They Always Come In Threes

Day 27

Me wearing an 'alligator' shirt - totally '80s!!

Back to school…um, my elementary school days that is. And this time it is third grade (1982-1983), which was a unique year for me because I wound up having three different teachers throughout the school year.

Me in the front row (second from the right), close to Mrs. Merrill (sigh...)

In the second row, fourth from the left is Kayleen, a really cute redhead!

My first, and favorite, of the three teachers was Mrs. Merrill. I have to confess that I had a little bit of a crush on her. She was so young, pretty and fun. She loved to make jokes during class, loved to keep things interesting and entertaining for all of us. And she wasn’t a stern, foreboding teacher. It was going to be a great year; but then one Friday she announced to the class that she was moving away (to Texas, as I recall). I was devastated, and I remember that when I came home that day I collapsed on the living room couch and practically cried a river. Crying over a teacher? How lame, right?!

Mrs. Merrill’s replacement was a woman named Mrs. Spigarelli (I’m not sure if I spelled the name right). She was my third grade teacher for a grand total of three days. Yep, apparently after three days of teaching our class Mrs. Peanutbutternjelli up and left…or maybe she just disappeared. Hmm…quite a little mystery actually. As I recall no one in class seemed to mind that Mrs. Fignewtonelli left. I don’t remember much about her, other than the fact that she had dark hair and that she started reading a book to us called Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH - the movie The Secret Of NIMH was based on it.

Mrs. Thingamajilli’s replacement was Mrs. Cunningham. She remained my teacher for the rest of the year (thank goodness, as I was beginning to take these changes personally!) I remember she was older, but nice; serious, but friendly. I DID NOT have a crush on her, but I liked her OK.

"A very happy unbirthday to you!"

Another thing I remember about third grade…I got this really nice birthday card packet--correction--unbirthday card packet, which contained cards that the other students made for me. All of the students would receive their own packet of cards from the rest of their classmates on their birthday; since my birthday was in July, Mrs. Cunningham had the class do an “unbirthday” packet for me. I saved the packet and the cards (some of these cards would make HALLMARK weep…with dismay!)

One more thing about the third grade: this was the year that I got my first kiss! The girl who kissed me was in my class, named Kayleen (read the caption under the class picture to find out which one was her) and she was so cute and had freckles and red hair (I have a weakness for redheads, but that’s for another blog post). She and I walked together outside during recess one winter day. As I remember she was wearing a white coat with fur (almost like a mink coat), complete with a hood that framed her beautiful red hair. We played this game where we would walk around the school yard with our eyes closed, just holding hands to keep each other steady (wink, wink!) as we walked through the deep snow. Uh huh. As we were walking I felt a quick, moist kiss on my cheek, just out of the blue! I remember I blushed, feeling flattered and surprised!

Sadly, Kayleen moved away that same year (to Texas, as I recall), no joke! Now, wait a minute, there seems to be a trend here? And is it any wonder that I am still single?

Next up: 4th grade, where once again I fall for my teacher, who [surprise!] moves away! Ah, fetch!! There IS a trend!