I remember sitting with my father in the big black leather rocking chair – it was more like a desk chair, in all honesty – and reading the car magazines with him at about age 2. And yes I was reading. I didn’t know what the articles were about, but I could identify a lot of the words. Happy times, those were, among the very few I remember of my childhood.
I’m told of – but don’t personally remember – repeated escapes from the house to the nearby grade school to play with the bigger kids. I’m further told that I’d gotten so good at it that I figured out how to crawl on top of the refrigerator to unlatch the hook-and-eye closure my parents installed on the back door to keep me from getting out. Must have been fun if I kept doing it.
I remember my first day of kindergarten, barely a month after my 4th birthday, brought about a year early as a result of said escapes from home. I remember being stung by a bee that was hidden in a hive underneath the back porch while I anxiously waited in the back yard for my mother to take me to school. I spent most of that day in a corner crying to myself from the pain, although one little boy – Johnny S. – did come to talk to me once I settled down.
I remember Christmas morning 1977, when I was expecting a new baby under the tree – and telling my parents that they had to take it back because it was broken. Said baby was my new brother, born four days earlier and home for the first time that day. I was disappointed because at age 4, a “baby” had a vinyl body and rooted hair… and this little monster was red and stinky and noisy!
I remember being placed in first grade reading while still in kindergarten because I was so far ahead of everyone in the class. I remember spending a lot of time in the principal’s office that year waiting for the first grade class to be ready for reading time. The secretary would come get me from the kindergarten room each day, always too early, and I would wait in the office until it was time to go to first grade. I remember absolutely hating the principal’s office, even though I was too young to have been aware of the customary negative connotation.
I remember being told by Denise V. and Jeannie S. in the second grade that I was a monster, and I remember how almost nobody wanted to be my friend for the next five years. I remember feeling like a complete outcast at 7 years old.
I remember “ice skating” in the school playground on a sheet of frozen puddle… and wiping out right at the edge of the ice. I split open my chin and destroyed my clothes and snowsuit from all the blood. I still bear the physical scar from that mishap.
I remember spending a lot of time in the principal’s office again in third grade. This time I had a teacher who didn’t want me leaving her class to work with the fourth graders. She claimed it was too disruptive, but in the course of multiple “discussions” between Mrs. Hanau, my parents, and the principal, it came out that Hurricane Hanau was jealous of me because her own grandchildren weren’t as smart as I was. I remember it made me feel like even more of an outcast.
I remember Johnny being held back at the end of third grade… How I cried after school the first day of fourth grade when he wasn’t in our class anymore. I guess maybe he was my very first crush, now that I look back on it.
I remember being told that I wasn’t going to go ahead for reading anymore at the beginning of fifth grade. I don’t remember why, but I remember being very angry. And my then-sixth grade friend Jessica was sad that I wasn’t in her reading group anymore.
The other night I was watching Real Genius on DVD, and I had a sort of revelation. For all that I thought that I had a crappy childhood, for all that I hated being the smart kid and the weirdo, I could have had it so much worse. If I hadn’t been pulled out of the advanced reading “thing” (can’t call it a program when I was the only kid in seven grades at any time doing it) when I was, could I have become a literary equivalent of Lazlo? So deeply involved in my studies that the revelation that “it’s only a story” (to steal a line from Bastian Bux) would cause a complete breakdown?
(and if I managed this right, this will be post #1973, happening on July 11, 2005 at 2:21 pm … the exact moment of the 32nd anniversary of my birth LOL) (and for posterity:
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Congratulations on your landmark and birthday, and thank you for sharing your story with us--I'm glad you're here Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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Thanks, Rivka, I didn't think about the subject line when I pasted in my landmark text. And today I realized that with a bit of judicious planning, I can easily hit 2K on my Hatrack birthday, which might just justify completing the Landmark with Happy Thoughts to counterbalance Tears.
Posts: 4515 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Sunday Monday happy days… an anniversary landmark
I remember my fifth birthday, the summer after kindergarten. The only “real” birthday party I ever had. Mom invited my entire class. And Louie P. from down the street – the only boy to come – brought me a Barbie doll. My very first Barbie, in fact.
I remember fifth grade. Jenny O. broke her leg and couldn’t go outside for recess or lunch. Even though I didn’t know her very well until that point, I volunteered to stay inside with her every day and keep her company. We became really good friends as a result, two outcast peas in a pod. It felt really really good to have a real friend.
I remember Scott. Oh do I remember Scott {evil grin}. He and his family moved in next door the summer before sixth grade, and we were nearly inseparable outside of school until they moved away. But we stayed really good friends for a very long time afterwards.
I remember Matt challenging me on a daily basis in 7th grade to race him down the block when we got off the school bus. I was a budding asthmatic and didn’t believe I could manage to run a full block, much less beat him, so I always refused the challenge. Finally after almost 6 months, I gave in… and WON! I’m sure he let me win (I thought that even the next day) but boy did it feel good.
I remember my first school dance, Freshman year of high school. My boyfriend wasn’t able to go with me (and we won’t mention why because this is the happy thoughts post) so I called Scott. Yep, good old Scott. By the end of the night, we decided that we were going to be boyfriend and girlfriend.
I remember my second school dance, again with Scott. But I can’t elaborate because this is a family forum {giggle}
I remember FOOTBALL!!!! I joined the varsity team my junior year, mostly by accident. I was bored one day and went to the high school, and it turned out to be one of the first days of tryouts. Coach W. asked me if I’d like to be the equipment manager. Hey, what the heck, why not? I immediately became little sister to 57 juniors and seniors who seemed to make it their personal responsibility to protect me… sometimes to excess. And oh were the cheerleaders and pom girls jealous. But hey, I was finally part of the in crowd!
I remember Senior year homecoming. We won our game against our big rivals, stole their coveted golden helmet and buried it in our endzone. And the school groundskeeper even helped! The guys let each of the scorers shovel in dirt first, then Denise (the junior year EM) and I, and then finally the rest of the team and the coaches. And then the dance… By this point Scott and I had started to drift apart, so I went alone. Or I went with my football family, depending on how people looked at it, because I spent the entire night with “the guys”. I remember dancing with Shark and Mac and Stumper and oh wow I forget who all else, but I don’t think I sat all night.
Yep, I really bloomed in high school. Sometimes I miss those days.
I hate to admit it, but the days that each of my children and the surrogates I carried were born are almost complete blurs. I remember moments. I remember seeing Heather’s face for the very first time – and the feeling of complete panic that followed. I remember sitting in a bed cross stitching while I waited for Missy to make her appearance because I’d figured out that I could predict when a contraction was coming by watching the monitors. I remember my coworkers saving the “calling in sick” voicemail I’d left that morning – a contraction hit in the middle and it could be heard in my voice – and playing it back for me when I returned. I remember the amazing looks on the faces of Laurie and Gregg when they first held their daughter Hannah, and again when Justin joined his big sister. And I remember the laughter from the doctor when he arrived to deliver Justin – and found the impatient little boy already crowning!
I remember July 31, 2004. I’d just finished reading Crystal City, and finally decided to check out this Hatrack place that was being mentioned in the author’s notes of the last couple books of the series. Hatrack River 1830’s didn’t really appeal to me from what I’d read at that point, and I knew I couldn’t keep up in Battle School. The Discussions board seemed interesting, but I really clicked here in BFFC (or BFFAC as it was named at the time). It’s hard to believe that I’ve been here a full year already. Thank you all for welcoming me here!!!
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It's been so very hard these last two weeks to NOT post while reading so I didn't blow my 2K post! Now I can reply with wild abandon again.
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