Friday, June 12, 2009

reflections

today is the last day of 6th grade for the girl, the last day of 3rd for the boy. i don't know how this school year has flown by so quickly or how my kids have grown up so fast. it is much more noticeable in the girl of course, hitting puberty and all. the metamorphosis amazes me.

i have the world's worst memory, unlike the hubs who has always been able to quote entire conversations from more than 20 yrs ago, but, i have glimpses of times/places in my life.

sixth grade was a moving year for my family--physically that is. when my dad was in the army we moved just about every three years; sometimes this meant moving in the middle of a school year, like in sixth grade.

we'd been stationed in n.c. from 1/2 of 4th grade to 1/2 of sixth grade. i loved my 6th grade teacher. she had a cook out at her house, taught us macrame and ceramics; she was fun. then we moved back to wv where i finished 6th grade. we stayed there through part of the summer, waiting on my baby sister to be born, while my dad went on to our next post in pa. wv was our home of record, so anytime we were between posts this is where we went, usually staying w/ one of my grandparents. 6th grade would be the 4th time i'd popped back into this hometown school for at least part of the year. i finished 1st grade in wv, attended third there and part of 4th, now the tail end of 6th, it was the last time i went to school there.

i remember one teacher from that leg of 6th grade because she loved puns and incorporated them into our language arts. although i had crushes on boys, i do not remember being as aware of boys as the girl is now. also, back then 6th grade was the last year of elementary school, not the first year of middle.

when i was in third grade, like the boy, we were also in wv. my dad was on an unaccompanied tour in korea and we lived w/ his parents full time, though i also got to spend a lot of time w/ my mom's side of the family (i always preferred that side because my mom is the oldest of 5 kids and when i was younger there were at least two aunts still living at home, in high school while my dad was one of two kids and both were married adults). i loved my third grade teacher too, she was young w/ really long, straight blonde hair. i remember stapling my thumb in 3rd grade and throwing up in school (the one and only time). it was a rough year apparently--it was also the year my mom had had enough of my behavior and took me to see a psychologist. i honestly do not remember what was so wrong w/ me that she felt the need to do this. i hated my brother (who was all of maybe 3 at the time); i think i lied a lot. i only remember one or two visits at the psychologist--that was probably enough for him to figure out i was normal and my mom just needed to get a grip and deal w/ things. personally i think part of it was the fact that up until my brother was born i was the only child and only grandchild on both sides of the family. right around the time he was born i also gained 3 boy cousins.

that year i also took piano lessons for awhile; i got to pick out the paint color for the upstairs bedroom in my grandparents house (which was "my" room whenever we were there) i picked an odd, pumpkin color that remained until my gma sold the house and moved to nc about 16 yrs ago. i went to my first concert that year, w/ one of my teenage aunts. peter frampton. : ) do you feel like i do? i went skating w/ her a lot and watched her practice her flag girl routine on my grandparent's back porch. i loved the clicking sound her boots made on the cement and the way the tassles moved. i think the 3rd grade me must have been very impressed w/ her, the impressive high schooler that she was then. one time i went in her room and tried on her retainer--yes, i know, gross huh?

14 comments:

a mouthy irish woman? ridiculous! said...

sounds like our "growing up" years were very similiar...my dad was army and i had some of those same experiences...living with family, moving, great teachers...but not the retainer thing. probably b/c i didn't know anyone who wore one!

my boy is now a 5th grader. and a 20 year old in college.

oy vay.

a mouthy irish woman? ridiculous! said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Pandora said...

I can't even imagine having to move around that much when you're a kid and in school.I mean,making friends is already hard enough.I went to the same school the entire 12 years,as did my 3 siblings.I can't really remember all that much,and it isn't even that long ago.But I do know that I was never interested in boys.Even in high school.It irritated me to no end if the girls got all gaga about some guy in school.My favorite teachers,was funnily enough both my English teachers.The first one in 5th grade,and the other one throughout my entire high school career.They were the absolute best.

cheatymoon said...

I have yet to write about my childhood, but it sounds like we had similar experiences (even though I did not move a lot as a kid).

Same era, and all. I remember some great teachers in elementary school.

I did do the military thing as a spouse, though...

Anonymous said...

My parents moved around a lot more when my sister was little because my dad was in the Army but when I was in elementary school he retired. I hated my school and hated the town we lived in so I really wanted to move. I have vivid memories of a lot of my elementary school teachers too but most of my memories are about how much I hated them.

Not Your Aunt B said...

Thanks for sharing. I always like to learn about how people grew up. I would have idolized your aunt too- I can just imagine you watching her on the back porch. And we never forget certain teachers, right? Sometimes I wish I could let them know (a la Oprah) how much they impacted me.

Hotch Potchery said...

We also moved when I was in third grade and in sixth grade...from Texas to NJ to Germany back to NJ to Virginia...same sort of deal, my grandparents were in NJ. Our last move was to the town my sister mentioned above that she hated...after NINTH grade. dude, that sucked.

drollgirl said...

it is so funny to think back on the teachers from the past. some were so great, and some i sure hope are dead so that they can no longer torture and torment kids (MR. REY, THIS IS YOU, YOU FUCKER!).

and you saw peter frampton!?!? hahahaha! my first concert was greg kihn + huey lewis and the news. wow. that was long ago.

hope you have a great weekend

Pseudo said...

Love your reflections, you remember more than me. I only remember 2 teachers distinctly from elementary school.

Sprite's Keeper spin cycle this weeks is memories. You could join in with this ; -)

Gal Friday said...

Just mentioning macrame and Peter Frampton puts me back in time...*sigh*
Great blog, as always(I NEED to catch up with your blog badly).
BTW, I had a much loved third grade teacher, too, --young and with long blonde hair(she wore mini skirts, too)and I'll always remember her most for reading us a chapter every day from "The Secret Garden".

Fragrant Liar said...

We really have a lot of things in common. My family moved when I had just entered the sixth grade. It was a really transitional year for me in more ways than geography. It was the beginnings of puberty. My 20-y-o aunt Jeanne moved with us to Seattle, and she became my best friend and mentor. She is the one who encouraged me to write. I adored everything she did. I'm so glad she was there for me during that weird time.

cheatymoon said...

Oooooh, Tina/Gal - the Secret Garden was one of my favorite books as a kid.

a mouthy irish woman? ridiculous! said...

ps---my beach trip? is to sunset beach :) land of many summer vacations when i was a girl....

creative kerfuffle said...

the 2nd half of 4th grade we moved and the teacher i had then read us the secret garden, a chapter a day. i fell in love w/ the story. that teacher let us bring in blankets or pillows or whatever and we could sit anywhere, under tables, on the desk, etc. every afternoon she'd turn the lights off (there were lots of windows so we didn't really need them) and she'd read that book to us. it was magical.