It might be that I am a visual person...when taking a test, I can picture exactly on the page where the needed bit of information was written. I can recall exactly how the unkempt hair from my girlfriend of 100 years ago would fall into her eyes when she looked up from reading when I walked in the door.
Maybe then it makes sense that my memories are like snapshots in time.
The other day I was waiting for my son after school...all the kids were exploding out of the doors so HAPPY to be free. It was a cold and rainy day. 99% of the kids had the full gear for it...hats and jackets...and hurried against the weather. And then I saw the one kid with a short sleeved t-shirt just loitering around...all the adults chiding him about "where's your jacket"...
and I remembered a moment just like that
I was probably 11 years old and waiting for school to start. It was pouring down rain and all the kids were arriving from buses and cars. We had to wait under an awning until the school bell rang and the doors were open. I was the kid wearing the short sleeved shirt and freezing my ass off. The other kids teased me and the adults around joined in with the "young lady where is your jacket" comments. Now that I am a mom I know the 100 reasons why an 11 year old would go out in freezing rain without a jacket...they lost it, you forgot to remind them, they were throwing a fit...of course as a parent you have quite a few jobs in the morning. Food, clothing and prompt arrival at school. Sometimes you fail.
But my parents were about as effective as rabid wolves at parenting. They dropped me off before there were adults at the school to supervise me and could have cared less if I were dressed appropriately. I didn't know at the time they lacked such skills...I just thought the other kids were simply smarter than me to have remembered their jackets. And I resolved to write myself notes of things to remember to bring to school.
But I didn't want to feel stupid. And I knew they were teasing me for being different. And my problem solving skills were...well...skewed. So I told my fellow classmates that I actually had a jacket on. They just couldn't see it. My jacket, I explained, was made of a team of amoeba who were single celled organisms that could absorb water. So I stayed dry and warm.
As you can imagine the kids REALLY took the teasing up a notch at that point - so to prove to them that I in fact wouldn't get wet I danced and played around in the pouring rain. I can remember almost believing I had amoeba friends watching out for me...but I sat in school the rest of the day soaking wet and miserable. I probably should have felt proud for at least knowing what the hell an amoeba was...but I didn't. I just wished I had a damn jacket.
