Playing School

Today we were reading a chapter from Kirsten Learns a Lesson

As I was reading about the little girls playing school with their dolls, I remembered playing school when I was little. At home, I played alone in my room. But while at school, during recess, we would make little houses (and schools) on the playground, under the big oak trees. During the fall, we would use the fallen leaves -- during the spring, we just used dirt. We would make lines using our feet -- pushing the leaves (or dirt) to represent the "walls" and leave openings for the doorways and hallways. Oh, that was so much fun!!! It was so heartbreaking, seeing them cut the trees down just a few years later. I wondered how many little girls played just as I (and even my mother) had under those trees and how many more would never get to play and imagine as we did.

The old school closed when they built the new elementary school. Our daughter (our oldest) was among the very first students to attend the new school. It was beautiful, smelled new, and didn't have that pesky asbestos, but it also didn't have the character and the history, the huge canvas Roman shades, the cloak rooms, the polls that we beat the erasers on (if you were a good little nerdy student a.k.a. ME), the HUGE slide (it seemed 100 feet tall!) and those trees...... those blessed trees. Other than the schoolwork (I told you I was a nerd!) those trees were among the best things about that old school. This is all that's left (we need to make a trek back to take pictures....) It's boarded up to keep the vandals out ..... but it didn't work, too well. This was the Elementary part. The high school building is separate and later became the middle school. So many of my family members attended there (all the way back to my great-grandparents!) My parents met there. My husband and I even attended at the same time (but we don't remember meeting -- he's 2 years older than I -- and remember.........I was nerdy!)

But, alas, things change.............. Que sera, sera........

Now, I don't play school anymore. We have and live school, daily. Even after the books are put away for the day (or night) we're constantly learning. And it's better (most of the time!) than I could have ever imagined! I love my students and I'm in love with the principal! Let me go kiss him, right now!

Many Blessings,

Julie