A PLAN GONE ASTRAY - Segment 2 (Scroll down for earlier segments)

     I wanted to repeat kindergarten.  But after graduating with honors in nap time, my teacher said I had to move on to greater challenges.

     With no building blocks and naps, I would be facing the greatest challenge of my life.  I could see problems on the horizon.

     I must have gotten too close to the horizon because one of my problems was standing beside me.  It was Mrs. Haller, the elementary school principal. She introduced me to the school paddle.  Years later, the school was re-named Helen Haller Middle School, in her honor.  I don’t know if she earned the honor because she had given me a swat, or she earned it on her own merit.  Nevertheless, if I had known I was getting a swat from a famous person, I would have asked for a signed paddle;   probably even asked for more swats.  I don’t recollect the reason for the swat, but there didn’t have to be much reason in those days.  I think mine was for floating schoolwork in the irrigation ditch.  I loved watching schoolwork bob up and down in the water until it capsized and went under.   I thought that was far more fun than watching the carefully crafted model boat I had been working on for three months, drift downstream and out of sight, never to be seen again.

     School may have been more enticing if there had been a row of cherry trees in the hall, or an irrigation ditch running through the middle of the classroom, but just sitting behind a desk, staring at a blackboard full of complex addition problems to solve and numerous assignments to complete, was more than my mind could handle.  It preferred being wild and free.  So it roamed freely.  (I wasn’t going to mention it here, but one of my colleagues came up with an exceptionally creative name for a wandering mind.  She calls it “waking around.”  She said I inspired the name.)   

     My mind would frequently wander off to cherry trees and irrigation ditches as it searched for something meaningful.  With each passing day, it was spending less time in school, and more time enjoying getaways.  I found it a remarkably inexpensive way to travel.

     I would take my schoolwork home for it to complete, but it would have none of it, or, very little, at best.  Baseball and relationships were far more important.  Schoolwork was a disruption.     

    As I regressed through school, my parents, teachers and counselors began realizing their plan was going badly astray.  I would have achieved more in a cherry tree.  

 

 

To be continued...check back soon