Monday, June 14, 2010
11:26 PM
Little House On the Prairie
I have never really been a prairie life kind of girl. In fact, I have thanked God many times for the fact that I was not born during that era because I would not have acclimated well to that sort of life. I don't know how people didn't die from depression back then. The colorless environment would have been enough to drive me over the edge. I need toys, t.v., medicine that actually works, electricity, telephones, etc. I don't even like to go camping because it involves being out in the elements for 24 hours without all of my modern conveniences. Blech. No thanks. However, in 4th grade, we had story time every day after noon recess and during that time, our teacher would read an excerpt from a book. The idea was that by the end of the year, little by little, we would have read the entire book. I don't know what to tell you. Maybe I was too tired to fight it after noon recess. Maybe getting all hot and sweaty drained too many electrolites from my body, leaving me with too few functioning brain cells during the cool down period. I don't know. But I got sucked into the story and eventually started looking forward to putting my head down on my desk after a hard-played recess, and listening to one of the scariest teachers on the planet share an update from the Ingalls clan. I tried to resist but God help me, I liked it. By the second semester, we were really rolling along and I wanted to be able to read ahead so I went our local public library and checked the book out so I could have my own copy. Wanting to show it off, because, that's just what you did back in those days when you got something special, I took it to school with me the next day. Let me tell you that having something, - ANYTHING that the teacher had was maaaaaajah. Just having the book in my possession was enough to make me MVP of the day but then, when I showed the book to my teacher, she did the unthinkable! She asked ME to read that day's book excerpt to the class! Oh, yes. I was just as cool as you are imagining. When it comes to elementary school politics, you can't fight it so you just have to roll with whatever comes.And roll with it, I did. By asking me to not only show my book to the whole class, but also be her substitute reader that day, Mrs. Lewallen changed my 4th grade life forever. Make no mistake. From that day on, I was im.por.tant. LOLOL