5.) What about school do you miss the least?
First, I have to say, I am so far out of school, I barely remember it at all with any clarity! Now, having established that excuse for any faulty memories, I would have to say that the thing I miss the least is being one of only 3 red-headed kids in the school...in fact in the whole county...and the only girl with red hair! Obviously, having red hair these days is not abnormal, and is frequently the color of choice for people looking for a change! But, when I was in school, in a small town, in a small county, where your dad was one of the 2 police officers in the county, having red hair just made you the butt of jokes. You know them, I'm sure...I'd rather be dead than red on the head...look, here comes Woody Woodpecker...and several others that I have conveniently forgotten.
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| I don't look very happy, do I? |
Add to that my last name - Seymour - and you have another entire set of jokes...Under the grandstand, by SeeMore Butts was the most often used, and the most obnoxious! Then, throw in the fact that I was small and timid, and you have a recipe for teasing.
When you are a child, no amount parental reassurance that you are beautiful, that they are just jealous, or whatever other platitudes parents offer, can take away the pain of the teasing. I can tell you, as probably a lot of you can attest, that the things you were taunted with as a child don't ever really disappear. But, I digress...
What about school do I miss the least? I would have to say I don't miss the teasing! But, I never let that stop me, and even managed to succeed in spite of the teasing! So, take that, all you kids! I may have had some rough spots in my life, but I am still going on, red hair and all...I am vertically challenged (my way of saying I am short), but have never found that to be a hindrance (except when I need something from the top shelf in the cupboard!), and although I have a different last name now, I kept my maiden name as my middle name when I married - because I was proud of it!
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| Happier Times! |
I am linking to Mama Kat's.
11 comments:
Hi there - ah, school memories - sometime a mental "delete" button would be very helpful!
Glad you liked the woodpecker - I got pretty excited when I saw them in my friends garden!
Cheers - Stewart M - Australia
Good for you!
My sister was bullied all through grade school but it never stopped her either. She is one of the most amazing people I know.
It takes so much inner strength to come out of bullying and I am so glad that you fought the good fight.
Visiting from MK's
http://makemommygosomethingsomething.com
Kids are so cruel...I got called stick, twig, ethiopian (not nice) for being so thin. I am not tall, on 5'2 and I get my thinness from my parents...they have always looked great and neither were athletes or into major exercise. I was a runner in H.S. so that made things worse and THE WORST...I was a late bloomer as well so I heard the short jokes and the where are your boobs jokes too? I love your positive attitude!
Isn't it funny and sad that we always hate the thing that makes us special! I've always been tall and skinny- 5'10" since 6th grade! Once I was grown, it became an asset ("are you a model?"), but as a kid? HATED it. "STring bean" "How's the weather up there?" I love your red hair!
I always feel sad when I hear about people being teased or bullied for having red hair - of all things! Such a beautiful feature to have, and one that I have turned to (out of a bottle) by choice.
I lived in the UK for a number of years, and I was particularly surprised at the prejudice towards redheads ('gingers') there - even by adults. So silly.
What a pretty child you were! I bet they were jealous. :)
There were maybe about ten of us redheads in school together in a school of maybe 500 students. One was a boy. I guess I must have been on the opposite spectrum. I got complimented a lot on my hair. I was the lightest redhead - a strawberry blond and don't ever recall being teased for my red hair. A good friend used to call me Red. It was more of an endearment I think. We're still friends some 40 years later. He even married a redhead. :)
The thing I hated most was being thought of as smart. Sounds pretty dumb to say that. I really wasn't that smart. I studied and I studied hard to get the grades. I think it intimadated some kids and kept them from getting to know the real me.
I went to school with a red head. Her mother always did her hair in these very intricate styles, everyone was so jealous of her!
Kids are cruel, I am glad to read that you did not allow the teasing to hold you back.
I think it's interesting the memories we carry from our childhood into adulthood. I've always been short too, which I never minded. But I was always jealous of girls with red or blonde hair, and I envied blue eyes. Both my sisters had blue eyes and one had blonde hair. :))
LInda, you post today has just taken me back to 1954 and memories I had not recalled in years.
I have a cousin (also named Linda) who lived with us each summer when we were kids. She was a red headed, freckled faced, all elbows and knees, southern charmer with huge feet.
Each summer she would gather all of us (I have 12 siblings) and put on a variety show in our garage that she would write, direct and even go house to house selling tickets (cost 5 cents) for.
LInda, is now a seventy something head of nursing at a famous NY city hospital. Her carrot top is now a dark auburn, the freckles hidden under perfect make-up, she is fashionably slim, polished, sophisticated and beautiful. Her southern accent adding a delightful undertone to the non standard resonance of New York. The only parts of the Linda of my youth remaining is her still large feet.
To this day a few of my brothers will burst into song each time they see her with a robust chorus of a song she wrote about herself for one of those summer shows, that covered everything from her flaming locks to her footwear made of corrugated boxes.
School days were hard for many.
You are beautiful and so hard to manage feeling different in the good old days.
I think most of us had a hard time!
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