31 Days of Life Stories #15

School days, school days, dear old golden rule days,

Reading and Writing and 'Rithmetic 

Taught to the tune of a hickory stick ...

Okay, I don't remember the rest of the song, but any discussion of life stories would not be complete without mentioning school.

I was one of those weird children who lived for school. I truly enjoyed learning, but even more, I was there to see how many brownie points I could rake in.

It's funny but now all these years later I can really see my motivation was to excel. I wish I could go back in time and tell that skinny scraggly-haired girl that it is okay to be you and you don't have to prove anything to anybody.

Every summer would start out blissfully enjoying freedom from the daily schedule but about mid-July, I was already dreaming of going back and hitting the books.

It was never about going back to see friends for me, because I'm just not that social.

However, I did want to look good. Every fall, Mom would order me three dresses from Alden's catalog. The day the order came in was definitely one of excitement for me. I remember the same year I first heard of the Beatles, Mom let me get a mini-skirt!  Of course, I wore tights underneath it because in the Chicago winters you definitely needed something on your legs.

It was a red plaid with a wide red belt and I felt. So. Cool.

Because I am so nerdy, the day we picked up school supplies was another red-letter day in my life. Again, this was before the era of K-Mart or Walmart stores, so we went downtown to the bookstore to get everything on my school's list. You actually just went in and told them your grade and the name of your school and they already had a bundle of supplies ready for you.

I think it was fourth grade when my bundle included my very own red dictionary! I kept it for years and years. And, I'm really giving my age away, but I also got my very own first ... fountain pen!

I was determined to write very prettily with the fountain pen, but alas, my handwriting looks today like chicken scratching!

Ah, yes! Every September, I get nostalgic for the good old days. For fresh crisp notebooks with lines to be filled in, for new crayons and colored pencils to create works of art, for binders and folders to organize and color-code ...

I will always appreciate the gift of my education.

~~~

Did you enjoy going to school? Did you go to be social or to indulge your love of learning?

This post is #15 in my series, 31 Days of Life Stories. Hundreds of writers are linking up at the 31 Day Writing Challenge hosted by Crystal Stine. There is a wealth of information on many topics. Go visit and see! I'll be posting under the category "Inspiration and Faith."