Back To School and Reunions

1. What is your earliest memory of school?

I had just turned 5 years old and my parents placed me in kindergarden at the First Baptist Church. It was not a mandatory thing back then was usually run out of a church. My brother had just been born and we had moved to a new town. My daddy had just started DPS school in Austin and was gone. We moved back to the same town where both sets of grandparents lived and several aunts and uncles. That way, my mom would not be alone with 2 small children. They put me in kindergarden because they thought that I would like it and make alot of friends. Neither of those things happened. My daddy had been a farmer for the first few years of my life so he had been my friend and now he was gone and there was a new child in the house. I cried at kindergarden each and every day. Not, *oh she cried until you left Ma'am*. More like *yes Ma'am, she has cried each and every minute since we peeled her off of your leg and had to physically carry her into the class room*. At the end of 30 days, they asked my mom not to bring me back.


2. Who was a favorite teacher in your early education?

Mrs. Chevout in the 4th grade. She made it all so fun. Each 6 weeks we would study something different and she always had the most wonderful ways to weave that into the classroom. We ate Japanese dinners, made memory books, learned the Mexican hat dance....it was all just so much fun and there was an excitement to it. I can still remember her reading *Island Of The Blue Dolphin* out loud.

3. What do you remember about school “back then” that is different from what you know about schools now?

I do not know that ANYTHING is the same!! We never started until after Labor day. I am sure alot of that had to do with us not having any air conditioners in any part of the school. My son is studying things in math that I have never seen in my life.

Also, there were RULES and by god you followed them! If you did not, there were swats with a paddle. There was no calling of the parents.

4. Did you have to memorize in school? If so, share a poem or song you learned.

I memorized alot in school because I loved speech and drama and threw myself into those two things.

5. Did you ever get in trouble at school? Were there any embarrassing moments you can share? OMG....Mrs. Hagan in the 5th grade. Looking back now I can she that she was just not a happy lady. To 5th graders, that came across as just flat out mean. It was Christmas and she had decorated the class room. She had a big stocking on her classroom door with her name on it. When everyone came in the room from recess, we instantly knew something was wrong because all of the Christmas decorations were gone...vanished! She informed the class that there would be no Christmas in her room that year because someone had put rocks in her stocking. Therefore, Christmas was cancelled. 5th graders are still young enough to think that an adult had the power to do that. I can remember thinking that she had cancelled all of Christmas. I just knew the tree and presents would be gone when I got home and was greatly relieved when I go home to learn that her power did not reach that far. To this day, I have no clue as to who did it. I also think that she acted hastily cause it could have been anyone in the school not just her 5th graders! I do know this, after her little hissy fit, a whole classroom on 5th graders could think of 1000 worse things to stick in that old biddy's stocking!





I just got a letter inviting me to my 25th school reunion. OMG....25 years. It honestly does not seem like it ought to be that long. I have never been back for a reunion. I am back home all of the time and I may even be in Clarendon the weekend of the reunion but I will not be attending.

Why you ask? Because I feel like a loser around those people. I do not know why in the world that intimidates me but it does. I am very confident in the fact that I am not a loser at all. In fact, I am much more successful than many of them but I am reduced to a stupid loser teen any time I think about making contact with them. I had a girlfriend from my classs who I thought I was really close to. When my ex and I divorced, I guess my ex got custody of her because she feel away from my life. I understand now that she did that because my ex and her husband was (is still??) friends. At that time, I needed her and she was not there for me. That was one of the hardest lessons that I have ever had to learn in my adult life. Men can hurt us. Woman can hurt us and leave us bleeding. To me, a woman's betrayal is even worse. I am in contact with 2 people that I graduated with and I see them from time to time and we keep up through emails but there is honestly no one else from that chapter in my life that I have the desire to see. I Does that make me a bad person?

I have deep rich relationships with many of the women I work with (teacher is included in this). I count them as my true friends. Heck, there are many of you out there that are reading this that I feel the same way about even though I may never have never met you face to face. All of those women are the women that I can call crying or zip off a quick email and know without a shadow of a doubt that I am immediately being lifted up in prayer or being taken care of in some form or fashion.

There is not a one of them that I have a desire to see. Does that make me a horrible person? And if you tell me if does...I still Am. Not. Going.

And no one will ever miss me.

Comments

  1. I'm not going to my reunions either. And I live only 13 miles away from my old high school. Those were not the best days of my life. And, of course that does not make you a bad person. You are a wonderful person!o

    ReplyDelete
  2. I went to mine...and none of my old friends came, probably for the reasons you both stated. I am debating going to the next one, because of it.
    Although it was kind of worth it to find out the one of the nicer popular boys is now a gyn!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I did not go to my 25th this year. I am as or more successful (in terms of things like career, education, married over 20 years, no kids in jail, world travel, etc.) but I just don't have any of those folks in my life any more. And one of my closest high school friends is my brother's neice through marriage!

    I have just moved on. I know people who stay in touch with high school friends their whole adult life...I'm just not one of them. I'd rather hear your sweet Texas voice in my phone than any of theirs!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am about 7 years out of high school and I can say definitively that I never plan to attend a reunion. I feel the way you do around people from high school. When I run into them anywhere, I once again fall into high school mode where almost everyone else was "cooler" than me and I walked around staring at my shoes until I hit senior year and realized it would all be ending soon...

    Wow, I'm going to stop. So incoherent today.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I keep in touch with the one friend I treasured and have let the rest go. (And my 25th was three years ago--ack!)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Been to some of mine. It was and was not worth the effort. I have three friends from High School days I keep up with, and will keep doing so. Interestingly all three are teachers, good people, real people, and love Jesus.

    Boy out of all that so glad you had Mrs. Chevout. Mrs. Hagen was a wierdy and off base. Don't go to your reunion if you don't want to. You are not a loser or a horrible person.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous8:58 PM

    i have no contact with anyone from HS. Never been to a reunion, and was listed as a "lost sheep" on the web page even though my parents have never moved.

    ReplyDelete
  8. You are sure not alone--as you can see by all these comments. And of course you're not a bad person. Where is it written "thou shalt attend high school reunions"?

    I don't keep up with high school friends, either, except one who lives in the Houston area. I actually have a reunion coming up but am not going due to previous plans, but I wouldn't go out of my way to attend either.

    Isn't it great that the best years weren't back then--but still lie ahead of us?

    ReplyDelete
  9. I've never had a desire to go to a reunion, for many of the same reasons you mentioned.

    But a couple years ago, my Dad attended his first high school reunion ever. It was his 50th. And he was floored by how much he enjoyed it. It was beautiful to hear him talk about it. And in some ways, I felt like it provided a bit of healing in his life.

    So I'm thinking maybe I'll go to my 50th, too. And I'll wear purple and a red hat.

    ReplyDelete
  10. No! You are not a bad person. Stay home and enjoy yourself.
    The day I graduated from high school was one of the happiest days of my life, and that fall I got the hell out of Dodge and didn't look back.
    I have two friends from high school with whom I'm still in touch, and our attitude about the 20th was "I'll go if you'll go." Two of us did, and had a pretty good time. That wasn't enough to make us travel back for our 25th or 30th. Not worth the effort.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous9:11 PM

    I don't enjoy the reunions either. Only thing is that I am my class contact to plan all our reunions. I plan them and go for about an hour and then leave. I am not a social person at all! Do they miss me? Nope!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I go to show allof the people that i graduated with "LOOK AT ME!!!" and because my little brother goes, and especially this year I will go because my little brother wil play in the game. But as for friends from back then, I keep in touch with the people that I want to keep in touch with and that is good enough for me.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I went to one reunion and said, *never again*. The people I would have liked to see didn't come and those that did I didn't have any more in common with than when we were in high school. Go if you want to, don't go if you don't want to and don't give it another thought.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I went to my 25th a couple of years ago. It was a very strange "Twilight Zone" experience in which no one had changed and yet we had all changed dramatically. In some ways we fell back into old roles, yet in others we were all much more willing to explore the changes and differences than we had been in highschool.

    And yet ... I don't think I'd go again. I keep in touch with one or two friends from highschool and that's really enough for me. I don't keep in touch with anyone from college at all. It's too hard.

    You're making a good choice for you. Hold the line and enjoy your weekend!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous8:27 PM

    At my 40th year Reunion it was better. Everyone seemed to really be glad to see one another. We had gotten away from of some of the attitudes that teenagers have. It was different than any I had gone to before (which is not very many--even tho I have helped plan them) I don't have much in common with anyone in my class except my sister-in-law; and I work with a few classmates. I seemed to have built a screen around myself--not many people will I let it down for. I have missed out on alot because of this. It does get better as you get older (that is about the only thing that does).

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous1:06 AM

    You are so not a terrible person! You are a HEALTHY person. I went to my 10th and 20th and was shocked at the 20th to see people acting EXACTLY how they had in HS, which was extremely annoying. Drunk jerks. Forget that. Not everyone of course, but the people that were, were SO LOUD YOU COULDN'T HEAR YOURSELF THINK!!!! No more of that. Period.

    You be you, now. You are great and a delight and a joy. You ain't got nothing to prove. Going back to a less-happy, less-confident time might make you feel...hmm...less happy and less confident! Why would you want to? Stay here with us and we'll have a little party!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I am a girl who LOVES attention. Comment + attention = happy Mindy!

Popular Posts