What torments did you endure as a child?

Hmm? What else can I tell you about Kindergarten, besides that I barely passed nap time?

Does anyone remember those tunnels they had for little kids? It was like a giant slinky covered with cloth which you were expected to crawl through. Somebody, probably with a degree in early childhood development, decided that this was a good thing for five-year-olds to do. But I think that is what started me on the road to claustrophobia.

Or perhaps it was when my dad brought home this huge old safe. It had to be the size of an average oven. My sister Pat swore that it was so big (or I was so small) that I could fit inside of it. So naturally I had to crawl inside it. Which would have been ok, except that Pat said that it really didn’t count, we really didn’t know that I entirely fit inside of it, unless she shut the door.

Really? Can you say “STUPID”? It was an air-tight safe for heaven sakes! And Pat was my best friend. Wow, I was hard up for friends! So, naturally I said, “sure, close the door.”

OK, well I am here today, aren’t I? But perhaps that moment of oxygen-depravation explains a lot. That and the torment I endured that day.

Wow, this is where I was really long time ago

There we are. The Tripoli School kindergarten class of 1968. When I first dug this photo out of the basement archives, I thought I only remembered one of the kids. The boy on the far right in the back row. He passed away quite suddenly a few years ago. But as I looked at all the cherub faces, a few names came back to me, a few stories. The girl on the end in the front row who could walk on her hands, her friend down near the other end who tried to keep up with her. The boy I had a crush on in first grade (not going to point him out, I don't know what I was thinking at the time). Oh, and can you find me?

Along with this picture, the archives contained my report cards. In Kindergarten, the only thing I ever got marked down on was "relaxing during rest time". I'd keep playing with my plastic horses or talking to the other girls. Hard to believe. Coz now I can nap anytime anywhere. Just give me ten minutes of relative quiet and I am out. Guess I am still making up for the time I lost when I was five.