Memory Lane
I was just thinking about my elementary school. I went to four different ones, but Dexter is the one I always returned to. It's the one my grandma, aunt, uncles and mom went to, as well as my sister and later, my brothers. Somehow my immediate family finds its way back to that school. Anyway, it's the place where most of my happy childhood memories are. I'd like to teach there someday. So I was also thinking about my favorite teacher -- fourth grade, Ms. Jacquess -- who liked my stories using the weekly spelling words so much that she told me I should be a writer and set up a meeting with my parents asking them to encourage the idea. (Reading that makes me think I'm wasting my life right now. I can't wait to get into that creative writing class and learn as much as I can from it.)
I miss so much about that school. The Indian murals in the cafeteria, my morning cocoa after doing safety patrol. The crayon-and-pencil-shavings smell in the halls. (Nothing like a fresh box of crayons!) We had Pioneer Day, where they set up candle-making stations and horses, etc. in the field and we all got to dress up in pioneer garb (my best friend at the time had money and her parents rented her the most beautiful yellow Civil War era gown, hoops and all. I was SO jealous.) It was a lot of fun. In May, we had May Day, a kind of festival to celebrate the arrival of spring. The fifth grade girls did a Maypole Dance -- we danced around a pole holding different colored ribbons and held our partner's hands and weaved around each other until the ribbons were braided around the pole, then we undid them all. (Side note: I remember my Maypole partner and friend, Trinity, chose the first practice run to tell me she was a lesbian. Interesting timing, LOL. Anyway, I was fascinated with the whole idea and asked her how lesbians "did it ::giggling::". She told me they use their toes. ROTF!)
Thinking about the Maypole thing, I researched to see if it had German roots. See, Evansville, Indiana is a very German town. You can see it in the architecture and business names, restaurant fare, etc. It was mainly settled by Germans, so I thought maybe the Maypole was brought from Germany as well. It didn't, but the research I found on it was really interesting. Pagan roots and all that. Check it out:
http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3maypol.htm
Well, I think I've bored you all enough for now...and I even held back! ;-)