School Days...

I'm not crying. I'm not. Really, I'm not. But I am a little teary because I just watched as my oldest boarded the bus to his first day of 7th grade...middle school!  I didn't expect to get emotional but as soon as my finger left the button of the camera after snapping a picture of him packing up his bag with his Mom, pleease! look on his face, I found myself fighting back the waterworks.   


I hated middle school.  Loathed it.  But I had to endure it for three grades and those still remain three of the most awkward and uncomfortable years of my life and I am now 40.  Thank God my kids aren't as shy as I was and seem to make friends easily. I mean I really, literally thank God for that on a regular basis.  


Middle school is not a good place to be when you are painfully shy which brings me to the writing prompt from Mama Kat's workshop I've chosen for this week, Top ten reasons why you're glad you're done with school ...


1.  I stink at math.  Basic math, no problem.  But start throwing logarithms and compound fractions my way and I break out into a cold sweat and begin hyperventilating.  Okay, maybe it's not quite that bad but oh, what I would have given for good ol' Google back in the day!  It's gotten us through many a math assignment since the boys have been in school.  


2.  Oral reports.  Those were my two most feared words in all my years of public and higher education.  I would have rather written five reports than to stand up in front of the class and present just one.


3.  Kickball.  I'm really not that un-athletic.  In fact, at home in my comfort zone I wasn't half bad but get me out there on the playground at school and I couldn't kick a ball three feet.  So needless to say, that whole business of lining everyone up while the two most athletic kids in the class chose their picks was not my idea of a good time.


4. Those classes where the teacher obviously just really didn't like his/her job and had no teaching skills to speak of so instead of actually teaching, had us take turns reading aloud from the text book.  I recall one class in middle school....Social Studies I think it was.  I had always made A's and B's before that class.  My mother was so shocked to see a D on my report card that I don't think she  knew whether to punish me or take me to the doctor.  


5.  I'm not a morning person so there were many, many days I found myself dozing off at my desk especially in those classes like the one I just mentioned in number four! 


6. Being called by my last name in P.E. and Band.... "My name is Diane, thank you very much!"   Which brings me to number seven...


7. My name is Paula Diane but no one ever called me Paula except of course at the DMV, the doctor's office and the teachers on the first day of school roll call which forced me to have to speak aloud in front of the class in order to correct her/him.  So by the time I got to middle school and had 6 plus teachers a day...well,  let's just say my comfort zone was completely demolished by the end of the day.  


8. The drama.  Okay, I'll admit, I could be a little overly dramatic at times.  Like say, if I scraped my knee or burned my finger or had to get a shot or didn't have a green shirt to wear on St. Patty's Day but the creation of drama just for the sake of creating it I have never, ever understood.  And middle school and high school are prime breeding grounds for DRAMA. 


9. The bus.  Luckily, neither of my boys seem to mind it though I am taking Dracen this year since his comes by the house at 6:45 (which is just all kinds of insane!) but the bus was not a fun place for the shy girl.  


10. The strict schedules. Come hell or high water (unless there is some extenuating circumstance beyond my control) I am going to be on time but monotonous schedules and routines, while I am fully capable of adhering to them, bore me to tears!  


And there you have it....ten reasons why I'm glad I'm done with school.  Now to get my two boys through the next 10 to 14 years of elementary, middle, high school and college.  But not that I'm in any hurry or anything.


Because we all know that while it seemed like forever until we grew up and got out on our own, the days and years go by way too fast when it comes to our babies...