Just a little update on the freshman and FO (Freshman Orientation): She is now at East Noble High School. She said she didn’t understand why everyone wanted to grow up and said she wished she could be five forever. I opted for three – I figured that was a cozy, secure time and I don’t remember the angst of being three – if there was any. I think I remember Pokagan Soda Pop and finally getting people to realize I liked the red kind, rather than the orange.

I remember not really wanting to go to kindergarten. See, that was a five memory; I don’t really think I’d go for five. Six was big, fat pencils and seven was the dreaded school music teacher. Don’t even want to think about eight – that might have been when I discovered I had the hang of the school thing and didn’t think it necessitated me sitting all day in a little chair/desk thing.  Free reading time was cool, though. Getting called on early was crucial because they you could zone out. ‘Course, there were some kids who’d complain, “They want to go first so they don’t have to pay attention anymore.” They were right

Ninth grade was Mrs. Wheat’s algebra class. I think she was the age I am now. Her late husband’s name was Phineas and he had been the band director who wrote the school song. She was nerve-wracking. Then I had her for geometry in tenth grade. Oh, yeah, the days at the board with a proof. I remember one time she looked at my work from her chair in front ans remarked, “That looks a little funny, AmeliaJake.” And I asked, “Mrs. Wheat, do you mean funny as in strange or funny as in ha-ha?” I was serious . . . she scared me that much. I think the class got a laugh out of it; I don’t remember what Mrs. Wheat said. Probably, just as well.

I think it is preposterous – this starting school so early business. No one asked me about it, but that hasn’t stopped me from giving my opinion over the years.

In the near past, I have just focused on the early date of freshman orientation, but this year, due to the presence of a certain female freshman in our house, I am more fully experiencing the big FO.  I don’t know if the stress level will climb or not for the next hour plus. I was irritated about having to take myself over to the dentist’s for a cleaning, but now I sort of welcome the time in the chair with my cell phone off. Someone else will get the call about a certain freshman who duct taped herself into her locker and won’t come out.