Life - A Wonderland.

The other day my Son put on some cologne and it smelled like my teacher in grade one.
Hers was a much heavier smell and I thought hmmm. Interesting, but he didn't tell me which one he used. He has so many.

It took me back again into my little world.
My school was the best.
Mrs Fratkin was no push over. She kept me in the corner the whole year where the book shelves were. I don't even remember being bad so I think she just pretended and put me there during reading class. We had the See Spot Run books with Dick and Jane and I knew this book by heart.

One day, before school finished at around 5 min to 3, I raised my hand to go to the bathroom. She told me to put my hand down and I tried but just couldn't hold it for 5 minutes.
I sat suffering until this puddle began forming under my chair.
The teacher felt so bad for me and asked me why I didn't tell her.
I told her I tried. She was not some one who you could argue with.
Teachers were strict. I felt so bad being laughed at but then another, one of these ASHLEY, girls did the same in grade three and she had a wonderful teacher.
She didn't raise her hand at all. So I felt much better lol

During lunch we would be sent to the gym where they placed the benches horizontally.
The kids sat eating while this nice lady would come in with her velvet poster boards and display the bible story characters as she told us about Mary Joseph Jesus and the Wisemen.
I remember being fascinated. Time flew with her there.

After school for 25 cents we would have Disney movies like Ol Yeller and all go home crying lol
For 5 cents you'd buy a small brown bag of candy. I put my house key into it and then threw it away by mistake. My parents know these things happen so they didn't punish me.

At this school they designated me librarian so I also had a key to the door and went there every lunch hour to read and check out what other books they had. That was fun.
We had our Music teacher teach us to sing hymns at an Anglican church next door. I enjoyed that. Then they promoted volley ball basket ball soft ball and I played in everything.

We had two sets of twins. One set were girls who I played with and another set were boys.
They were very smart and athletic, with freckles. One summer just before school began, one of them went under a big Daddy Truck and had his head squashed. He probably went to get a ball or something. We started school that year on a very sad note. They were a year older and close to graduating.
They were similar to our Cunuck twins and you always saw them together.
Then we had a student exchange with the French school. This was a very big deal.
The French students wanted to go back because our work load was just too hard for them.
All we did at their school was sing and go to church and a little bit of the other things.

I made friends with one very nice girl. She put her finger into a door when it closed and lost the tip of her fore finger. In summer we went to the pool where guys looked at us and we at guys. One boy was a life guard and he took turns either walking her home or me.
One day she came and told me that she and I are competing for him.
I looked at her with this questioning look and she said he hasn't decided which one he wants to marry.
I laughed. He hasn't decided? She laughed too. We giggled all the way home.

What ever gave him the idea either one of us wanted to marry him? lol
He was good looking so I guess he figured we were both infatuated with him.
Guys thought girls were easy if they told them they wanted to marry us.

I can't speak for my friend but my mind was very far away from this girl / boy stuff.
I had a lot of boy friends but that's all we were ........boys that were friends lol
It felt good cause guys always watched out for their local girls. They never let bad things happen to them if they knew about anything that was supposed to go down.

They'd battle behind your back between themselves or threaten each other that if some one did something bad to a girl .... there would be heck to pay.
But being an only child, I couldn't depend on other people to help me, so I decided to take self defense.
Our teacher told us that we must always look for a way out but if we are cornered then to make sure what ever we did counted, because we probably wouldn't get another chance at it.
He made our program tough even for the girls.
I'd basically crawl out of that class at the end of the hour to get to the changing room. But once we got into it, we had the normal class and then we'd have our own classes with black belt friends and then we'd go on week ends. It was basically like a drug. You had to have more and more.

One day I practiced with this one older guy and he hit with such force that I thought ...woah.
I know he's being judged on being able to stop at a half inch from your face, but if he missed and hit, there would be serious damage. I wasn't sure I liked that. After class it had snowed a lot.
He asked me if I wanted a lift home and I said: Ok. Where's your car? He said: Right here.
pointing to a pile of snow. I asked: Where?

Right here. He began to push the snow off this tiny Mini Austin.
I was flabbergasted. The tires were smaller than the height of the snow we had to drive in.
I wasn't sure about this. lol
We both climbed in and I heard the engine rumble and he put it in gear.
I was soooooo impressed with that little car and he was smiling all the way, so proud of it.
It didn't slide or stop anywhere and we had huge trucks in front leaving high snow behind their tires and it didn't phase that Mini Austin in the least bit.

When we had a lot of snow, I would put on my skiis and cross country to school. Hardly any one was there so I could enjoy the whole building to myself. It felt like going to a chalet.
Coming back in the snow was equally as fun. It took two hours each way.I had a black coat with a hoody and never got cold in it. The city would make mounds along the side walks so you had a few things to slide on. It was great exercise and I always said why pay gym rooms when you could do things like this for free.

When I got home I'd count the blisters on my feet. The boots were not as comfortable as they are today. You could not walk in them all day and not expect some side effects.
I still have my old boots and skiis.
People ask why do you keep all these things?
I ask how can you throw them away?

Of course I would never do this today. There is no place like home is my todays' motto.
When I tell my son this story he calls me some kind of square geek.
I reply no. I wasn't interested in clubs and booze. I went a few times with my friends and found it boring.
I loved the outdoors and especially in winter, when the whole city became so beautiful in white.
You walked and you enjoyed every light, every house, every street corner, the people, the cars, the hustle and bustle. Everything looked so wonderful even the snow flakes.
You'd enjoy making it to where you were going. The coffee tasted better as you sat warming up with it.

You could read in peace looking outside at the huge snow flakes through a panorama window and when your clothes dried you began the journey home with different lights and hustle and bustle.
At home you slept like a baby with rosy cheeks. This was a healthy great life.

Today when young people say they can't make it to work I smile and remember how different it was in my time when snow never stopped people from trying.

Of course it wasn't as dangerous in Montreal as it is in some places in BC.
The climate was milder than Toronto's where the cold seems to go under everything.
Sometimes it just isn't worth the risk.

Have a good one :)