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Wednesday 3 December 2014

First Day

In one of my Sketchbook Skool klasses we were given the prompt "first day of school".  I tried drawing in the style of the instructor Mattias Adolfsson who, by the way, is quite an incredible artist. 




The first day I went to school started in kindergarten when I was 5 years old.  It's incredible how fresh the memories are for a day I haven't thought about in years!

Here are the logistics of the classroom placement in the school 'cause it had such an impact on my first day:

The kindergarten entrance was at the back of the school while all the other children from grade one to grade eight went through doors at the front. I assume it was a method to not overwhelm the youngest scholars in their first year. There were three wings to the school, one each to the right and left, and a third poking out the back.  My classroom was at the end of the back wing right beside the back entrance door.  Two other classes lived in this wing - the grade seven and the grade eight classrooms. The result?  The oldest and youngest students were grouped in the same hallway.

I remember:

  • walking through the back door into a long, long hallway filled at the far end with the "big kids"; they were loud, noisy and very,very big!
  • stepping through the doorway of the kindergarten class into another world - a world I had never imagined.
  • big, tall, brown shelves, reaching to the ceiling, filled with all sorts of toys and books, like a toy store!
  • encountering a pile of craziness in the form of lots and lots of children - there were 20 in the class and I still know all their names.
  • my heart pounding with excitement and fear until I saw this beautiful lady with black hair and a blue dress smiling directly at me, then only the excitement remained.

Her name, I found out, was Miss La Blue. I loved her immediately and wanted with all my heart to make her happy.

                                                                        Can you spot me? 












It's funny though, I can't remember who brought me to school that day.  I know there was a comforting, familiar body behind me but the face  - I just can't picture it.  Maybe it was my mom or one of my big sisters. I don't know.  Perhaps this is because I was facing the future, taking the first big step towards the rest of my life, and I wasn't looking back.  Or maybe my memory is not quite what it used to be and I just forget!


Oh yes --  I am in the second row wearing a white turtleneck with flowers on it.

Cheers!

5 comments :

  1. Some memories are so vivid. I recall having two girls assigned lo 'look after' me . . . and thinking I didn't need anyone to look after me, I was big! Those two girls, one of whom I still have contact with, became good friends. I also remember a section of a long blackboard that went around the wall being assigned to me . . . it had a sprig of yellow flowers on the tip left-hand corner.

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  3. Shoot. I wanted to add something. I thought I could delete and start over. Lol Anyway, I wanted to say Wendy what a wonderful way to make a friend and to have that friendship for so long. It's amazing the memories that come back when we turn our minds in a certain direction. Thank you for sharing.

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  4. Leah, I remember "when" and you were (and still are) one of the cutest little things I've ever seen! Your drawing is stunning - full of movement!

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