27 Years Ago I Was You

Most adults have been through the grind of middle school. We often talk about how hard our jobs are or how much adulting sucks. But, I bet most can give you middle school horror stories. They should make a suspense movie about middle school. It would be more believable than the feel good Hulu specials we are inundated with to make kids feel alright.

I kinda remember sixth grade. My teacher was Mrs. Kewin. She was amazing and kind and nurturing and our student council sponsor. I stayed in touch with her through high school. The last time I talked to her was over a pizza dinner at Mama's one evening when I was in college. Man, that's a real teacher. Someone that can stay in touch and whose name I will always remember. 

Sixth grade was meh. I was in Catholic school with a class of 30, which included kids I had gone to kindergarten with. I think I hung out with Shannon, the only white girl in the class. She was petite with long blonde hair and her mother was the first grade teacher that took over when the nun had retired.

It was in sixth grade that I got my first period. It was a Friday afternoon, I think. I remember my stomach hurting so very badly in class. I sat in a desk up front by the window. I remember staring out the window as I leaned over, clutching my stomach like I was ready to reenact the scene from alien. Little did I know, I was and it was worse. I remember finally getting the strength to get up and go to the bathroom, only to find the horror in my pants. I stuffed half a roll of single ply in my panties and went back to class.

See, you're not alone. It happens to the best of us.

Seventh grade... I think I was in student council again that year. It is a little bit of a blur to me. I was still in Catholic school, but the super cool thing about being in seventh grade was that we got to wear plaid skirts instead of plaid jumpers. This was big. It made me feel older, more refined almost.

It was after the seventh grade school year ended that the fun began. This was the summer I got to go to leadership camp as I as the student council secretary. I spent a whole week up in Prescott, Arizona, away from my parents with mostly strangers in a cabin in the woods. Maybe this is what started my love of the horror genre. No, not really, because I think it intrigued me even before camp.

I met lots of boys at camp. Finally, boys that I didn't go to kindergarten with! In came the boy craze of my youth that didn't end until I was 18 and became an official girlfriend.

Aside from boys, this was the beginning of the pivotal point in my life. I had Nine Inch Nails band shirts, a slew of Nirvana CD's and a Corrosion of Conformity sticker on my pink plastic art box. Oh gawd, I longed to be a flannel clad grungy chick!

My Eighth grade year was all about learning who I was and how to grow up. I got my first ID and had to memorize my social security number for I don't even remember what. It must have had something to do with applying to UHS and registering for the test. 

Honestly, I can't even remember too much at this current moment. I remember taking graduation pictures, testing for UHS, class parties and actual graduation. I think this was the year that I was ready to get out into the world. No more small, private school! I wasn't too nervous about high school. I felt ready. I needed the change. I needed the freedom. 

I started writing this for my daughter before the pandemic. I never came back to it because I was so sidetracked. But, today it stood out to me and needed to be finished. There's always more to say, but now that I have a freshman, the world will help me say it. 

Angel, you'll do wonderfully in high school. These next four years will fly by, but I'm so happy to share them with you! I'll always be here when you need me and you can always count on me to push you to grow and learn! 

Love always, 

Ama