by ETX

Created on: March 12, 2009   Last Updated: March 16, 2009

In the 1980's, in a small East Texas town, Kindergarten was my first experience with the world. I can't say that before that point I knew a soul outside of my family and the small Assembly of God church we attended, with the exception of the local florist, whom we referred to as the "flower patch lady", who was particularly odd in a pleasant way but she had a lot of rude nippy poodles that didn't like children. Kindergarten was a rush of contact with the world. It was scary and exciting all at once, quite on par with the roller coaster sensation.

My teacher was quite fashionable and had an old-time movie star quality to me, but she was quite possibly the scariest teacher I ever had. She was loud and angry and had no reservation about swinging a paddle in a way that would infact "blister" someone's backside. I was terrified at the thought of getting paddled. I knew that it must be dreadful as I had witnessed several paddlings, as they were carried out in the front of the classroom for all of the other 5 and 6 year olds to observe. This kindergarten teacher was a drill Sargent! I loved her and feared her greatly all at once.

Naptime served no purpose to me. It was spent squirming on the floor on your plastic mat next to whomever you were assigned to lay beside, and the teacher screaming at whichever child had their eyes open to "close em'!" It was a bright and sunny school day around Easter. Our teacher had brought an Easter egg tree and displayed it beside the shelves I was laying beside, I thought the concept of an Easter egg tree was marvelous, and that we should have all kinds of trees for various occasions! The tree was fabulous as far as I was concerned.

When naptime was over and it was time for everyone to open their little sleepy eyes our teacher would scream for us to wake up and throw the light switch on just in time to pierce our little eyeballs with the sharp painful rays. There was a protocol that must be followed after naptime but was generally still pretty messy as we were only 5 and 6 year olds. We all began to pick up our mats, and fold them neatly to put them back on the shelves. Everyone was moving toward the shelf but seeing as that I was closest I was first. I liked being first, for any reason. But today being first was like getting a prize. To be first you must be first in line or closest to the shelf. So not only was I going to be first but I had also gotten to nap beneath a wonderful Easter egg tree which even reminded me of Jesus in the

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