Mrs Howe. How on earth I remember that after so many decades, I do not know… but that was the name of my headmistress on my very first day at school. I can still ‘see’ her in memory… can see her in assembly, holding up the vases she collected for the school… could still describe her office, where we sat and read to her, one by one and where, every Christmas, the glittery wings were affixed to the archangel. It is probably the only time in my life I have been angelic… but it took me years to stop picturing Gabriel as a girl.
I started school at four. Before that, there was nursery school, when I was going on three and I remember that too. I remember my grandmother waving us off, that very first day and telling me to be a good girl. The raised beds, like hospital trolleys, on which we were obliged to nap, like it or not. The lunch we were forcibly fed if we didn’t eat. The coat-peg with a picture of a blue and red yacht…I was never happy about that. All the other girls had flowers, bears and butterflies. I got a ruddy yacht. Even worse… I could have written my name myself, but no, we were not supposed to be able to read or write at that age… so I had to live with the yacht. The only good bit was the old caretaker. He’d known my grandparents and mother years before and would let me come into his garden at playtime. I can still see the battered greenhouse where he grew vegetables and, when they were ripe, he would let me pick and eat fresh peas, which I have always loved.
It is odd what we remember, a lifetime later. They must have been very important at the time to linger in memory so clearly and for so long. It makes me delve into other memories, chains of association sparking whole movies on the screen of time.
I remember my sons’ first days at school… and the guilt I felt at not being worried, when all the other mothers seemed to feel they had to cry and regret ‘losing’ their babies. “He’ll be perfectly fine,” said the teacher. “But you can stay with him if you like… ” In both sons’ cases, they had already wandered off to play, not missing me at all…
It seems strange, seeing my granddaughter, not yet three and heading off for her first day at school, to realise that not only was her father once this size, but I was once this size myself, and still recall so much and so clearly. I wonder too what Hollie will remember of this first day when she is my age and her granddaughter heads off for that first day in her turn. With a fair bit of luck, I might even be around to ask her.
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
Pingback: Generational time machine… – The Militant Negro™
Thank you 🙂
LikeLike
Mrs Gregson…
LikeLike
🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on anita dawes and jaye marie.
LikeLike
Thank you x
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good memories are like gold dust, coating our lives with magic…
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s a beautiful phrase, all by itself 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thinking of memories always seems to bring out the best in my head…
LikeLike
I can undertand that 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on Sun in Gemini and commented:
So poignant…
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was astounded when I took David to school on his first day and found myself surrounded by weeping mothers, some of whom accompanied their crying children into the classroom! I shot off home to make myself a coffee and enjoy reading the paper in peace. When I met him in the afternoon he was so excited at having had pink custard for lunch. I asked what happened with the children who’d been crying and he said, ‘Oh, they stopped crying as soon as their mummies went away.’
I don’t actually remember my own first day at school, though I have a clear image of my five-year-old self turning to wave to my mum then walking along sucking a Haliborange tablet.
Goodness, memories are rushing in now…
LikeLike
Yes, I always thought the children were ‘catching’ the tears from their parents.
LikeLike
Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Really! As time goes bye. Have a nice day, and a great sunday too. 😉 Michael
LikeLike
I think my Sunday will be better tha n my Saturday 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, do you had trouble this saturday? Wish you the best. 😉 Michael
LikeLike
Hospital… but I’m home now and probably heading for bed shortly .
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh my God. I hope it’s all right. Wish you fast recovery! Michael
LikeLike
Thanks, Michael. I’m fine, just tired.
LikeLike
Funny how I still remember that first day of school, too. I was also 4. They made us nap, too, but we didn’t have cots. We were supposed to have brought blankets to spread on the floor, but I didn’t have one. My mother was very pregnant with my sister. She didn’t know anything. So they all lay on the floor pretending to sleep. I sat in the corner, messing with crayons.
I’m still sitting in the corner, but I ran out of crayons long ago.
LikeLike
I would have peferred the crayons… still do 🙂
LikeLike
Oh, you are angelic in that photo, Sue. How sweet that you remember all that. I went to my first day of school on the bus with an older sister…no great fanfare. I was just so glad to finally be there, even with Sister Mary Kathleen.
LikeLike
Reblogged this on blogging807.
LikeLike
Wonderful memories!!!
LikeLike
🙂
LikeLike
The immortality of our minds. 🙂 … may you live long enough and it good health to see such a thing. 🙂
LikeLike
Itwould be pshing things a bit to ask that… but my own great granny lived that long and another decade…so who knows? 🙂
LikeLike
Wonderful!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ahhhhhhh….Sue. This resonates. My memory of those times have never been crystal clear. But the thoughts of my children and grandchildren mirror yours. With luck…..we’ll both be here writing about those future generations. 🙂
LikeLike
Whatever the future holds, part of us will always be here with them… love never leaves.
LikeLiked by 1 person
NO IT DOESN’T!!!!! 🙂
LikeLike
🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’ll be around for Holly! And funny, I detested naps in pre-school too. 🙂 xx
LikeLike
These days, I’ll happily nap 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, it’s funny how things change, or reverse as we get older 🙂 x
LikeLike
We are a strange species really 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, you are both absolutely dear – what photos! ❤ How did she like school?
LikeLike
She loved it, bless her ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: Writing Links 9/11/17 – Where Genres Collide
Fab photo and what lovely memories xx
LikeLike
Thank you 🙂 x
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: Sunday Post – 17th September 2017 | Brainfluff