#4. Upper elementary School (The good 'ole days)

Upper elementary school was a time of settling into a new home, new city and new culture.  I moved from a big (relatively large) city to a very small country town with a one pump gas station and a single blinking yellow light.  There was, and still is, much to be learned from this small town and these youth-filled ages.


  1. 4:20 is not the right time to meet friends to go to the movies (or to do anything else for that matter).  And yes, the fact that it is written everywhere around school should give you a clue that it doesn't have the finest connotation.  Pay attention to your surroundings.
  2. The wind will hold you up if you wait for the strongest gusts and throw your jacket open to catch it's strength.   It will also drop you after the gust has passed, but if you are standing on top of a grassy hill, you can roll down and live large twice in one moment.  Embrace the wind.
  3. There may be a bully who hoards the swings, but that means you will get really good at bar flips, monkey bars, hopscotch and tether-ball.  Do not let thieves steal your joy (or fun!). 
  4. There is always another boy.  If one doesn't want to chase you around the playground, choose the one who does...and then run away.  If he can catch you then he deserves his hat back.  If he doesn't catch you...you still have to give his hat back or you'll get in a ton of trouble.
  5. Body odor is a real thing, and it's gross. Don't be the stinky one. 
  6. If the adults in your life tell you you have a speech impediment, but the world around you understands you just fine, then perhaps the world can also learn to adjust to you, and it's not you alone that has to adjust to the world.  (However, when a substitute comes in and she doesn't understand that your "wabbit" is a "rabbit" that could be discouraging.)  
  7. Counting sneezes is like counting shooting stars.  There are usually few, but when there are many it is exhilarating!  (This is especially true when the sneezes come from your very sweet and kind fifth grade teacher who is covered in freckles just like you).
  8. If someone tells you that their lizard bites, believe them.  Pretending that you are a lizard whisperer will only result in a bitten finger.  Take people's cautions to heart.
  9. If you study all week for something and try your VERY BEST and still fail it completely and have to miss recess AND the Star Student party at the end of the month, remember that failure doesn't define you.  It's okay to not be great at everything.  No one else is either.
  10. Even if you don't think that you are that great at coloring, if you love to color, enter the contest anyway.  In taking risks, you may find that you are better than you think.  You might even win second place and get a cash prize!
  11. Older people are amazing! This is especially true when  you are in elementary school and the older kids come all the way from the high school to read to you.
  12. Principals are scary until they are not.  Oh the power they wield...and the possibilities for kindness :) 
  13. If you start a lie, you either have to carry it through until you end, or tell the truth and let it end.  Both become harder the more time passes.  Lying is a heavy burden.
  14. On the stage, what you wear directly impacts how you act.  For those lucky enough to have expert seamstresses as moms, you'll feel like a million bucks in your homemade Oregon Trail bonnet.  Not to mention those grey flower stirrups she made you for picture day.  You rock!
  15. If you have the pleasure of being in Mrs. Wold's class, the world is seen through taste: dried fish with eyes still in them, papaya, puddings, etc.  The world is full of exciting unknowns to experience!
  16. Making your kids pick up 7 acres of sticks after logging should be illegal.
  17. Trees are an excellent hiding place.   You can hide behind them, up in their branches, or in the specialist of cases in the hollow of their trunk.
  18. Puddles are for splashing.
  19. When you have to climb up a hill to catch the bus, and you wait until the last minute to leave your house, you will sometimes miss the bus, but you will get awesome calf muscles from running the hill every morning!  Procrastination, ironically, often requires an ending of faster action.
  20. Little brothers are not cute when they are angry, rude or stubborn.  In general people look better when they smile.



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