The Story of My Life!

Some Memories from Grade School

Hey, Everyone! Happy End-of-Year #FreeFictionFriday New Year’s Eve’s Eve! ;-)

Today’s free story is a kind of memoir that takes me back to the mid-70s. As we wrap up 2022, I’m reflecting on the past…and got a little carried away. Hope you enjoy this slightly humorous recollection. Oh, and here’s me in Mexico in 1972, I think, which would have put me in 2nd grade. Don’t you love those shorts?

Some Childhood Memories from Lyndon Perry

I was fortunate to start kindergarten in the fall of 1969. It meant my grade in school coordinated with the calendar year. In other words, I finished first grade in the spring of 1971; second grade, 1972; etc. Wrapped it up as an ’82 high school graduate. Rock on!

All that to say, it makes for easy reference as I try to recall my early school years. When I have a memory of some incident that merits recording, I don’t have to rack my brain too hard to position that event along my personal space/time continuum.

For example…that time when Mr. Garcia drew a circle on the chalkboard and made me stand with my nose smack dab in the center of that ring? Well, that was in 4th grade, so it would have been either the fall of ’73 or the spring of ’74. Probably the fall, as I imagine my particular brand of orneriness would manifest itself fairly early in the school year. But then again, my orneriness probably wouldn’t have worn off by springtime. In fact, I still own that brand and proudly display it on occasion.

Or, what about the year Adam and Todd pulled me aside and said I could date anyone at school except these two girls (whom I can’t recall) as they were ‘theirs’. Vivid memory which would have been 1975, middle of my fifth grade year, having just moved to Morro Bay, California, from the Central Valley.

I was the new kid at Del Mar Elementary and I guess I was grateful that my new friends took me aside and showed me the lay of the land. But what shocked me more than this two-on-one, mafia-like backroom chat was the idea that fifth graders dated! Was that even possible?

Back then I skateboarded and rode a unicycle. What was I going to do? Take a girl out by dragging her along behind me as I one-wheeled it to the local Fosters Freeze? Dating in elementary school sounded silly. In fifth grade, I still thought of girls as fellow explorers who helped tame the wilds of the drainage ditch behind our house; as playground playmates with longer hair but who could hit just as hard; and as lucky accomplices you could partner with at the roller rink so you could keep skating when they called for couples only.

So back to 1969. Yep, that was a great year to enter kindergarten. Keeps my memories filed properly. Plus, it’s just plain cool to say ‘back in the summer of ’69’ and actually remember it. Makes the song mean something. Thank you Bryan Adams. And thank you, ’70s and ’80s. I’ll get to recording some of your memories soon enough.

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Have a wonderful 2023! Catch me online here. New Year’s blessings, Lyn