Thinking back...

Sharing a surreal moment…

 

Every morning, I walk my youngest to his kindergarten class, at the same elementary school that I attended years ago.  My two other children attended kindergarten at different schools closer to my home, but this one is going to the school within my mother’s district.  For the first time, in many, many years, I am walking on the asphalt, and walking up and down the stairs of my old elementary school.  It’s kind of surreal, especially when I realize how very small the once HUGE playground I used to play in really is.  The stairs are not nearly as many as I remember.  It’s surreal to walk down to my car and notice an old classmate that I knew from my own kindergarten class who just dropped off her kids.  We share some small talk, we had spoken last at the high school reunion we went to.  It gets even weirder when I am crossing the street with this classmate, when our former 2nd grade teacher pulls up to the crosswalk.  “Hello, Mrs. Crews!”  It was an Alice and Wonderland moment-all that was missing was the White Rabbit creeping out of the old turtle bar structure that is still sitting in the kindergarten playground.  Oh, and I did mention that my old kindergarten teacher of 37 years ago is STILL there?

 

Suddenly I’m taken back in time, and I’m wearing my red corduroy jumper, and white tights that cling to my very chubby legs.  I’m sitting on the bench watching the other girls play hopscotch, staring at my shoelaces that are left untied.  Should I attempt to tie them again, or should I hide my feet so no one will notice?  Too bad they didn’t invent Velcro yet.  Not to worry, here comes my old friend, Linda Van Loon to the rescue!  She’ll tie my shoes and ask me to play jump rope.  I used to hate that skinny, blonde girl so much.  She would stick her tongue at me on the school bus, until one day her mom called my mom to arrange a play date together.  Who would have known we would be best friends? I was amazed by her huge sand box full of her mom’s old pots and pans in her backyard, andhow her mom let her draw and write all over her bedroom walls-something my mom would NEVER let me do in a million years.  I used to share my Ding Dongs and Hostess Cup Cakes with her at lunch.  Yes, my mom liked me fat and happy for some reason, and Linda was as skinny as a stick.  She was like a bone with some short blonde hair sticking out of the top, so naturally, I would give her my Ding Dongs out of pity.  My mom would have Moon Pies and milk waiting for me when I got home, so I wasn’t worried. 

 

 

 

To this day, I refuse to buy Ding Dongs and Hostess Cupcakes and put them in my kid’s lunch.   It’s NEVER going to happen, although I did catch a glimpse of those Moon Pies at the market the other day, and I won’t lie to you when I say I was very tempted to buy a box.