We all love to find a diary or letters written by great grandma or grandpa where they talk about their lives and share their memories. Think how excited one of your descendants will be to read about your memories and your stories! These stories will be lost after a few generations unless we preserve them. And what better way than in a weekly themed post.
This week's prompt is Memories of Grades 10 and 11. I have no memory of Grade 10. None. My theory of this blank spot in my memory is that it's due to my dad's sudden death on Christmas Day of Grade 9. Because it's as if Grade 10 didn't exist for me.
Grade 11 is a bit of a blur but I remember having to get up in front of my class and read an essay I'd written. I was shaking so badly I could hardly see the words on the papers in my hand! I think my teacher thought I was going to burst into tears because he didn't make me finish reading it.
I was pretty shy back then and didn't really fit in with the rest of the kids, both socially, economically and in fashion. But no one every picked on me or bullied me. In fact I experienced the opposite - the other kids looked out for me and were very kind to me always. I had tons of friends which doesn't really fit either with my shyness and the horrible clothes I had to wear and where I lived in town. You'd expect me to be ignored or ostracized given the circumstances. But I wasn't and in fact I actually got invited to a few parties in the "new area" of town.
When I was a teenager the old and new area kids did not mix as a general rule. But the majority of my friends were new area kids and we all hung out at my house constantly. That was one unwritten rule the new area kids never broke - I was never invited to their homes except for the occasional party.
Bottom line was that I loved school and I had tons of friends so in that area of my life I was very happy. What are your memories of those High School years?
Not sure about your idea of "horrible clothes". Try being a 5'8" teenager and having to wear your grandmother's hand-me-downs, she was not quite 5'1".
ReplyDeleteI think we both had to wear horrible stuff that wasn't in fashion. I had 2 outfits - two horrid skirts mother made out of some kitchen curtains I think. One was pink gingham, the other blue.
ReplyDeleteTo go with them I had two white long sleeve blouses. The other girls were wearing much nicer in-style outfits and I always felt so out-of-it.
Remember Easters when all the other girls got new shoes and/or a new dress and we got underwear? One year my underwear had the days of the week on them and were in different pastel colours.
Lorine, I remember the pastel panties with the days of the week embroidered on them. I begged my mother for a set and thought they were SO special!
ReplyDeleteMother taught herself to sew and made almost all of my clothes from 2nd grade until about my junior year in high school (grade 11). All of my friends had clothes from the local shops(all three of them, but somehow they always admired my outfits. I really didn't see much difference in what Mother made and what everyone else wore. Mother did try to keep up with the current styles.
Diane - lucky you to be in style! I never was, nor was my older sister. I also only had the 2 outfits.
ReplyDeleteTo this day I have way too many clothes in my closets. I am incapable of not having LOTS from which to choose!