SPT - School Memories

what is your favorite childhood memory of going back to school? were those good times, or stressful times for the younger you? were you decked out in new clothes? did your mom give your hair a trim the night before school? did they still use chalk in the classroom then? did you have to walk uphill through the snow both ways?!?

A day late. Almost two. But...this SPT was a must for me.

The awkward years. Tween. Puberty.

Middle School.

I was a pretty cool cat in sixth grade. My best friend, Lisa, and I had a firm social standing in the school and the year ended just like Bon Jovi declared, in a Blaze of Glory (although that particular song wasn't released until a few years later. We were actually belting out Livin' On A Prayer instead). I had a boyfriend that I never, ever talked to and broke up with weeks later at the County Fair and my parents gave the O.K. to start wearing make-up. Life was good.


Middle school quickly put an end to all of that.

Look how cute and innocent I was in 6th grade. Except...I was totally rebelling by using the scenic background. My mom was pretty annoyed at me for scribbling out her checkmark on the charcoal backdrop and checking the scenic one. I wanted that wheelbarrow in the picture!

I shared a room with two of my sisters. Jen had her own twin bed that was separated by a chest of drawers from the bunk beds that Sarah and I shared; I slept on the top bunk and Sarah slept on the bottom. The night before the first day of seventh grade, the first day of middle school, the first day to meet all of those other equally awkward pre-teens, I went to bed with several of the drawers on the chest of drawers pulled out. I can hear someone...my mom perhaps...maybe my brother, telling me to push those drawers in. I didn't.

During the middle of the night, I rolled off that top bunk. I hit one of the open drawers with my chin, flipped around with the force of the impact and landed on the ground. I lay there screaming and bleeding, one of my sister's didn't wake up (I can't remember which one) and my parents got me to the ER. I needed lots of stitched at my lip and on the underside of my chin and missed the first few days of school.

When I did go, I had to face the stares of all of those new, curious faces. I could barely talk, my face was so swollen. Honestly, I can't believe I went at all. I think I was excited to show off my new white boots with fringe down the back (like the popular girl wore in the movie Can't Buy Me Love. Remember?).

With that ominous beginning, it wasn't the best two years of my life. I had to make new friends as most of my elementary school friends started drinking and partying and I had to go through a massive growth spurt that left boys my age in the dust. I wanted to hide my developing body with long shirts and thick sweaters and my face decided that would be a great time to develop acne.

It was also the only time of my life when I didn't have the protection and status of my siblings to give me an edge. I suffered through those two years, got de-pants in front of my classmates only once (those stretch pants were such a fashion statement but incredibly easy to pull down), and made it safely to high school where life made sense again. There were boys tall enough now so that I didn't have to duck to go under their arms during the dance section of Gym class, I discovered brown and plum eyeliner and threw away the turquoise and navy blue, and had big brother Jon and big sis Jen to help me out socially.

This was the re-take picture. The original one, taken only a few short weeks after the bunk bed incident was ghastly. But...I had the cutest pink shirt, and Bon Jovi Silver Belt with those white fringe boots on that day. So sad...but I can't find a single picture of me in that divine outfit. Although..c'mon...my turquoise turned up collar ain't so bad! Can you tell how much more mature I was in only a single year. It was brutal!

8th Grade.

But there are a few choice memories I hold from those years. Pushing the pause button on the tape player without my social studies teacher noticing, so that it took him an extra fifteen minutes to start his lesson as he tried to figure out how to get the machine to work. My oral presentation in English about how to braid hair using a friend with really long hair. The trouble was...I don't actually braid hair that well and got the rubber band tangled in her hair and spent more time trying to get the knotted mess out than I did on my presentation. Putting on a kick-butt dance with Guns-N-Roses Welcome To The Jungle as the theme. Since I was in charge, I got to dance on the stage. I invited a few other VIP's and we thought we were pretty tough.

So...it had it's moments. Not many. But some.

I suppose middle school is a necessary evil in life.