Last night, I was at my youngest son’s choir performance at school when I suddenly had a memory flash from my grade school days. I decided at that moment I had to write a post about those memories.  Maybe writing these recollections down will purge them from my brain, but I doubt it…

So here are 10 bad memories from my grade school years:

1. Falling down the fire escape: I think I was 10 years old, and the fire alarm went off.  Our classroom had a fire escape just outside one of the doors, so we got to use the cool fire escape for drills.  Well, I was trotting down the stairs and slipped.  Next thing I know, I am bouncing down the fire escape stairs.  It was quite embarrassing, but also pretty darn painful.
2. The Felt Board: My friend and I were working on fractions in third grade using a felt board where we could attach different felt shapes and numbers to.  I don’t know what we did wrong, but the teacher ran over to us and said “It will be a cold day in hell before you two can use the felt board again”.    I still love that quote.  Plus, she was right- I still haven’t used a felt board, and it has been 35 years since the incident.  I wonder, if hell does suddenly become chilly, will a felt board suddenly show up with geometric shapes for me to apply?
3. The Bathroom: I was in kindergarten, and there was a fire drill.  (Our school obviously loved fire drills.)  There was a little bathroom inside the classroom, and I was in it when the alarm went off.  I panicked and couldn’t open the big door to get out of the bathroom.  I finally did get out, but the class was already gone and I had to catch up to all the kids.  I was so scared.
4. The Suspension: I was in 6th grade, and the lunch lady monitoring our class barely spoke English.  I was sitting at my desk taking apart my new mechanical pencil, and ended up with lead all my fingers.  I asked if I could run to the bathroom to wash my hands, and I thought she said yes.  I went to the girl’s bathroom, and a friend of mine and two boys also showed up in the bathroom.  I was honestly just washing my hands, but that same lunch lady came in and found the four of us in the bathroom.  We all got sent to the principal’s office and got suspended.  The lunch lady said she never gave me permission to leave the classroom.  If that were the case, why did she let me leave?  She saw me go and didn’t say a word.  I still think she is a liar.  At least the principal let me finish my pudding before sending me home.
5. Head Down, Face Covered: The common punishment for bad behavior was to make the students put their heads on their desk/table, face down.  I used to hate that punishment because quite often, one of the teachers would patrol around the classroom to make sure you hadn’t positioned yourself so that your face was down, but with just your forehead on the desk.  (Made breathing much easier when your face wasn’t flush against the desk.)  If this teacher saw you just had your forehead on the desk, he would kick your chair in, which would result in smashing your nose against the table, and it would scare you half to death.  One day we had this punishment repeatedly.  I peeked my head up and saw the teacher just sitting there reading “The Thorn Birds”.  I really think she issued this punishment just so she could read.
6. Choir: I hated choir.  I have never been a good singer, and I wasn’t a fan of changing pitch.  As stupid as this sounds, I thought taking a high or low note meant you were being fake, like you weren’t using your own voice.  So, I just sang flatly with my normal voice.  One day, I was riding in the car with some friends, and everyone was singing, including me.  The mom driving the car turned around and said to me “you really have a terrible voice”.  That was the last time I ever sang in public again.  Well, I have sung in front of my kids, but not much since they have gotten older.
7. Milk With Paper Straws: In kindergarten, we got a snack break every day.  Part of that snack was we would each get a little carton of milk.  This milk was always slightly warm, and you had to drink it with this little paper straw that got all soggy instantly.  I can still almost taste that milk in my mind, and the thought makes my stomach churn.
8. Glasses: I ended up getting eyeglasses right before picture day in kindergarten.  I was the only kid with glasses, and glasses were not cool at all back in 1972.  What was awful besides the constant teasing is that I broke my glasses quite frequently.  (They were even chopped up by a lawn mower once.)  Since there was no such thing as ‘one hour glasses’, you had to wait at least a week for new glasses to be made  at whatever magical place manufactured them.  During those weeks that I didn’t have good eyesight, I would have to sit at a desk right next to the board.  I much preferred sitting in the back of the class, where I could get away with talking a little bit easier.
9. Tornado Drills: I loved tornado watches as  a kid.  Whenever there was a tornado watch, the kids would all get sent home, which is kind of insane now that I think about it.   The weather would be so nice and warm, I have great memories of walking home feeling so free during tornado watches.  Tornado Warnings were a bummer though, as were tornado drills.  Our school was a giant old brick building.  When there was a tornado warning, you would get sent down to the basement, sit on the floor, and contort yourself into a position that would protect your head.  It was so dirty in that basement, plus the boiler was right there.  I never felt safe near that boiler, and I always hoped a tornado wouldn’t come through and make that boiler explode.
10. Anything To Do With Chalkboards: I hate chalk, and I hate chalkboards.  Obviously, everyone hates the nails on the chalkboard thing.  However, I don’t like the smell of chalk at all.  Smacking those erasers to get the chalk out was an awful task.  Life got much better when the school bought a little machine you could put the eraser on and it would suck the chalk out of it.  What I disliked even more was washing the chalkboard with a bucket of water and a sponge.  I was always too short to reach the top, and I despised the smell of water and chalk together.  I still get chills thinking about that.

I could go on and on about elementary school memories.  In a later post, I will share my good memories of elementary school. (Unless you tell me in the comments that you don’t care and you don’t want to hear about my memories anymore.)

What about you, do you have any interesting memories from grade school?

This past Saturday morning, my son took his driving test.  I have to tell you, that test is a very stressful time as a parent.  Not stressful because your child will be driving, but because you want them to pass so much, and because you have to sit in the backseat during the test, and you are not allowed to say a word.  Actually, I don’t know if I have been silent for 30 minutes outside of sleeping, since I learned how to talk!

In the end, after parallel parking and driving on every type of road, my son was handled his ‘you pass’ certificate.  We then drove off to the Secretary of State Super Center that is open until noon on Saturdays.  At approximately 11:08 Saturday morning, my son had his license in his fist, and a huge grin on his face.

As a mom, I was so happy for him.  Everyone asks if I am really nervous about him driving and I suppose I am.  But I think I am more excited for his new freedom and opportunities.   The process of watching him prepare to get his license, and then actually get his license, made make me think about is all his milestones, and how quickly it all goes by.

I thought back to when he was a baby.  This kid had no desire to be mobile.  He just wanted to be read to, even as an infant.  I used to worry because all his ‘contemporaries’ were all over the place.  Meanwhile, he was sitting on the couch with me, holding ‘Go Dogs Go’.  He was late to crawl, walk and talk.  As a matter of fact, he destroyed the competition at a crawling race at a company work party.  Of course, he was 15 months old and had crawling mastered by then, while his opponents were 5 months younger.  No matter, he still got a medal and a picture with Simba.   That race feels like it could have been last weekend!

More milestones came and went over the years.  Me crying as he went to kindergarten, me crying when he won awards, me crying over a million different things.  In a way it feels like a little stab in the heart with each milestone that is reached because you know they are that much closer to leaving the nest.  It isn’t easy when you like the nest the way it is!

I know it is cliche, but kids do grow up in the blink of an eye.  When you have a baby, people always tell you how quick it will go, and they are right.  Bringing the babies home from the hospital seems like yesterday, literally.  I miss my youth, I miss being needed so much, I miss a lot of things.  However, I have gained a tremendous amount;  I have gained a more adult relationship with each of my kids, and have had absolute joy in watching them become the people they are today.  I appreciate each of their sense of humor, their views, and appreciation for life.  I learned how they have compassion and want to help others.  Had I known how much I would gain from each phase of their life, I would not have dreaded them growing up as much as I did when they were little.

Parenthood is unlike any job you could ever have.  You have the opportunity to help shape a life and then set it free.   I am still in the process of raising my kids, but I am so excited for their futures, and look forward to watching it all unfold.  I am keeping my fingers crossed!

This summer, we have been spending some time at high school graduation parties.   At the most recent party, my 12 year old son was getting kind of sad.  Turns out that all this talk about college and everything has him nervous about graduating high school one day, and leaving his childhood behind.

It got me thinking, what’s not to love about childhood?  You get to goof around a lot, you don’t worry about money or standardized tests.  You just exist for your own purposes.   I didn’t blame him for being bummed about growing up!   I was actually pretty impressed with how introspective he was for someone so young.  It also made me glad that he relishes his childhood instead of wanting to grow up so fast like many kids seem to want to do these days.

So he and I had a long talk.  It was actually a somewhat therapeutic discussion for me too because I also mourn the passing of phases of my life.  I explained to him that you can always embrace having fun, it is just that as you get older, you have to balance it with responsibility.   We talked about how when you become a parent, you can decide what type of parent you want to be.   It can be a chance to re-live your childhood in a sense.   We discussed all things we have done as a family:  countless board games, bike rides, night frisbee, sledding in the backyard, hitting/catching fly balls, days at the beach, and so much more.   You can still have all that fun as a parent or grandparent, if you choose to.   My kids have all seen that our house may not be the most organized in the neighborhood, but we have had so much fun!!  

At the end of the discussion, I think my son felt a bit better.  I actually felt a little better too because it gave me a chance to reflect on all we have done.  So the next day, I built a fire in the middle of the afternoon and we roasted some marshmallows, and then we flew kites in the backyard.  In my opinion, fun is a choice.  Sure there are always chores that can be done.  However, to-do lists are infinite, so you might as well enjoy life in between tasks.  Besides, who couldn’t use a little more fun in their life?  Just shut down that computer or put down that paper and see if anyone is interested in a game of frisbee or whatever.  You never know what traditions you just  might start.