These Shall Not Be Forgotten Years

Thanks Nicole for tagging me for this one. It has been a while since I have done a meme. This one was fun because of the stroll down memory lane. I had a fun childhood and I loved school. Today I get to post about memories throughout elementary/grade school.

I lived in the same house from the time I was born until I was married. My parents live in a smallish town and I had the same group of friends from the time I was in preschool. They still live in the same home as do most of my friend’s parents. We were all very close.

I remember a day in Kindergarten, it may have even been my first day, but I had this outfit that I LOVED! It was a gray and red striped sweater, a gray wool pleated skirt and red and gray striped leg warmers that matched the sweater. I was DYING to wear them. I remember my mom warning me that it was a warm outfit and a warm day, that I would be uncomfortable. I probably should have headed her warning because an hour or so into the day, I tossed my cookies all over my favorite outfit. My teacher was Miss Tensmyer. She is a midget. By the end of the year, most of the Kindergarteners were taller than she was.

In first grade I had Miss Olsen. She loved me because when my parents were first married, they lived in the duplex beneath her. I am sure it was by association. She always gave me special privileges and let me go first and answer all of the questions. I learned the value of being the teachers pet quite early…something I kept up until my college years. Miss Olsen had kind, smiling eyes that always twinkled. She was so good to me. My baby sister was born this year and she had some pretty severe problems. I remember my dad trying to fix my hair because my mom was at the hospital attending to the baby. Miss Olsen would always fix what my dad had done when I got to school.

I don’t remember who my second grade teacher was. There was this really mean girl named Jennifer Davis. She looked like she was chewing her tongue and she had a hairy upper lip. She was mean and she didn’t like me. She invited all of my friends to join her “Unicorn Club”. There was this large “bowl” in the field where we played and they would meet there. She didn’t invite me to join. My friends didn’t join and we formed our own “Flying Unicorn Club”...we HAD to show her up. She wasn’t invited. I saw her about five years ago as a field reporter for our CBS station here. I laughed because her hair was so hair sprayed and the wind was blowing rather hard and her hair sprayed mane was sticking straight up. I was vindicated at last.

Third grade was Mrs. Moyle. I love this woman. She even came to my wedding! This was the year that we were learning economics. We had to establish countries and monetary systems. All of the kids had to submit a design for the money. Mine won! Our dollars were officially called “LoveBears”—Care Bears were popular that year and we lived in “LoveLand”…it was run by women. Anyways, we earned money and we had fairs where we could sell our goods and make money. I was the richest because I have a genius mom that would give me the best ideas for what to sell. I sold homemade Easter egg marshmallows and I did face painting. I was loaded. I still have some of the money.

Forth grade was Mr. Stowers. He was the last of the great teachers I had in elementary school. He let us come up with our own disciplinary system. We had table groups and elected a president. I was the first one to be pres. I had a secret admirer that year. He would leave me erasers with I LOVE YOU printed on them. When we were seniors in high school he finally told me that it was him. I was able to participate in a forth/fifth split class this year and during part of the day I would go to another teachers class for English and Creative Writing. Ms. Walker would always tell us stories about “Herman the Worm”. I think my favorite memory is when we went to the trout farm behind Mr. Stower’s home. We were all able to catch a fish and we went back to the school and had a fish fry. I love trout because of that.

Fifth grade I had a rotten teacher…Mrs. Paraday. I was an excellent student, she was a terrible teacher. I received my first D and only D that year because she continually lost papers and said that we weren’t turning them in. Excuse me, how does an ENTIRE fifth grade class never hand in their papers? She was an idiot. Parents were up in arms about it. The bright side of that year was when twenty or so of us were able to go to Space Camp in Huntsville Alabama. I had this friend that was always years ahead of us in the whole sexuality thing, and one night she lead most of the girls in a take-off-your-clothes-and-wear-your-sheets-as-a-toga night. My friend that I had made from another school in our area and I thought this was a dumb idea and when they left, we locked them out of our room and they got in trouble by our chaperones for being nude in the halls. Crystal and I were rolling inside of our room!!!

Sixth grade was fun. We had a teacher, Mr. Roper, that needed to retire. He didn’t really care about what we did and he fell asleep a lot. I remember us all daring each other to look on the side of his desk to see if the rumor was true…if that was really where he stuck his boogers. No one ever did. My two best friends, Amy and Jill and I would have sleepovers all of the time. We were all really smart girls that got bored easily in class. We took our pens and made them into families and wrote elaborate stories about their lives and happenings. All three of us received the Presidential Fitness award and the Hope of America awards that year.

I really loved my life growing up. I loved my friends and I was given so many opportunities. Not to many people had the kind of roots that I did…Same house, same neighborhood, same friends until they got married. I always had security and a soft place to fall. I will always be grateful for the life that I was given.

Okay, my turn to tag. Today I am snagging Naddin J, Itybtyfrog and Dawnyel and anyone else that wants to play. Have fun ladies!!!