#glacebay

[andreegracie]

Love this #folkart piece of @johngraciesinger childhood home created by @samanthagracie #glacebay #northstreet #love #memories (at Glace Bay, Nova Scotia) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMFBQIlnpK8/?igshid=jcmde7m06vya

[livedallmylife]

Change

I don’t remember being sad about changing schools. I don’t recall being scared. My mom found us a little white house and we were moving there so I had to change schools (still an era with a grade school per neighborhood) 

I remember looking at the house with my mom (she does not recall me seeing it before moving in and was surprised when i told her i remembered years ago)

I remember it had so much old lady stuff in it (large table and tea set)  and that i thought the carpet was awesome (red tone, dark colors, diamonds and triangles in spread out patterns i’ll never be able to describe)

i remember my best friend chris coming over at some point. this was i think when my mom was like ‘um you should really just put your arm around your girlfriend’. i don’t think we’d say that these days. guess it depends on who you are. i wouldn’t say it to my kid if they were looking happy with their buddy. 

I digress. My friendship with Chris didn’t last the move. We were still ‘friends’ but as kids those 8-9 blocks were oceans of distance and we grew apart. I can tell when we run in to each other or share the occasional word that we still have affection for each other 33 years on from my school switch. At least I like to think so. 

[livedallmylife]

Anger 2

I don’t remember how I got caught. 

I was in bed. I was at Dad’s. I was reading comics. I think dad was fighting with Wife #2. They did this often, I believe. I was pretty oblivious to be honest. All of my life I’ve been very good at ignoring my surroundings and living in my head and being content with my pleasures. 

As such - I was reading comics. In bed. I am not sure if by nightlight or what. I think dad was out fighting. i am not sure how i got caught. 

I remember the silhouette of my dad in the dark room. I could see the shape of his head and his distinct longish hair. He was angry with me and tore my comic in two down the middle. I was upset but not like...crying upset. i was confused. 

This is the first time I ever saw my dad angry and it would take another 35ish years for me to encounter it again (this time via the telephone and at least not directed at me) 

I remember something else. Not sure if it was the next day. Surely was. I remember my dad trying to tape my comic book back together. I remember loving him for trying despite the fact that it wasn’t happening. 

[livedallmylife]

Anger

I remember being in my mom’s blue car. i have no idea how old i was. the weather was grey and overcast. I must have wanted something. Or to go somewhere. I was unhappy and over-anxious. My mother needed to make a stop I think. I remember she pulled over on Commercial St. in Glace Bay. Around where the Subway is now I think. 

When she exited the car I was angry. Unhappy with the wait. I was a good kid and didn’t give any trouble much but when I thought I was alone...

I remember making a loud noise. I don’t remember if it was a growl, a yell, a screech. I remember hitting the dash in front of me. I am not sure if it was one powerful wallop or more of a drum roll of frustration. 

What I do know is that my door swung open and it was my angry mother who heard me. She told me that whatever I was getting or wherever i was going (don’t remember) was off the table in light of my behavior. 

She left again. I remember being quiet and frustrated. I had held it in. I thought I was alone and invisible in the fortress of the car. This was unfair to me!

[livedallmylife]

Susan

While I suspect I had a crush on Tammy in a weird way I didn’t understand, I had a crush on Susan in a very big way that I understand very well. 

Susan was a blonde, doe-eyed girl in my two grades when I was in central school. I remember being very open, even verbally, about my affection for her. Giving her valentines. Telling people I liked her without a care in the world. I think this was grade 1 because in my mind the classroom layout is different than Mrs Clark’s hellhole. 

I was never really friends with Susan (didn’t play with her like Tammy) she was just beautiful and I liked telling her so and was not shy about it. 

After I switched schools I would never really speak to her again. Damn moving to a new school after two grades really did change everything for me. If I had kept that set of friends in that school I don’t think I would be who I am - better or worse. 

This is a very interesting revelation to me. I had a difficult puberty (and even 10 years post puberty) and I would be well into adulthood before I had this confidence back. 

[livedallmylife]

Tammy

I had a friend named Tammy. She was tall and squinty eyed and liked a lot of the same things that I did. I think I had a kid version of a crush on her one afternoon. I wanted to play with her after school. She said she had to go home and change in to her play clothes. This baffled me. Play clothes? I just had the one set and in them I did it all. When I switched schools in grade 2 we would lose touch forever save a late night internet chat one hot summer evening. 

[livedallmylife]

Mrs Clark was first teacher. I did not care for her. She was round faced with blonde and black hair (a bad dye job I assume). Her husband was the mayor. 

She and I did not get along it seems. My only memories of her are being scolded. I went to recess without my snow pants on. I got my pants wet. I was made to sit in the back of the room in my long johns away from the rest of the class. I remember feeling very devilish and still proceeding to cause trouble despite my isolation in the back. 

I remember the recess a little bit. Playing in the snow banks outside. It was worth the trouble I received from that battle ax. I would get older and also not like her son who was a smarmy preppy jerk. 

[livedallmylife]

Classmates 1

In reference to names that will surely appear or maybe not. 

Charles - Tall. I remember his front teeth being large. He was slightly darker complected, sandy hair. I remember him being a friend when I was a student. This would not last as when I returned to the school a couple of years later for a gym class (my new school didn’t have a gym) he pushed me on the ice and chuckled when I fell. I remember sort of laughing and wondering if we were still friends. His eyes said we were not. He would proceed to be a member of the town-famous baseball team, the Colonels, and a chubby abrasive asshole in high school. 

Holly M - Do I remember this one right? I am pretty sure she was at Central but would have to check my class pictures, I might have her confused. She was tall, broad shoulders. Blonde. A bit awkward and gangly. I would never really know her better than early school which was little. She would grow up to be shy, quiet, and I think have kids early in her life. 

You know I doubt I have to list every classmate I remember despite trying to get my brain out of my body before I die. 

I also remember Troy Sampson and Tricia Burnette. Not sure of the spelling of her last name or if she was *definitely* at this school and not the other like Holly. They would end up getting married, Troy and Tricia, after dating for a long time (Jr high or high school at least) 

Perhaps because of the directions my life took it remains shocking to me to see ‘high school sweethearts’ together in the 21st century.