My Side

One of the drawbacks, for me, of NaBloPoMo is that I often feel like I'm giving you TOO MUCH TO READ, especially over the weekend -- like you're going to get into the office on Monday and start scrolling through the blogs you read and you'll be all, UGH, THREE new entries on Lawyerish?  It's TOO MUCH!  I'll never catch up!

I suspect this is probably not that much of a problem.  I just like to find things to worry about, as you know. 

The other day, Allison wrote on her blog about this...rather terrible THING that happened when we were in fifth grade.  Go read it!  Then I will tell you what I remember about it.  It's very "Harriet the Spy"-esque, actually.  And, erf, so painful to look back on.

Here's the thing:  Although I remember a lot of what happened in vivid detail, I did not recall AT ALL that Allison was Mrs. S's pet (I was in a different homeroom and only had Mrs. S for math) or that I was the one who hated Mrs. S and convinced Allison to hate her, too (or pretend to, anyhow).  I already felt like a complete asshole for what happened -- whenever I think about it, I get this woozy, clenching feeling in my gut -- but learning that part of it now makes me feel about a thousand times worse.  What kind of a best friend was I to be so OVERBEARING, anyway?

What I do remember was that Mrs. S called Allison and me the "Gold Dust Twins."  As long as I live, I will never know what she meant by that.  Was it because we both had reddish hair?  Did she think we were...privileged, or something?  I think she said it once when we were both at the blackboard trying to work math problems and I have a sense that she thought we were taking too long, but I don't know what that has to do with gold dust.

In any event, evidently I found this and perhaps other of Mrs. S's personality traits to be objectionable, which is what led to The Notebook, which in turn led to Mrs. S finding The Notebook, which led to her not being especially nice to me or Allison for the rest of the year.  Sometimes she would say things to the whole class like, "Well, I guess I will give you all some more homework, because I am mean and bossy.  Isn't that right?"  And she would look right at us.  And we would want to disappear through the floor. 

The day Mrs. S found The Notebook, Allison and I were supposed to go to the library after school, which we did on a regular basis (I am fairly certain that we read every book in the county by the time we graduated high school), but when I came down the front steps of the school and started toward her, she RAN to her mom's car, barked "Something happened!" at me, and slammed the door.  I could tell she was crying.  I don't think I found out the whole story til the next day, unless maybe Allison's mom called mine that night -- the details are somewhat hazy.

The weird thing is, both Allison and I were usually such good kids, to the point of obnoxiousness.  We were often the teacher's pets, and I'm sure we were generally polite and respectful.  I, for one, was always terrified of getting in trouble.  Plus I was one of those kids who would raise their hand going "Oooo!  Ooooh!" when I knew the answer to a question (which, of course, I always did).  I can't imagine what drove us to be so hateful toward this poor woman (well, evidently Allison was driven by a desire to impress me, which, again, speaks far more poorly of me than of her).  It's one of those episodes in your life that you look back and wonder what in the world was going through your head. 

Comments

[H]

I am pretty sure I have more "what was I thinking" episodes than the average person. Really, I think I do, so take comfort in knowing that.

[Allison]

Dude, it speaks rather poorly of me too since I did not have the balls to say, "I like her." So, we can chalk it up to the two of us being morons.

Gold Dust twins. Hee. Must Google that.

[Shannon]

Ouch. I am sorry--that is totally cringeworthy! We all did stupid things when we were kids.

[Shannon]

ok but why was Mrs. S. looking in the notebook anyway?

[Val]

I agree with Shannon. I am left wondering why the teacher took the notebook in the first place. Did she suspect there was something about her in it?

I certainly have many, many asshole moments from my childhood. And most of them still make me ill when I think about them. I am pretty sure I have even blocked some of them completely!

[Danielle-lee]

Omg! In 5th grade, my bff and I wrote notes back in forth in history class, which is normal, except, we were writing mean things about our history teacher. And then, instead of tucking it neatly away in my pocket, I stuffed it in my book, where it fell out, in his room. Of course, he found it. And read it to the class. And asked who wrote it. And we both finally told him. And we too were good kids, never got in trouble!! How awful were we??