Memories Monday - School Days

Like most people, I don't remember much of my early childhood.  I have a few memories here and there - being in the hospital when I cut open my head at my aunt's at the age of two, looking at my little sister in the playpen, vague recollections of cutting her hair and getting into my mom's make up.  Then there are my memories from kindergarten.

Like my younger years, very few of them are solid memories, just flashes here and there.  The first one is actually before school actually started.  The kids that would be starting school in September 1979 were able to come in one morning with their parents to see what school would be like.  I lived five miles from town and there were no kids my age anywhere near by.  (We lived on hundreds of acres, so I didn't even HAVE anyone too near by.)  So when I came into school, I didn't know anyone.  I don't ever remember play dates or anything like that.  I know that I must have met a bunch of people, but only one person sticks out - Renee.  Not because I made a great friendship with her - though we knew each other as we grew up (it was a very small town - our graduating class was around 35), we were never close.  What I remember is standing next to her and seeing our names written in sand.

Under a bank of windows that overlooked the playground was a long shelving unit.  I can't remember now what the shelves held - probably toys and books and things like that.  But I do remember that one of the things on top of it were two lunch trays covered in sand for us to write and draw in with our fingers.  I don't know if Renee had written her own name or if someone had written it for her, but I remember her standing next to it when I went to draw in the sand.  I don't think either of us said anything to each other - I was really shy when I was a kid.  But for some reason that memory sticks in my mind and refuses to let go.