Thursday, July 10, 2008
Kindergarten, 1969-1970.
On my birthday Mama made me cupcakes to take to school, each with a little plastic animal on top. I picked first and chose the llama. Pam wasn't there so I got hers too, it had a tiger. If I close my eyes I can still see those little plastic animals. I wish I still had them.
First grade, 1970-1971.
For the school fall pageant I practiced a little speech about Holland. We wore little paper caps and I got up and gave my speech and four other kids did a little dance while wearing wooden shoes.
Second grade, 1971-1972.
The school district sent me and my brother to a new school district and my teacher put me in an advanced reading class. Towards the end of the school year I burst out crying when they moved me away from the map, they attributed that to my grandfather dying, but really it was because I couldn't read the writing on it anymore. It wasn't until the next year they figured out I needed glasses.
Third grade, 1972-1973.
I was so skinny my mother had to sew pants for me. She made me a pair of blue jeans, the first I ever had, and at recess Sheryl Fitch knocked me off the slide and they ripped at the knees and were ruined. I didn't have another pair until I was in my teens.
Fourth grade, 1973-1974.
We moved again, to a new school, and I was deeply unpopular because I was smarter than some of the other kids, and that wasn't cool. Luckily, the teachers for the most part liked me and encouraged me to read and learn.
Fifth grade, 1974-1975.
My school was so small and poor that our health education books were from the 1930s. I remember the lesson on how eating too much chocolate cake was bad for you. I guess it didn't stick.
Sixth grade, 1975-1976.
My parents hated that I wanted longer hair, my father thought that was awful. It saved them money at the barbers, which was a good thing since we were so poor by then. I wore hand-me-downs and the following year my mother told me I had to buy my own clothes from now on. I really didn't know we were poor until much later in life, mainly because most of the other kids were poor too.
My seventh grade pictures didn't turn out and after that it was understood that school pictures were a luxury we couldn't afford.
Let's jump ten years forward in time:
College graduation picture, 1986.
I walked directly from the orthodonist college, where I had just had my braces taken off, and had the picture taken. I was so happy, straight teeth and a pretty smile. Good lord I was skinny back then (about 150 pounds!).
