I LIKE YOU - DO YOU LIKE ME?

My primary school years were mostly uneventful.  Recess was my favorite subject.  My girlfriends and I played jump rope and there was a jungle gym at school with swings and a see saw.  We all got along well and my friends were still my friends when we graduated  high school.   Those who survive remain friends today.  It was a close knit community where everyone looked after each other's children as if they were their own.  

Valentine’s Day was a special time of year.  Every year, our teacher would obtain a large hat box from a local department store and she and some of the children (usually girls) would decorate the box with special Valentine paper and cut outs of cupids and hearts.  Then when the lid was put on, there would be a slot cut in it for the cards to be put into.  On Valentine’s Day, everybody would bring their cards, put them in the box and then at the end of the school day, the teacher would pick somebody to draw the cards and give them out.  Naturally, everybody wanted to be the one who got the most cards.  That would mean you were probably the most popular girl or boy.  I never got the most cards, but I’d get a lot of cards.  I remember being worried about some of the kids in class that would only get one or two cards or no cards.  It made me feel bad.  I also felt bad for some of the kids who didn’t bring any cards to put into the box.  

School functions were well attended by parents and consisted mainly of chorus, band or short plays,  but you could count on the auditorium being full of parents and grandparents craning their necks to see their kids perform.  Christmas and Thanksgiving always held special programs and we could count on Turkey and Dressing in the Lunchroom.  The Pledge of Allegiance was a given.  Prayer was a given.  Not an option.  In class and in "chapel" as it was called.   

Now, I was a pretty homely looking kid.  Stringy, dishwater blond hair, fair skin with freckles, a crooked front tooth, and “pleasingly plump” as “Biggy” used to say.  I didn’t have a lot going for me.    When I was in the 3^rd grade, however, I happened to notice a shy boy in the 4^th grade whose brother was in my class.  The brother was not bad, but kind of a clown in class.  The shy boy was something else.  I was smitten!  This shy boy in his overalls with his long johns showing at the bottoms and half smile was about the best looking boy I’d ever seen.  I didn’t think he would ever give me a second look.  He could have any girl he wanted with his looks.  But I watched him for a year or two.      

As it turned out, Mr. Shy Boy with the long johns was watching me too.  We started passing notes in school.  You know the kind – “I like you – Do you like me?”   Then it was LT + ST and on and on.  All of a sudden, we were a “couple”.   I felt soooo special.  Here I was……this ugly, fat, “tween”, with a boyfriend to die for. 

And we were just entering eighth grade.