Tub Nostalgia

The Onion and her bad influence friend, 2011

This post comes from a hot bath, about a photo in a hot tub. There's probably a message in there somewhere.

This is a new photo, but I keep stopping at it as I miss the girls of my youth and reminisce about the recent Way Back Machine trip. The one in the back is me.  In the foreground, one of my best friends (and sometimes worst enemy) since grade school.

We met the first day of kindergarten, when she said to me at play time;

"Let's run."

I was the product of a strict mother and knew running was against the rules. Again, she said:

"Let's run." 

So we did.

And, we got in trouble.

And, we had to sit in time out.

My twin sister watched with big eyes as I sat in the central time out chairs, looking like the dog with the cone around my head. We both knew our Mother would not approve. And that she would probably find out about this incident of time-out-ness.

The girl in the foreground?

She didn't care.

She didn't cry ( I considered it)

Look at her in the photo. That was the exact look she had on her face....

I was hooked.

This post was inspired by a Write on Edge prompt asking me to write about a photograph of myself. Apologies in advance for the swimwear. 

The Kids are All Right...

Although i don't remember it well (Twin probably does, she is a savant for that stuff) I have seen the "first day" photos of our gang standing on the step many times, Twin and I in plaid dresses which makes us look like Cindy Brady, school bags on opposite arms. 


Although we are twins, my sister and I look like the photo negative of one another, one brown hair and brown eyes, one blond hair and blue eyes one right handed, one left-handed, one nice, one mean (you decide). Our brother stands over us in his Hobie surf shirt (Rock on, in Wyoming *snort*), hand on each of our shoulders, a knowing an experienced 5th grader with weird teeth and a bad part in his hair. 


My brother had always ridden the bus and I was wildly jealous. He seemed so cool, strutting over the hill, his comb in his back pocket in case he needed to re-feather, walking with the neighbor kids. I stood in the driveway most afternoon days and waited to see his feathered hair come over the hill. He was so cool. 


When it was our turn to go to school (we didn't need no stinkin' preschool, apparently), we were charged and ready to ride the bus. 


But Red wouldn't let us! 
She INSISTED on driving us to school the first day. 
Booooo. 


You couldn't argue or whine audibly with Red, so we exchanged looks in the back seat of the maroon Monte Carlo. At least with our brother on the bus (No fair!), we both got a window seat. 


We arrived at Hillcrest Elementary and went into our classrooms. Red was worried about us. 


Perhaps we were nervous or needed to use the bathroom before she left. 
Maybe we felt a little scared of this big new school. 
Maybe we would feel shy around all of the new kids. 


Um...our group didn't really know the word 'nervous' or 'shy', as they didn't exist in our family. In fact, none of us has ever met a stranger, still. Red might have been projecting her feelings a smidge. Maybe red was suffering from PMS (Projecting Mother Syndrome)


Twin and I RAN to the big scary building (all of those tiny hooks, chairs and tables ARE ghastly) and put our things away. Red chatted with the teachers and other parents for a few minutes until she realized...we were gone. GONE. 


Where had we gone?


She had meticulously monitored our whereabouts for 5 years and had somehow lost track of us the first day of school! 


What if we were scared? 
What if we were crying? 
What if someone in a big white van, a la  the "CBS After-school Special" was trying to ask us if we wanted to help him find his lost dog? 


I can see Red quietly freaking out in her pantsuit and sort-of beehive hair, politely inquiring to the teachers, a little embarrassed..."ahem, excuse me...but...where are the girls?"


To which the teachers said "Oh, they went to the playground already". 



Unbeknownst to Red, after situating our personal Kleenex box and pencil case with the strawberry smelling eraser, we then skipped down the walkway to the playground.  Recess first! Yay! 


Hell no, we didn't cry!
We wouldn't hear of lurking around on our mother's pantsuit leg!
So what if we didn't even say goodbye to our poor fragile mother whose chicks were leaving the nest?
It's RECESS, yo. We were getting our swings on. 

I am totally the one on the right
Photo credit

And tomorrow, we were riding the bus.


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This post brought to you by a prompt from your friends at Studiothirty, which I see has been PLUS sized?