(no subject)
I've been thinking and processing a lot about my childhood over the last few days. I just erased what I was starting to write because it was way too heavy and I have an amazing wife who listens and processes with me. We did a good deal of that last night at doyles. She's the best. ever.
Anyway.....some good thoughts running through my head last night and this morning about my childhood....
scratch-n-sniff stickers. I use to have a book of them when I was young and I would scratch and stiff for hours. I would pull them out of my desk at school in 1st grade when Mrs. Givabic was turned around writing on the chalk board and scratch-scratch-sniiiiifff and put it away really fast before she saw what i was up to. I remember the smell of comet in the arts and crafts room off the side of the classroom and i remember the red step stool in front of the sink....a sink big enough that I could bathe in it. I remember the paint splatters on the sink that were so hard to clean with those barely absorbent cardboard paper towels....and how when you pulled on one about six came out and Ms. Givabic would caution to only use what you needed because trees were being killed for those paper towels. I remember music class in the gym with Mrs. Rassmussen when I realized that not all women were beautiful. I remember the textured rubber floor of the gym and how hard it was to move the chair or swing your feet with ease.
I sometimes wish I could go back for just one day. If I did, I would stand with my neighborhood friends at the end of the street waiting for the bus. We would ride the bumpy dirt roads and catch air in our seats as we go over the potholes. I'd have a cubbie for my things and a hook with my name written on a sticker above it. I would ask to use the bathroom and make my way silently down the hall, take a right down the "S" curve stairs and continue down counting each stair until I could smell Mrs. Gordon's perfume wafting from the nurses office. I would say hi to the cafeteria cook Mrs. Prince and hope for apple squares to be the desert of the day. I would say hi to Mr. Wing, sweeping through the school and secretly envy him for having the quiet halls to himself. I would look forward to recess where I could run around with my friends and chase Katie Haggerty around the playground.....God, she was cute. But more than anything, I would just like to sit for a few moments with my scratch-n-sniff stickers.
Anyway.....some good thoughts running through my head last night and this morning about my childhood....
scratch-n-sniff stickers. I use to have a book of them when I was young and I would scratch and stiff for hours. I would pull them out of my desk at school in 1st grade when Mrs. Givabic was turned around writing on the chalk board and scratch-scratch-sniiiiifff and put it away really fast before she saw what i was up to. I remember the smell of comet in the arts and crafts room off the side of the classroom and i remember the red step stool in front of the sink....a sink big enough that I could bathe in it. I remember the paint splatters on the sink that were so hard to clean with those barely absorbent cardboard paper towels....and how when you pulled on one about six came out and Ms. Givabic would caution to only use what you needed because trees were being killed for those paper towels. I remember music class in the gym with Mrs. Rassmussen when I realized that not all women were beautiful. I remember the textured rubber floor of the gym and how hard it was to move the chair or swing your feet with ease.
I sometimes wish I could go back for just one day. If I did, I would stand with my neighborhood friends at the end of the street waiting for the bus. We would ride the bumpy dirt roads and catch air in our seats as we go over the potholes. I'd have a cubbie for my things and a hook with my name written on a sticker above it. I would ask to use the bathroom and make my way silently down the hall, take a right down the "S" curve stairs and continue down counting each stair until I could smell Mrs. Gordon's perfume wafting from the nurses office. I would say hi to the cafeteria cook Mrs. Prince and hope for apple squares to be the desert of the day. I would say hi to Mr. Wing, sweeping through the school and secretly envy him for having the quiet halls to himself. I would look forward to recess where I could run around with my friends and chase Katie Haggerty around the playground.....God, she was cute. But more than anything, I would just like to sit for a few moments with my scratch-n-sniff stickers.