It's made me think a lot about all of my first days of school growing up. The thing that comes to mind first is the smell. I remember school smelling like dust, cardboard containers of milk, books, brown paper sack lunches with their apples, chips, and mushy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (when I was a kid no one was allergic to peanut butter), and the general smell of a building that had been uninhabited for three months.
It was a very distinct smell and has stuck with me all these years.
The other thing I remember is the roll call in which no one's name was pronounced correctly. Especially not one of my best friends in school, Tia, who's full name is Stematia. Forget it. Teachers slaughtered her name year after year.
And for some reason I specifically remember the first day of 6th grade more than other years. I think it was because it was the first time I was in a brand new school (middle school), and there were tons of people in my classes who I had never met before. Also, there was one kid who stood out from the rest. His name was (is) Juan, and his family were migrant workers. One thing you should know about the school I went to: it was really diverse, in the sense that we were all different shades of white. So Juan really stood out. He was deemed "cool" right away. It didn't hurt that he had a folder that had a picture of woman in a thong bikini on it. That solidified it for the guys in my class: Juan was awesome. I was mortified by the folder, but fascinated with Juan those first few weeks of school. (Till I realized he was exactly like all the other guys in my class.)
What do you remember about your first days of school?
Happy Wednesday!
4 comments:
I remember the smell of the elementary school cafeteria when it was sloppy joes day. I always bought lunch when it was sloppy joes day. And the gym [which doubled as our cafeteria] sometimes smelled like sawdust because that's what the custodian would throw down over the mess when someone threw up. I also loved the smell of newly sharpened pencils [a la Tom Hanks in "You've Got Mail".
Oh dang, going back to school every year as an adult does not hold the same fond memories. :)
WOW Juan seems like a B.A. No one would ever dare bring folders like that to the school I went to. Even at the college lever I have yet to see someone with such a suggestive folder. Saw a girl last week with an Avengers (child) backpack. Crazy
That story of Juan reminds me of Napolean Dynamite when Pedro comes to school.
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