School Days

Hello, world!  Yesterday was a really fun night.  I had the honor of having dinner with some of my most favorite moms (and grandmom) from the Bug's school.  These ladies are funny, smart, beautiful and a hoot!  After much laughing, smiling and complaining, we all found out that we aren't that much different.  We have kids that don't pick-up after themselves, we have kids that either won't stop eating or won't eat anyting at all, our kids are getting too big for their britches and we love them unconditional!

A few tidbits that was uncovered last night:

• Kids have an uncanny ability to remove all their clothes in one fell swoop that results in the underwear and pants/shorts being merged into one unrecognizable twist;
• When you have multiple children it is strange how vastly different the personalities and  mannerisms are from each other even though they have the exact same DNA makeup and have the same upbringing;
• If our kids don't hurry up and read their summer reading books and do their book reports, someone is going to die; and
• If you hear your mischievous kid snicker, she most likely locked the bathroom door locked all of you either outside of it or inside it in which case you have to call your mother who lives 30 minutes away to come and release you from inside the bathroom. (Note to self: if you turn the locks around to teach said child not to lock the door you can't get in, make sure she doesn't lock it before you all get stuck inside...oh, and have a cell phone handy -- thanks, NS for the helpful hint.)

I think the best part about Taterbug's school is that, while it is kind of small (only one class per grade up to 8th grade), we have been together, for the most par, since kindergarten.  Her class is made up of mostly girls and I always said that the guys will grow up to be very well adjusted husbands and be great dads to their daughters because they all know how to play dress-up and house and are very used to being bossed around by girls.  I fell for those poor guys!

Since they have been together for so long, it is so cute to see how they protect each other and are so caring of each other almost like a family.  For example, it is perfectly fine for them to pick on each other but don't let someone from outside of the class dare to pick on one of their own.  They will close ranks and circle around the "outsider" to make sure that they leave their bud alone.  Got to love playground politics!

I had a very unique school experience.  I went to public school and we were co-ed until 4th grade and then once we hit middle school, we were separated by sex.  We were the only public school system in the US that was set up like that and it lasted until my junior year when in 1988 someone finally sued the school board to force them to go co-ed.  The reason behind that suit was that they claimed that it was unfair because the girl schools had home economics and the guys had shop class.

I had mixed views on this change.  I was a typical teenage girl and would love to be exposed to guys day in and day out at school rather than just weekends.  On the other hand, we had a good thing going at school.  Because we didn't have those stinky boys next to us, girls didn't worry about their hair and make-up all the time.  Granted, we did do our share of primping but not nearly as much if we would have had a hunky guys sitting next to us in class.

Also, because we were all girls, it help instill leadership skills because we were the presidents of the organizations, we were the ones that made the decisions on class projects and events, we were the ones providing feedback to school leadership on service projects and such.  We didn't have a boyfriend influencing our decisions on things at school.

So the time came to decide if I would stay at my existing high school my junior year.  This school was being turned from an all-girl high school to a parish-wide magnet high school and the boys would be outnumbered 30 to 1.  This school was less than two miles from my house and in walking distance.  My other choice was to go to the boys' high school where I would have to take a school buss (cringe) to and from school and where the girls were outnumbered 15 to 1.

What did I decide to do?  Me, who was very active in school.  Me, who was into playing sports.  Me, who wasn't going to let some guy make the decisions for me.  Well, I did what every 15 year old girl would do who was fiercely independent...I went to the boys school because, let's face it, boys are cute and who didn't want to sneak a kiss in the halls between classes?  Screw making a difference and leading the next generation to greatness!

My High School Love!

You know what the funny part in all this ended up being?  Low and behold, the boys were even more wowed and intimidated by us girls then we were of them and they were more than willing to move out of the way and let us rule the school.  We continued to be the leaders.  We continued to make the decisions on where we saw our class headed.  We continued to wrap the guys around our little fingers!

Lessons learned:

• School buses suck so make friends with someone who drives in your neighborhood so you can give them gas money to avoid the stigma of riding on the bus.
• Being outnumbered is a good thing when it comes to a boy/girl ratios.
• Leaders are born, not made.
• Change is not always a bad thing.
• Girls learn early on how to get their way around a guy.

I loved my last two years at the boys' high school.  To this day, I feel closer to that school than I did at the other high school, event though I spent an equal number of years at each.  There was something cool about being at the same school that my dad and uncles went.  There was something special about being a part of history by being the second co-ed class.

Fighting Owls!

The school is still there but it has changed a lot since Hurricane Katrina wiped it out.  Some of it was rebuilt better and more modern then it could have been back in 1954 when it opened.  Heck, when I graduated back in 1990, we didn't event have air conditioning and only had just gotten ceiling fans.  No matter what, I will always bleed maroon and white...go, Owls!

Love ya,

Kristen