Friends are like flowers in the garden of life.
Are you a Daisy? Are you a Rose? Are you a Dandilion?
You can be what you are and I'll be what I am.
We can be friends in the garden of life.
Something brought this song to mind and it has been since the 4th grade that our school sang it for our closing program. By closing program, I do mean closing...the school system consolidated and shut the doors of our elementary school that year.
I have some wonderful memories from the four years spent there...I loved the playground -the swings, slide, hopscotch, teeter-totters...pretty much everything but the monkey bars. Still not a fan. During recess, I remember the 5th-6th grade teacher would always have a bottle of Tab with her as stood out there monitoring us. Yes, I know, some reading this have no idea what that is...ask your mom. :)
We had this huge field to play in too...loved going back to the edge of the field by the woods. Found an inch worm one day and my best friend and I kept it until it died. We then wrapped it in a papertowel and buried it back there by the woods - I know we named it, but right now it escapes me. There was always a "field day" at the end of the year, too, where we'd play softball and do all sorts of outside activities. I know I got hit with the ball one year...softballs are anything but soft when they hit you. :) I remember everyone making kites and attempting to fly them in the field, too...not for sure anymore if that was part of field day or another special day for us.
Inside the school was just as memorable...one year we had a mural of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs painted down the hallway wall. Yes, there was only one hall...three classrooms and an office in that hallway with the cafeteria at the end. That cafeteria served many purposes from eating to indoor PE, plays, meetings, IOWA testing, and special events. A fellow once came and had a tarantula with him...our lady principal held that spider and I'll never forget it. Still gives me chills thinking about it. My best friend's grandma worked in the cafeteria...my favorite thing ever served were the cinnamon rolls. Every time we had chili, we had cinnamon rolls. To this day, when I eat chili I wish I had a cinnamon roll for dessert.
As for school itself, I loved it...maybe except for when I was told I should learn how to write with my right hand instead of my left. That was pretty crazy. And, a couple of years later, I won a handwriting contest in middle school in spite of my lefthandedness. I was pretty proud at that moment, I must say. One of the other silly things I remember is the smell of the purple ink from the hand cranked copier. You could always tell when someone was making copies. The aroma would linger down the hallway. I won an ice cream treat for a picture of a pumpkin I colored for a classroom contest once. That made for a good day.
Lots of good memories of my school days at Rutherford Elementary...everyone should have been so fortunate to have gone to school there.
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