Disappointment, Heartache and Foul Odors Pt 1

First Day Of School 2008

I took this photo yesterday, right before the bus came to pick them up in the morning. E is in 5Th grade this year and T is starting Kindergarten. Do they look like they stepped out of a JC Kohl's Bean catalogue? How about those plaid shorts on T, and E's plaid shoes?

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As a mother I try to remember what it was like to be a kid at whatever age my kids are. I think this helps me be more empathetic and patient with them.
I really don't remember much about Kindergarten. I do remember quite a bit about 5Th grade though...
Up until 5Th grade I was able to walk to school. This enabled me to avoid certain bully type people on the way to and from school. All I had to do was walk really slow. The middle school which included 5Th and 6Th grade, was located too far away; I had to take the bus. I hated the bus from day one. I was shy and being that my friends from my street all attended the Catholic school, I had no one to sit with. I don't have any specific bus memories from 5Th grade, just general bus memories. Sweaty, smelly kids, mean stares, mean whispers and uncaring bus drivers.Hot, heavy air leaving me feeling like I couldn't breath. Fear too, I remember fear of being bullied. This fear never left me even through high school bus rides.
My teacher in 5Th grade was Mrs. Smith. She was short, round and really old. Being I was in 5Th grade 1978-1979, I have no fear of her being alive now, catching me writing about her! Mrs Smith's breath was horrible. She smelled like stale cigarettes and un-bathed old person. I dreaded when she would call me up to her desk to talk to me. For the first half of the year I was her pet. I did really well academically, no one seemed to notice I didn't' have many friends.
One day she asked me if I wanted a job writing for the school newspaper. They needed a movie critic. Wow, what fun, of course I took the job. I went to the movies the very next weekend and saw whichever Star Trek movie was playing that year. Well, I didn't really like the movie and being naive about the extent of Star Trek fans and the influence they had on the world, I wrote honestly about the movie. I felt like I wrote about it fairly,but got across the point that I didn't' like it. I was fired! Turns out the stinky, wrinkly old woman was a Trekkie! I was so angry and disappointed because my writing was rejected. Not on the basis that it sucked, but because my teacher and perhaps all the members of the newspaper, were crazed Star Trek fans!
I'll be back to write about the heartache I experienced in 5Th grade next time. I don't want to keep you all too long.