Whigham, Georgia in 1980
I was nine years old when we left Conyers and moved south to Whigham. I was in the fourth grade and the school year was half over. I didn’t like being the new girl. Seems I would have gotten used to it after all the moves and new schools I went to during the twelve years that I owed the state (states in my case) but I never did.
I will admit that I always held out hope that things would be different and that I would make friends easily. A chance for a new start. I would practice saying clever things in the hope that someone would notice and say, “I’d like to have a clever friend like that”. Didn’t happen in South Georgia though.
I spent most of my time (play period) eating pecans that fell from the trees in the schoolyard. I would walk around looking very interested in what I was doing which was picking up the pecans. I don’t really think that I had to try to look interested, nobody noticed anyway.
I did have two friends there, both boys. The first one was a boy named William who wasn’t very well thought of. I didn’t know that to start off, but this little girl who everyone thought was so sweet told me to stay away from William or people would say bad things about me and no one else would want to play with me. So with my very limited understanding of such matters, I took her advice and found myself with no friends. I guess now that I deserved that because I liked William and I let her tell me that he (the only person who wanted to be my friend) was bad.
The other boy was named Jeff. We became friends during math/science class. For the most part that was where our friendship stayed in that one classroom. We didn’t play on the playground and we didn’t often speak in our other classes but he was my friend for two hours everyday.
Our PE teachers decided that we should all learn to square dance. I couldn’t believe it. PE is for baseball, kickball or basketball. Anything that has the word ball in it qualifies but not dancing. So they lined us up against the walls of the lunchroom. Girls on one side and boys on the other. Then they told each of the boys to choose which girl he wanted to dance with. I was terrified. I knew there was no way any of them would choose me and I would simply be left with the last boy. I looked down the line and I saw Jeff. I kept looking until he looked at me then I motioned for him to choose me and he did.
I loved square dancing. It was the most fun I ever had in PE.
I didn’t like South Georgia very much. There were so many gnats that it was almost impossible to go outdoors during the summer months not to mention it’s the hottest place on earth. Of course since we were children we were sent outside often just to get us out from under the grown-ups feet. I didn’t understand it then, but it’s much clearer now.
I will admit that I always held out hope that things would be different and that I would make friends easily. A chance for a new start. I would practice saying clever things in the hope that someone would notice and say, “I’d like to have a clever friend like that”. Didn’t happen in South Georgia though.
I spent most of my time (play period) eating pecans that fell from the trees in the schoolyard. I would walk around looking very interested in what I was doing which was picking up the pecans. I don’t really think that I had to try to look interested, nobody noticed anyway.
I did have two friends there, both boys. The first one was a boy named William who wasn’t very well thought of. I didn’t know that to start off, but this little girl who everyone thought was so sweet told me to stay away from William or people would say bad things about me and no one else would want to play with me. So with my very limited understanding of such matters, I took her advice and found myself with no friends. I guess now that I deserved that because I liked William and I let her tell me that he (the only person who wanted to be my friend) was bad.
The other boy was named Jeff. We became friends during math/science class. For the most part that was where our friendship stayed in that one classroom. We didn’t play on the playground and we didn’t often speak in our other classes but he was my friend for two hours everyday.
Our PE teachers decided that we should all learn to square dance. I couldn’t believe it. PE is for baseball, kickball or basketball. Anything that has the word ball in it qualifies but not dancing. So they lined us up against the walls of the lunchroom. Girls on one side and boys on the other. Then they told each of the boys to choose which girl he wanted to dance with. I was terrified. I knew there was no way any of them would choose me and I would simply be left with the last boy. I looked down the line and I saw Jeff. I kept looking until he looked at me then I motioned for him to choose me and he did.
I loved square dancing. It was the most fun I ever had in PE.
I didn’t like South Georgia very much. There were so many gnats that it was almost impossible to go outdoors during the summer months not to mention it’s the hottest place on earth. Of course since we were children we were sent outside often just to get us out from under the grown-ups feet. I didn’t understand it then, but it’s much clearer now.
posted by Tammy | 10:08 AM
1 Comments:
I saw a rattlesnake in near Donaldsonville that stretched all the way across the road. My dad was a coach at the High School there, and we lived there from the time I was born through third grade. I haven't been back in a long time.
Post a Comment
<< Home