Friday, August 9, 2013

Memories

I'm not one of those people who has lots of memories from a very
young age.

But....I have a few.

I've been reading some blog posts lately about the first day of school (because I follow a lot of teachers and school librarians).

The first day of school is one of the few early memories I have.

When I was very young, my family moved from South Carolina to Louisiana.

I guess the age requirement for starting school in Louisiana was younger than South Carolina, so I was expected to start school unexpectedly. (Yes, I need a copy editor at all times.)

My mother was frantic and worried and neurotic that poor little Barbara would be thrown to the wolves at such a young age.

But, off I went.

To school.

What do I remember about that first day?

The teacher told me I just needed to raise my hand and ask if I needed to go to the LAVATORY.

Huh?

The LAVATORY?

WTH?

She may as well have said, "Just raise your hand and ask if you need to go to the RTIMLGIG831YO^&(^(^^&YP. Okay?"

I was very, very confused.

THAT is my memory of my first day of school.

(And add to that the fact that the classroom had that unfinished painting of George Washington. What's up with THAT?)

3 comments:

Augusta Scattergood said...

My "lavatory" back in the day was known as The Basement. Yes, the bathrooms were in the basement. And that's where we asked to be excused to, as in "Miss Keesler, may I go to The Basement?"
PS Love the pic!

Lee Stokes Hilton said...

I don't remember if it was the Bathroom or the Lavatory. What I remember is braids and a plaid dress and saddle shoes. I hated those saddle shoes.

Ramona said...

We moved the summer before 2nd grade. I'd been reading for awhile, but my new school used phonics to teach reading, and it made absolutely no sense to me! I could read, but couldn't complete the worksheets handed out daily.
This same teacher taught us the difference between can and may. When we asked, "Can I go to the bathroom?" she would reply, "I don't know, can you?"