First Day of School

Today is the first day of school at the school in my hometown. (Early, I know!) My neigborhood school here in Bis doesn't start until next week. There is an elementary school a block from our house and during school there is a crossing guard on the corner. It's cute! I love that kids still walk in this neiborhood because I recently read that only 10% of kids walk to school anymore. And now 50% of kids are overweight...hmmmm...anyway, I vaguely remember my first day of school ever, when I started Kindergarten in Wyoming. (Well, I went to preschool but that doesn't count). What I remember most is being very excited to go to school because my neihborhood best friend was a year older than me and I always wished I was at school when she was the year before.

There I am, ready to learn! I think Andrea must be jealous of my pink socks. Also, my bangs are all curled and I have a swingy pony tail and she looks all stringy!

That was 1988 and little did I know that by fall of 1990 I would be enrolling in my third different school! Crazy, huh? Before anyone thinks that this must have been traumatic and sad, I really don't remember it that way. Little 1st and 2nd graders are pretty friendly and new schools were never scary. The strange thing is that all three were so different but I really wasn't aware of that fact! The school in Gillette, WY, was a typical "city" elementary school with several sections each of grades 1-6. Then I went to a private, intertational k-12 school in Yemen, with 30 different nationalities represented and lots of outdoor spaces and walkways and where the two first grade classrooms were in thier own little "wing" surrounded by a lawn and flower gardens and the offices and library were arranged around a coutyard. Then, I went to a class B k-12 in Hatton that was like a maze, and where older kids still got excused from school early during the first weeks to help combine. It had several buildings connected together and, what seemed like at the time, a huge gym and another small gym where we ate lunch! And to go to music class we had to climb and climb up many flights of stairs! All three schools were good, it seems, because I was never behind academically after a switch.

I remember my first day of 2nd grade very clearly. My assigned desk was next to a girl with a long french braid in her hair and her mom made us introduce ourselves. Their family had just moved to town as well. Two new kids in one class! Most class B schools would be lucky to have that situation now. It was my friend Beth and we stayed friends until we graduated.

There had been a case of the dreaded head lice, so a county nurse, along with the help of whichever staff members were available, had to come into the room and comb through our hair to make sure no one had it. This made it necessary to take out any hairstyles the girls had and I recall thinking it was too bad that Beth had to have her braid taken out. (Seriously, what a pain!) When the day was over and my mom came to pick me up, a kid in my class said "see you tomorrow Maren!" and I couldn't believe he knew my name already. Then my mom told me this boy was actually my cousin, although not in the same way as the ones I knew.

So I became a member of the biggest class that school had seen in several years and probably will see again. Through 5th grade there were more that 30 of us, and we required a an unusual(for class B) split class. Our class took over the teachers' prep room for those years. In 6th grade the adventurous Mr. S. took us all into one room (scary!) and there were 28 of us that graduated in 2001. That was almost 10 years ago! I can't believe it.

This was senior year! I think it was the first day of school because I remember wearing that shirt but it could have also been after school before we left for a game.

Oh, I have to amend my post about Allen's "cousins" that I made a few days ago. . .little Murphy had a sister and my aunt took her home! Her name is Rosie. Puppies, puppies, everywhere!

So little and cute! But where are their carseats? haha, just kidding!