10 on the 10th: August 2024-School Memories

Last month, Marsha asked us to share 10 special summer memories. But now summer is coming to a close as we head into my favorite season of all…back to school season. The time of year when I can enjoy a few hours of solitude each day. I do love having my kids around, most of the time. But summertime can be relentless as I literally have no alone time ever at all. There is always someone else in the house with me 24/7 during the summer months.

As much as I love having my kids around, I really love my alone time, too. I want it. I need it. I look forward to it. And when I get it, I cherish it with much gratitude. I know one day I will have much more of it than I want and I’ll be begging my kids to come hang out with me. But I’ll deal with those emotions when that time comes. For now, I am excited for back to school season!

For this month, Marsha has asked us to take a walk down memory lane and share 10 things that we liked or disliked about school. You can split your list 5/5 or any other way you’d prefer because Marsha isn’t very strict about rules. She just wants you to participate and have a little fun! Maybe there is nothing you liked about school so your list would be 10 dislikes. But maybe you loved school and have nothing negative to say about it. Then you can share 10 things you loved about school. I am not sure how I will split my list until I start writing it!

10 on the 10th is a monthly series hosted by Marsha in the Middle and is open to anyone who wants to join. You can share your answers in Marsha’s link party if you have a blog or you can share your answers in the comment section. It is such a fun way to offer more information about ourselves and to learn interesting new things about others. The questions posed provide a great avenue for starting new conversations, making meaningful connections with new people, and having a good hearty chuckle every now and then.

Here’s my list.

What I Liked About School

1. Learning!

For real. I have always loved learning and have always felt most comfortable in an academic setting. I flounder around like a fish out of water in the real world. But school always felt natural to me. In most school environments from elementary through graduate degree programs, I thrived academically. And athletically. But I was taken out of that environment, it felt more like I was drowning.

Below are my high school (1992) and college yearbook photos (1996).

2. Swimming.

You may know already that I was a competitive swimmer. I joined the summer swim team when I was 4 years old because my sisters had joined. At 8 years old, I began swimming on a competitive team all year round. By the time I was 12, I was competing on a national level. I went to college on a full swimming scholarship in the generation when the qualifying time for my event at the 1992 Olympic Swimming Trials was not unreasonably out of my reach. But it was still out of my reach. By the time the next trials came around in 1996, my swimming career had already concluded with a nasty shoulder injury that haunted me for 7 years. At the age of 21, I hung up my goggles and never returned to the sport of swimming except for two seasons as an assistant coach in 2010-2011.

When I was a competitive swimmer, it was my life, filtering into everything I did, including school. At that age, athletics and academics are intricately tied together. You cannot do your sport without maintaining your academics. As much as I love learning, there were days when I really didn’t want to go to school. But I dragged my tired body there anyway just so I was allowed to get in the pool both before and after school. For 17 years, I dedicated my life to my sport. But I really don’t miss it all!

3. My High School Swim Coach.

My high school swim coach, Reik (pronounced “Rick”), is one of my favorite human beings in the world. He began coaching me when I was 8 years old. He was 22 and had just graduated from college. By the time I reached high school, he was the head high school swim coach in a neighboring school district. My current school district did not have a swim team so we moved to the next town so I could swim for Reik and his Freedom High School team.

Reik was also one of the special education teachers in the school. And he really made my high school experience so much better. I was really nervous being the new kid coming into 9th grade, but Reik was there to make sure I felt seen and safe. I have some really silly memories of him pulling me out of gym class on swim meet days and letting me watch movies with his class so I wouldn’t get injured before races. I imagine he would get in trouble for such shenanigans today, but I sure appreciated that he could get away with it 30 years ago!

Reik is still coaching a celebrated his 600th high school win a fews year ago. I met up with him for brunch in February and it is always as if no time has passed since our last meeting. He is truly one of the lovingest, caringest, most profoundly impactful people to have ever come into my life. I appreciate him more than words can adequately convey.

Here is a big memory from my school days. When I was in 10th grade, Reik shaved my head for my state championship meet. It was kind of a big deal. When I was in 12th grade, he let us shave his head. Below is some photographic evidence. The photo of Reik is right after we clipped all his hair off and were getting ready to shave it with a razor. The picture of me is from my freshmen year in college when I shaved my head for our league championship meet. I cannot find a picture of my high school bald head.

And here is a photo of me and Reik when we met up for dinner 2 years ago.

4. Shopping for Back to School Supplies.

I have always had a bit of an obsession with stationery products and would go a little crazy when it was time to stock up on school supplies like notebooks, binders, folders, pens, pencils, highlighters, staplers, and sticky notes. Over the years, I think I have accumulated enough desk items that I probably never have to purchase any of them again. I definitely have enough sticky notes to last the rest of my life. And probably the rest of my children’s lives. I hereby bequeath my sticky note collection to my children!

5. Shopping for Back to School Clothing.

As much as I love desk supplies, I probably love clothing more. My passion for fashion runs deep. I always looked forward to having an excuse to buy a whole wardrobe in one shopping trip. That’s how my mom always did it. She would save up for the big back to school shopping trip and then we would venture out to the outlets for some binge buying. The goal was to acquire everything I needed in one trip. Of course, no one ever succeeds at that, but it was fun trying!

While my first 5 answers might indicate that I had mostly positive experiences in school, I really did not. I excelled academically and athletically because I was really uncomfortable with all of the other stuff that comes with school…like navigating the social scene. So I put my head down, focused on swimming and studying, and isolated myself as much as I was able. I am still that way today all these years later. Solitude suits me!

So here are 5 things that I disliked about school.

What I Disliked About School.

6. The Social Scene.

I have never felt comfortable with large crowds, big parties, or sizable groups of people so any kind of “social scene” was always very intimidating to me. I avoided it the best I could. Mostly by putting my head under water and swimming my butt off.

Despite my fear of the social scene, I have had some lovely school friends over the years.

7. Gym Class.

I hated gym class. So freaking much. I figured I worked out enough in the swimming pool. I trained for two hours after school five days a week, an hour before school three days a week, and three hours on Saturdays. Plus, I am really bad at land sports of any type. I was the kid who would strike out in kickball.

I hated the swim portion of gym classes even more than the land part. First of all, if there was a student who was really scared of the water and couldn’t keep up with the class, the teacher would send me off to the corner of the pool to work with them. It was awful for both of us for so many reasons. Like why was I responsible for doing the teacher’s job?

Secondly, I always had gym class during the first period/block of the day. So on the days I had morning swim practice, I would have to get dressed after practice, go to homeroom for 15 minutes, and then return to the pool for swim class. Every year of high school, I politely asked if I could check into homeroom from the pool on those days since the gym teacher was there with me to validate my attendance. And every year, they denied my request. I didn’t think it was an unreasonable request but I guess they can’t give special treatment to anyone. But they can ask you to do their job for them!

8. Mean Teachers.

To be fair, I don’t like mean people regardless of their occupation. But mean teachers rank at the top of my list of “most disliked mean people” categories. A mean cashier, while still inexcusable, is easier to tolerate than a mean teacher, a mean doctor, or a mean clergyman. Certain professions require you to be less mean than others to be effective in that profession. Teaching being one of them. I do recognize that teachers sometimes need to be strict because kids suck, but you can be strict without being mean. I had some really mean teachers who would publicly humiliate and degrade students. I have also had teachers who gave grades based solely on their personal opinion of the students.

9. School Lunch.

School lunch was super barfy when I was a kid and it’s even barfier now. I always brought a home lunch to school and both of my kids have as well. Until last year. Archie started getting school lunch in 7th grade, saying that the middle school lunches are way better than at the food served in the elementary and intermediate schools. I still think it’s all gross.

10. Hallway Navigation.

I have the worst sense of direction ever. I got lost in the hallways on a regular basis in every school that I have ever attended. I get lost in my kids’ schools even with detailed directions from staff members. I usually require an escort! When I worked in New York City, I got lost navigating my way to work on a daily basis. Even after almost a decade of working in the city, I still got all turned around no matter where I was going. My navigation skills have only gotten worse with the advent of GPS. Another reason I like to stay home so much. I literally get lost in the world!

If you enjoyed reading my post, be sure to check out Marsha’s along with her link party for more fun responses. And feel free to share some of your own likes and dislikes about school in the comments. I would love to read them!

Keeping it on the edge, 

Shelbee

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