Such a good excuse I have for my
particularly laggardly period in March: almost a month exploring
awesome China till my head was overflowing with new sights and thoughts. So it is with some
readjustment I am asking myself, why does most of this current crop
of (Book of Me) responses seem shame-based? Hmmmm
Parents (Prompt 28)
This
did not resonate, sorry. No nicknames, not immigrants, although
Winnipeg-born Dad migrated to Port Arthur, Ontario, in a business
venture in the 1920s and stayed thereafter.
Port
Arthur and sister city Fort William were long known collectively as
The Lakehead for its pride of place on Lake Superior. After
intermittent attempts to amalgamate the two cities, in 1970 the
citizens voted to go through with it, and call it Thunder Bay, by a
narrow margin over The Lakehead. I was not living there then. Some of
us miss the old "Lakehead" name.
What's in Your Pocket/Bag/Holdall?
(Prompt 29)
Are you serious? I've seen the purse/bag contents
that some of you have virtually dumped in response to this prompt!
Trust moi, I'm no stranger to the compulsive junk we love
habit but my personal goal is being hands-free when out and about the
city. Chronically inflamed muscles in my neck and shoulders react
swiftly if I carry heavy stuff! Debit card, a bit of cash, and keys
go into my pockets.
Such self-protective good intentions do not
apply while I'm travelling. How do I end up lugging a satchel full of
nostrums for every conceivable predicament that might arise (none
ever do); to my deepest mortification, the Shanghai Museum security staff made me up-end the
entire works onto an inspection tray in full view of an instantly-formed throng of interested strangers. Wild horses
wouldn't drag a photo of that painful display out of me, even if I
had one.
Your First Day of School (Prompt 30)
Do I remember?! Oh
geez, here we go with the most humiliating episode ever.
Absolutely no-one wants to hear this. Miss Jacobs' grade one
classroom at St James Public School, Port Arthur. It's pretty simple.
The first rule we learned was raise your hand for permission to go to
the toilet. I did so; permission was not granted. The pee soon
trickled through my clothing onto the seat of my desk and of course
pooled on the floor. I think it was my first day at school but
does the day really matter when all I remember about grade one is
Miss Jacobs' evil face forever burned into my brain and she has a lot
to answer for my damaged psyche.
You're welcome.
2 comments:
Oh, Brenda! How awful that must have been in first grade! And to think the teacher was angry! Something like this you never will forget! Reminds me of the time in grammar school when we all went to an assembly in the multipurpose room. The assembly was just getting ready to start, and I threw up! I won't ever forget that either.
Somehow we pick up the pieces (not literally!)of our tender egos and move on, eh?!
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