it catches on in other schools across the country.

Although they would have you believe otherwise, no one is a rock. Or an island.