School started this week and I've been thinking a lot about how my GRANDsons are coping. Jackson is starting his last year and Gavin his first year of middle school. Middle school is much like our junior high, that pivotal time when being cool was more important than food.
Pipkin Junior High, 1963, 7th grade and first period was P.E. That meant wearing those horrible, sleeveless blue gym rompers, they had elastic around the waist and legs so whether you were skinny or fat.. you looked awful in them! We were expected to have them clean on Monday mornings, STARCHED and PRESSED! Gym was my least favorite class and no matter how much time I had spent on my hair that morning, it was all undone in the 45 minutes of dodge ball, sit ups and jumping jacks. The remaining time was a quick shower that plastered my sweaty hair to my head and set me up for a miserable rest of my day.
The only thing that made life bearable was your best friends, the ones you walked to class with, the ones you ate lunch with and the ones who had your back when someone said something unkind. Mary Moore and I met at Boyd and for years she and I spent every waking moment at each others' houses or talking on the phone. Summers we played tennis and rode horses, I'm not sure which one I loved best! Once we were in Junior High, our interest swung to boys... mine to
Ernie Something-or-other
who wore a grey zip up sweater just like Paul McCartney. He was undoubtedly the cutest boy on the Planet, and his locker was only 3 down from mine. I had to walk past him every morning after P.E. and my heart would almost beat out of my chest with excitement. If he'd ever spoken, then I wouldn't be here to tell you about this.... I would have died on the spot! The fact that I looked so good when I got there each morning but I never saw him until after P.E. was one of those
Life Isn't Fair Things.
I eventually met someone who had more going for him than a grey zip up sweater. He has that ability to make my heart skip a beat too, just like Ernie Something-or-other!
Your post took me back to when I was in gym class wearing one of those awful gym uniforms except that ours were green instead of blue. Somehow after only a few days the elastic of some of the "cool" girls' uniforms mysteriously stretched out - or was cut out - (did I say that?) so they didn't look quite so bad in them. My mother would have never stood for something like that to happen to a perfectly good uniform.
ReplyDeleteThat is good you found the right guy1 I remember those days when seeing someone made my heart hump into my throat and my heart pound too! ;D
ReplyDeleteah yes. junior high was the hard part. that geeky, awkward, just starting to find oneself phase...
ReplyDeleteJunior High brings back good memories, doesn't it, even if you can't remember Ernie's last name!...:)JP
ReplyDeleteOh, Jr. High-such a fun, yet vulnerable time.
ReplyDeleteOur gym suits were red. My husband and I had PE at the same time. He tells me he used to love to watch me run around the gym! Isn't he sweet? An 18 yr old boy with ragging testosterone-I bet he did!!
In Jr. High, I still thought I had the world by the tail! I didn't lose my grip until High School.
ReplyDeletesweet! i hated gym class also! the teacher, the uniform, the showers! oh what memories!
ReplyDeleteAs if being in your early teens isn't hard enough - there's P.E.
ReplyDeleteI remember it well.
We had those blue gymsuits in junior high too in the 70s, but the rich girls wore the red ones that didn't have an elastic waistband. Sure pointed out the differences between the poor kids and the rich kids.
ReplyDeleteWe had those same blue PE uniforms in Jr High and then brown polyester ones in HS. They were awful too. So glad you found more in your guy than just a cute sweater!
ReplyDeleteOh, I hate remembering those ugly gym uniforms.
ReplyDelete