Guess what came in the mail yesterday afternoon! My BB gun from Green607 (Lee)!
I also receive word from him that at the same time, he received the cashola in a “thank you” note that I sent.
In the message, he complimented my handwriting.
You know how there are certain smells or sounds that can trigger a memory from childhood? Well, I suppose there can be “subject matter” that does the same, because I was transported right back to elementary school with a fresh (in my mind) picture of my teacher leaning over me and telling me how awful my letter “O” looked. She went on and on about how slanted it was and how unevenly squished it was and named my “O’s” Duck Egg. She gave me a sheet of writing paper and made me fill the page with the capital letter “O”. I sat there for an eternity carefully crafting every circle, making sure that it looked as close to the “O” on the alphabet border around the ceiling as I could get it to look. I think I used at least half of my big pink eraser, just to get it right. I took my paper up to her desk and handed it to the teacher. She picked up a red pen and slashed a mark through almost every one saying “Duck egg. Duck egg. Duck egg.” I was crushed. “O” was the first letter of my last name and I felt like my crappy “O” must be letting my family name down.
Then the most mortifying thing happened that could ever happen to a six year old. She handed me a cardboard template of a circle and a brand new long piece of yellow chalk. I had to go up to the chalkboard in front of the whole class and make an “O” using that template until the chalk was gone; around and around and around... Then I had to put my nose in the center of it and stand there until it was time to go line up for bus #31 to take me home. I had yellow chalk dust in my hair. To this day I hate the smell of chalk and I hate the way my handwriting looks.
But thanks to innocent little comments from people like Lee (Green607), I can look back now and think that maybe it was just a teacher having a bad day instead of thinking that my “O” sucked.
I also receive word from him that at the same time, he received the cashola in a “thank you” note that I sent.
In the message, he complimented my handwriting.
You know how there are certain smells or sounds that can trigger a memory from childhood? Well, I suppose there can be “subject matter” that does the same, because I was transported right back to elementary school with a fresh (in my mind) picture of my teacher leaning over me and telling me how awful my letter “O” looked. She went on and on about how slanted it was and how unevenly squished it was and named my “O’s” Duck Egg. She gave me a sheet of writing paper and made me fill the page with the capital letter “O”. I sat there for an eternity carefully crafting every circle, making sure that it looked as close to the “O” on the alphabet border around the ceiling as I could get it to look. I think I used at least half of my big pink eraser, just to get it right. I took my paper up to her desk and handed it to the teacher. She picked up a red pen and slashed a mark through almost every one saying “Duck egg. Duck egg. Duck egg.” I was crushed. “O” was the first letter of my last name and I felt like my crappy “O” must be letting my family name down.
Then the most mortifying thing happened that could ever happen to a six year old. She handed me a cardboard template of a circle and a brand new long piece of yellow chalk. I had to go up to the chalkboard in front of the whole class and make an “O” using that template until the chalk was gone; around and around and around... Then I had to put my nose in the center of it and stand there until it was time to go line up for bus #31 to take me home. I had yellow chalk dust in my hair. To this day I hate the smell of chalk and I hate the way my handwriting looks.
But thanks to innocent little comments from people like Lee (Green607), I can look back now and think that maybe it was just a teacher having a bad day instead of thinking that my “O” sucked.
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