The grand scheme...

When I was in first grade, it was the newest thing since sliced bread. When we went to lunch we had to line up in A-B-C order so that the lunch ladies would be able to check our names off. Of course, I never bought the school lunch- I always packed, but nevertheless, we went through the line in A-B-C order.

Now, this isn't the easiest concept for a first grader. First of all, it involved learning your classmates last names, as that was the A-B-C order they were talking about. In library class, it was different- we sat in A-B-C order but by first name. Anyway, I digress.

Mrs. Allen took great pains to help us memorize how to get into A-B-C order. She went through attendance each morning reading our names in A-B-C order. So, we were very familiar with who we stood by. Latshaw, Lawson, McClimans, Miller... etc.

Latshaw and Lawson were the tallest kids in the class. I felt really short next to them, even in 1st grade. Then there was Miller behind me. He was about the same height.

I got along better with Mrs. Allen than the students. I felt more on her level.

Miller was different because he didn't have a first name. He went by initials. R.E. I think. That was the coolest thing ever, except Mrs. Allen called him Robert during roll. He was probably the most rambunxious of the bunch, except for Stoyer (who came after O'Dell and Ressinger in A-B-C order). I remember she liked to stand up while she did her reading worksheets, that is until Mrs. Allen snuck up behind her and took her chair. She tried to sit down eventually and fell right on her butt.

I bet she never stood up to do her reading worksheets again. She did make her nose bleed once in order to cheat on a spelling test once though. I wish I would have thought of that.

Sometimes Mrs. Allen would check to see how clean our desks were. If they were too bad, she would dump them on the floor and make us clean them up while everyone else got to go to reading corner. Usually it was the dirty kids that got their desks dumped out. Once though, I did. I had been busy making special reading worksheets for my younger cousins in order to play school, and things just got a little bit more messy than I had thoguht. So I had to clean up my desk while the rest of the class read about Corduroy.

I was friends with Spang (who came before Stoyer, as well) and Gertner too, although I wasn't really friends with anyone but Mrs. Allen.

I'm obsessive compulsive to this day.

I'm not quite sure what happened to Lawson or Stoyer...

Gertner's child was in the paper for a first birthday this week.

Spang had cancer and I'm not sure what happened to him after that...

And Miller was sentenced to 29-60 years today for killing his son Devin.

If we only knew back in the days of A-B-C order and reading corner...