School Days, Part 2

Last week, Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop prompt was to write about what we missed the least about school.  This week, the prompt I have chosen is:

5.) What about school do you miss the most?


I was raised out in the country, in a small town in Virginia.  I had a brother, 3 years younger than me, and parents...a dog, a cat, and one time, a pair of guinea pigs.  The closest family was not within walking distance, and the only other kids my age were a family of boys about 3 miles away, until you got into town.  I rarely had playmates other than my younger brother (who, I was convinced, had cooties!), and it was sometimes pretty lonely.


When I went to school, there were other kids!  I started school in a one-room schoolhouse, with 7 kids in the 1st grade, 7 in the 2nd grade, and 5 in the 3rd grade.  There was one teacher and one lunchroom, and the teacher's husband did the maintenance work that needed to be done.  (I even remember him killing a snake on the playground once.)  I attended that school 2 years before they decided to send the kids to the school in the next town.  That school had 300 kids in the school!  I had hit the jackpot!


Not only were there kids there, but there were different teachers for every class.  I loved most of my teachers, and I was a good student.  In one short jump, I had gone from a lonely little girl from the country to a happy little girl with lots of playmates!


However, to answer the question, what I miss most about school is the innocence.  I miss the safety that we enjoyed - that we could play outside without worrying that there was some perverted, evil person waiting to hurt us.  I miss the belief that friends would be there forever, and no one would go away.   Mostly what I miss about school is the youthful exuberance for life, and the feeling that we would live forever.  Sadly, now I know that isn't true.

Photo taken about 1960, in front of the jet that resided on school property for our entertainment.

Linking to Mama Kat's.