First Grade

As I sat in silence listening to the young mothers talk about the toddlers and how smart they were; my mind meandered back to my childhood and the memories of going to school in the Odessa-Midland area. First grade was very stressful. The first day I remember being in line to register all by myself. Mom stayed home to take care of the younger children and my older sister, a fourth grader, just stuck me in line and left me. When it came my turn I was asked, “First name?” I got that one right; but then they asked, “Last name?” I was stumped …no one had ever explained that part. “How do you spell it?….????” From that moment on I knew school was not for me. Luckily my across-the-street neighbor, George, piped up. He spelled my last name without as much as a stammer or stutter. I was impressed. How did he know that? He explained it was written on the front steps of my house; as was everybody’s last name who lived in the company houses of the oil field camp. I thought that was extremely astute of George and thought that he was going to be somebody someday. I think his last name was “Dubyuh”.
Needless to say first grade was a rude awaking. When I was a kid they didn’t have kindergarten, pre-k, pre-k-1, 2, 3, etc etc. 1st grade was where it all started. I had no idea there was an alphabet and the written word was news to me. It might as well have been hieroglyphics and for the most part still is. Nowdays teachers have labels for all sorts of learning disabilities--AD, ADD, ADHD, MR, OCD, and on and on. Back then there was only one S-L-O-W, and that’s what I was labeled. To make matters worse they thought it could be my eyesight so with only a mild optical problem I was given glasses to wear. I can assure you glasses will not fix “stupid”. Glasses will only slow the social development of a child.

As if all this was not enough my father, the engineer, being extremely practical and having a baby girl following my younger brother acquired a 20” girls bicycle and crafted a section of ½” rigid plumbing pipe to serve as a center bar disguise making the bike a “convertible” so to speak. Still in my heart of hearts I knew the truth…it was a girls bike and that played heavily on my mind. Then there was the “lunch box” issue. My parents wouldn’t let me carry a brown sack lunch like all the other kids. It had to be a lunch box. I’m not talking Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck lunch box. Oh! No! It had to be a black workman’s lunch pail like all the construction workers carried. To make matters worse I broke the thermos bottle. In the old days thermos bottles were made with a glass envelope...the same theory used in double pane windows. They had excellent insulating qualities but were extremely delicate and could not survive the fall from a 20’ girl’s bike as it crossed over the railroad tracks. My father, undeterred, purchased a “Stanley Stainless Steel” thermos with an unbreakable envelope and matching screw-on stainless steel cap/cup. There was only one problem. It was one inch taller than the lunch pail was long. Again undeterred, Dad neatly machined out a hole in the end of the lunch box. Voila! This allowed the thermos to be secured in its designated spot with the gleaming stainless steel cap protruding from the gable end of the lunch box and giving it the appearance of a miner’s flash light.

So there I was peddling my girl’s bike across the R.R. tracks to school wearing glasses and carrying a miner’s flash light…hoping against hope that the center bar would not pop out and expose me to the ridicule of my fellow classmates.

All this was too much for an insecure 1st grader. I could not concentrate on my studies and the ensuing paranoia occupied my every thought. Unfortunately this set a base line for the remainder of my academic career.

A word to the wise…be careful of what you do and what you say to your children. It has dramatic and long lasting effects. And Yes! it’s too late for me to correct the mistakes I’ve made with my children…I just hope and pray that some day they will look back and laugh realizing it was all done with loving intentions.

For this I pray
Amen

7/05/2008