A Blast From The Past

It's funny the things we remember from our childhoods. I think back to kindergarten and I remember my mom giving me a piece of paper to take to school with the word "Sister" written on it. This was my Show & Tell. I had a brand new baby sister, Cynthia, and I was very proud and excited to tell my class all about her.

I also remember a large jar filled with M&M's. We were asked to guess how many were in the jar. The person closest would win a prize. Perhaps, in my 5-year-old mind, 24 seemed like a huge number because that was my guess. When I heard that there were more than 400 I was shocked and amazed. 400 might as well have been 4 bajillion.

Then there was the time I threw up in the garbage can. Probably my least favorite memory from kindergarten.

My most vivid memory, however, was the day we learned the letter "E". We were to color a picture of a girl, in a checkered dress, holding up a dumbbell. Her name was Emily Exercise. I guess my attention to detail (or my perfectionism) started at an early age because I was determined to color in the dress red, blue, red, blue.... The other kids in my class quickly finished their pictures and sat on the rug for story time. My teacher was nice enough to let me stay at my desk and continue coloring. As story time moved on the kids got rowdy and unruly. Teacher sent them to their desks where they were to put their heads down. I continued with my red, blue, red, blue... When recess came I was the only one permitted to go outside, not the most exciting option for a 5-year-old.

So, yesterday Billy and I visited our friend, Lynne, who is a kindergarten teacher. The school was putting on a patriotic program and we went to watch her class sing Yankee Doodle. Afterward, the class went to recess and we went to Lynne's classroom to visit. My friend and Billy's sister, Tina, was there helping Lynne for the day and as we talked I told her about my experience with Emily Exercise. So today, Tina, who is helping Lynne again, sent me this picture.



SHE FOUND EMILY EXERCISE! Wow, what a blast from the past! Thanks, Tina.