Time Machine Memory Tour-5th Grade

Many of my memories have more to do with certain people rather than certain years, so sometime in the future I will get into that, but for now, let's keep with the theme of certain years of my life. Here goes for Fifth grade:

-I had Mrs. Wilkins as a teacher. She was a widow lady and wore only hand-knit garments (well made by her). She was strict, and assigned about 2-4 hours of homework a night. But, because of her, I adopted a passion for excellence, rather than mediocrity. I still remember her pet peeve about the abuse of the word done in place of the word finished. She said "done" is referring to the status of how a meat is cooked, rather than if a project is completed.

-This was the first year I really noticed cliques forming in my age group. I saw it at school, at Girl Scouts, and at church. I was so used to being friendly with everyone, regardless of their neighborhood, clothing, family income, or status in town. Others wanted me to disrespect certain others (usually underprivileged kids) to be in their circle of friends. I refused to do that, so it cost me some friendships, but kept my integrity intact. But-because of that, I did hang around with a group of kids that led me down the wrong path at times (maybe the other kids would have also done this). I had a wrong view of my self-worth, and I was very much into pleasing others, no matter the cost to me personally.

-This was the first year I joined band. I picked up the clarinet because my cousin Kristi had abandoned hers the year before, and it was available for me to use. Dad was such a good musician (he could play anything by ear) that he picked up the instrument, and after figuring out the fingerings, he could play any tune. It took me more work than that, and I'm sure my squeaks and squawks that year were painful for my parents. At some point before then, they had given me a little chord organ (Dad put longer table legs on it to be the right height), and I remember using that as my music stand to rehearse my music. Sometimes I would even pick out my part on the organ.

-This was also the first year I was aware of Rusty Willis (now husband Russ Willis). My friend Patricia Rubemeyer (Patty back then) had a crush on Rusty, and so she pointed him out to me on the playground. I also found out his dad worked at the same plant as my dad, and he lived up on a culdesac where church-goers, the Browns, lived.

-We (the Methodists) had a combined youth group with the Presbyterian Church, and I enjoyed a social life on the weekends because of these fun activities on Sunday afternoons/evenings.