Mama Kat Thursday: First Day of School

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Me, 1963
The Mama Kat Prompt topic for today is
"First Day of School."

You have to set the way-back machine for 1963: my first day of school.
My Dad captured the moment in black and white. I remember I was embarrassed to have a camera aimed at me, that's why I was pointing.
In 1963 only dresses were worn to school. If it was cold, you could wear pants under your skirt, but you had to take them off once you arrived at school.My Mom made this outfit, as she sewed the majority our clothes.
(And made clothes for our Barbies, I might add.)
I wore a short hair cut with bangs until I got to high school and could take of my hair myself. That was generally the rule on hair, though I seem to recall a few home-perms happening along the way. Oddly, my naturally wavy hair lays quite straight when cut short.

We lived way out in the country along a state road surrounded pretty much by trees. There were no neighborhood kids to play with. Being the oldest, I mostly just had my parents to associate with and I only knew the woodsy world around me: the wild birds, the flowers, trees and the garden plants.

That being the case, when the first grade teacher started taking attendance, calling out each child's name, and said,"Robin," I literally twisted my head this way and that looking around the room for an actual bird!
I was in the first row and it was only after I heard a meek, "here,"  from somewhere behind me did I realize this "Robin" was a girl!
I distinctly remember feeling embarrassed by the incident, though only I knew my mistake.

My naivety led to many unexpected adventures in grade school.
You can read another, called "Big Time Liar," here.

Comments

Allison said…
How special that you have a picture from your first day of school. I think there is a lot to be said for growing up in the "country" with the "woodsy world." I grew up in a very small town, but I feel like I was lucky to be able to live in a place where we were safe to play outside all day exploring and getting dirty. Thanks for sharing!
Sep 5, 2013, 12:25:00 PM
Dyanne @ I Want Backsies said…
I need to find my first day of school picture from kindergarten! I was wearing a yellow dress (it was 1965). And I remember having to wear dresses to school! We could do the pants under the dress thing when it was cold, too, and had to remove them when we got to school (it was easy to remove them - they were knit with a seam down the front of each leg). I think I was in 5th grade before we could wear pants to school all day.

And I absolutely LOVE the "Robin" story. LOVE. IT.
Sep 7, 2013, 11:26:00 PM

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