A Pox on You!
Since I still can’t find the camera cord to download my pictures, and I really don’t have much to talk about, I’m just going to reminisce for a while instead.
When I was in first grade, my Uncle Bill, his wife (I think her name was Betty), and their youngest kid, Jimmy, came to visit us. I don’t remember the occasion or even the season—all I remember is that Bill spanked me. My parents didn’t even spank me. I remember thinking at the time that he was completely out of line, and I’ve never liked (or in fact, even spoken to) my Uncle Bill since then.
About a week after they left, as we were getting ready for school, my sisters each told my mom that they didn’t feel well. I didn’t either, but I was afraid she’d think I was faking so I could stay home with my sisters, so I didn’t say anything. Fortunately for me, she pulled me over to her, felt my forehead, lifted up the back of my shirt and announced that we were ALL staying home for at least a week.
Woo HOO! In the first grade, I loved nothing more than staying home with my sisters and playing all day. This was like a free vacation as far as I was concerned.
Only it wasn’t really. We all had the Chicken Pox. I don’t actually remember any negative associations with having the virus, except that we were all more moody and more tired than normal. Mom bought us “Chutes and Ladders” and “Candyland” to keep us occupied, and I recall playing with Kate, but I think at kindergarten age, Teri was still too young to understand board games.
None of us got super sick; we itched, we scratched, we whined, we slept, we played. No scarring from the pox on any of us—most of the bumps were on our trunks, not our arms, legs or heads (thank god). The ones on our backs were the WORST!
(Aside which ties into the first part--I think it's the height of irresponsibility that neither Betty nor Bill contacted my parents to tell them that Jimmy had come down with Chicken Pox the day after they got home. He did, and he's the one who infected us, and they never told us! Which means, we may well have infected every kid we came in contact with at school while we should have been quaranteened. People can be so thoughtless.)
Anyway...
I don’t know if this was during the same time, but I know it was while we lived in that same house (we were only there for a little over a year)—I have a very distinct memory of Kate grabbing a handful of cold ashes from the fireplace, sprinkling them on the hearth, and teaching me & Teri our letters. I remember Teri learning the letter “E” in the ashes. She put too many lines in the center.
Funny thing is, Emily does the same thing. It must be a common kid thing.
********
Ok, I have to finish this last document before I can officially be a Technical Trainer, so I’m off to work on that. As always, I’ll check in when I can.
When I was in first grade, my Uncle Bill, his wife (I think her name was Betty), and their youngest kid, Jimmy, came to visit us. I don’t remember the occasion or even the season—all I remember is that Bill spanked me. My parents didn’t even spank me. I remember thinking at the time that he was completely out of line, and I’ve never liked (or in fact, even spoken to) my Uncle Bill since then.
About a week after they left, as we were getting ready for school, my sisters each told my mom that they didn’t feel well. I didn’t either, but I was afraid she’d think I was faking so I could stay home with my sisters, so I didn’t say anything. Fortunately for me, she pulled me over to her, felt my forehead, lifted up the back of my shirt and announced that we were ALL staying home for at least a week.
Woo HOO! In the first grade, I loved nothing more than staying home with my sisters and playing all day. This was like a free vacation as far as I was concerned.
Only it wasn’t really. We all had the Chicken Pox. I don’t actually remember any negative associations with having the virus, except that we were all more moody and more tired than normal. Mom bought us “Chutes and Ladders” and “Candyland” to keep us occupied, and I recall playing with Kate, but I think at kindergarten age, Teri was still too young to understand board games.
None of us got super sick; we itched, we scratched, we whined, we slept, we played. No scarring from the pox on any of us—most of the bumps were on our trunks, not our arms, legs or heads (thank god). The ones on our backs were the WORST!
(Aside which ties into the first part--I think it's the height of irresponsibility that neither Betty nor Bill contacted my parents to tell them that Jimmy had come down with Chicken Pox the day after they got home. He did, and he's the one who infected us, and they never told us! Which means, we may well have infected every kid we came in contact with at school while we should have been quaranteened. People can be so thoughtless.)
Anyway...
I don’t know if this was during the same time, but I know it was while we lived in that same house (we were only there for a little over a year)—I have a very distinct memory of Kate grabbing a handful of cold ashes from the fireplace, sprinkling them on the hearth, and teaching me & Teri our letters. I remember Teri learning the letter “E” in the ashes. She put too many lines in the center.
Funny thing is, Emily does the same thing. It must be a common kid thing.
********
Ok, I have to finish this last document before I can officially be a Technical Trainer, so I’m off to work on that. As always, I’ll check in when I can.
posted by Aimee at
8:40 AM
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