School Days

"Next year I'm going to be in 2nd grade and I'm going to school!" I told my sister while I bounced up in down in our car's backseat. 

"You're not big enough to go to school!" my brother piped up,  "you have to be able to put your arm over your head and cover your ear with your hand for you to be big enough to go to school." He proceeded to show me by dangling his arm over the crown of his head and covering the opposite side's ear with his fingers. 

I tilted my head and stretched my fingers as far as they could go. I could only cover my ear half way.

"Your head needs to be straight too" said my brother.

Anguish filled my heart, I was too little for school!

Mom cut into the nonsense saying the length of my arms didn't matter and that she and Dad were still talking about it. They hadn't completely decided yet.

The next school term I did start 2nd grade. I was excited, but when the first day came, my tummy felt queezy. "Those are just butterflies in your stomach" Mom told me, "everyone gets them on their first day."

Our classroom was divided into two sections that year. One side was for the upper graders with Miss Rachel as the teacher. The lower grades were in the smaller side of the classroom and Miss Sheri was our teacher. I adored her from day one. It helped that we were the only womenfolk on our side of the classroom. The other four students were boys, all older than me. 

I had a lot to learn. Not just how to add 3+5, but also how to put my little purple flag into the hole on the top of my desk divider when I had a question. It was so much more fun to simply turn around and whisper my question to Miss Sheri. Unfortunately, that wasn't the way classroom order was set up.

The one thing I didn't like about school was the fact that I had to do 2nd grade by myself. Not only that, but I was the only girl all the way up to Josie who was in 7th grade that year. 

Besides that little hiccup, I loved school. I loved recess. I loved art class. And I loved being everyone's little tag along.

Over the years, I continued being the only student in my grade. Miss Rachel was my teacher for 3rd grade, Miss Sovina for 4th and 5th. After 5th grade, our school got so small that we homeschooled for the next two years. How I wanted to go back to school. If only a family would come. A family with a girl my age.

My prayers were answered when Gary and Regina moved in. Their daughter, Audrey was only a month older than me and she had two school aged brothers and so plans were made to start school again the next year. 

8th-12th grade, Miss Rachelle was my teacher. I especially enjoyed high school. I loved learning new ideas and being able to pursue some more of my interests such as art, writing, and home economics. 

School had many highs and lows over the years. It was where I learned more about our world and the people that are on our planet. It taught me how to interact with the people that filled it's four walls. I also learned that learning never ends and walks beside us each day of our lives.