Wednesday, June 20, 2007

I'm no longer that girl.

"When I grow up, I want to be...

...'a teacher,' said Kristin."

Or so I said at age five. With both my parents teachers, it's probably no suprise that I would pick that career path. Although a total of eight kids in my kindergarten class picked that answer. Perhaps the most unique was said by another teacher's kid. It was, "the person who does the elephant job in a circus". You can't beat that! However, I don't believe Eric grew up to do that. Tragic. I'm sure circuses world wide mourn the loss.

My response for what I wanted to eat for Thanksgiving? "Soda, a donut, and turkey." Not quite traditional.

I would do just about anything for a donut back then. Especially a sour cream with nougats from the P&C bakery. In fact, my parents took away my donut privilages when I refused to ride my bike with the training wheels (I was always resistant to change). Needless to say, one scary go down my driveway and into the bushes across the road earned me half a donut and I never looked back aft
er that. Except, I can honestly say that I haven't had a donut recently. I must remedy this when I go home. Hopefully the P&C donuts I love (though they now do not feature the sugary nougat) will be on sale then!

"I liked kindergarten because...

...'I got to do things well,' said Kristin."

Oh, teacher's pet. I went across the star chart way too many times and never had a time out (my brother had one). I was also the class valedictorian and managed to make my hat fall off in the middle of my speech, just like my brother! (You can tell I always wanted to be just like him, hero worship.)


And, I should probably be embarrassed that I love my mommy because "she sometimes wakes me up in the morning and sets my clock" and my daddy because "he makes me my lunches" when other kids are saying what wonderful parents they have in better terms. But, come on, I was only five and I did have to think up these things right as I got into class in the morning. Though, perhaps the best one was when I said it was my dad's birthday and I thought he
was turning 55. I'm sure they laughed that one up in the staff room.

All of these things I wouldn't have had a hope remembering had I not saved
everything, well, not everything, growing up. I have a whole binder dedicated to kindergarten and our teacher, Mrs. Dowie, typed up "our morning stories" where we told her one interesting fact each morning before entering her classroom and this would get sent home each night. We would have to circle words/letters that we were working on and have our parents sign it. Looking back, it's actually quite shocking some of the things we said and that she actually put in it.

I think, just looking at this, it is also quite shocking that I never though of being an archivist until I was 22. I mean, I have trees worth of paper products that I saved, even from things I didn't actively participate in but just saw or attended. Or people I knew.

If only I could style my life after that girl who shredded everything that she ever wrote or was written about her. But, erasing oneself isn't always the answer, either. Perhaps I shall have to take up electronic blogging permanently!

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