Sunday Scribblings #147 - Phantoms & Shadows

Sunday Scribblings #147 - Phantoms & Shadows

This week: things and people, times, places, events and how your memory has treated them. Are there people you try to remember more clearly, phantoms you'd like to reach back into the past and take a firm hold of? What do you remember of your early school years? College years? Your grandparents? First pets, first houses, first friends? Do you have a good or poor memory? If you could go back to any particular time/place to recall more vividly what it was like, what would that be?

Oh, man - this is going to be a deep subject! Because I could write at length and never do this topic justice, I've decided to recall the events from my school years. I'll tackle the other questions at another time.

Early school years - I have a few very vivid memories of kindergarten at Lad & Lassie. I remember the cold feel of the leather car seats on the backs of my bare legs as Daddy would drive me to school. Wearing a skirt or dress with knee socks, this left the backs of my legs exposed to the elements when I would sit down. I remember the "play" we put on - everyone dressing and acting out a part in a circus. My best friend at the time Jennifer "General Foods" and I were the double-headed fat lady - both of us inside the same dress with our heads and one arm a piece in each sleeve.

I remember first grade at Rose Hill Elementary - the last year the school was open. At 6 years old I had this huge puppy crush on Michael, who was a mature 7 years old. I got in trouble one day because I wrote him a love note and then pushed it through a crack in the wall between my classroom and his. I was humiliated when his teacher brought the note to my teacher and then proceeded to read it out loud to the classroom!

Third grade at Mercer County Elementary, I took my best friend's, Ella Jean, turtle out of his bowl on pet day and put him on the table. He walked off the table and fell to the floor - Ella Jean was furious and the teacher made me stand in the corner.

Seventh grade at Mercer County Junior High - I had to let several people touch my legs because everyone thought I was wearing pantyhose with my shorts. Fact was, I tan brown as a berry and my legs were just naturally dark.

All four years at Mercer County High School, I dated the same boy, who ended up being my first husband. I was head over heels to the point that I began ignoring all my old friends and did everything I could to please my first love. This relationship was doomed from the beginning because it ended after 6 years of marriage, but I didn't see the signs until it was too late.

Going to college as a single mother of two children under the age of six was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, but it is also the thing I am most proud of. After my divorce I attend the Midway College nursing program - my children started school at the same time - the oldest in kindergarten and the youngest in Head Start. Those three years were so hard, not only because of raising my children, studying for classes and attending clinical rotations, but because I was also working full-time. This was 25 years ago and when I look back on this time I don't know how I survived with my sanity intact, or how my children turned into wonderful young women.

These are just a few of the memories my muse brought up as I read this prompt. The problem is, I am nowhere near the tip of the iceberg on this subject. I have a feeling this will turn into a longer essay I can use for my monthly magazine column.

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