And in the 5th year........

From all accounts I was a very shy boy, very innocent - and not a brat like a certain percentage of 5 year olds were. I remember my first day of school. As my mother was registering me, I recall seeing a cat, and petting it, and my first impression was that "this was a nice day". But as it turned out on that January morning in 1970, I was a typical weeping child, missing my mamma, the instant she waved goodbye. I'm not sure if I cried all day, but I distinctly remembered balling my eyes out & running to my mother at the end of the day!
From what I remember, I was pretty much like that for the first few months, even when my older sister and brother literally took me by the hand each school day and reassured me that everything was alright. One bright thing each day was unwrapping the 5 cent piece from the corner of my handkerchief that my mother had put there so I could buy a "Long John" (a flavoured icy pole) from the tuckshop.
Apart from the occasional bully stamping his wanna-be authority and trying to claim my toy Matchbox cars for himself, I discovered I was a fairly bright student, learned quickly, and school wasn't so bad after all. I found that I wanted to learn quicker than other kids, and probably took unnecessary shortcuts to stay ahead. But it didn't really matter, it was Grade 1 after all. Things weren't so complex then. One could afford to take shortcuts.
I made friends easily, and loved any sporting activities. I was a bit embarrassed however in that I still had not learned how to tie up my shoelaces. Heaven help me if any of my friends knew I couldn't do this. So whilst all my school chums took their shoes off for foot races, I kept mine on, which of course hindered my performances on the track. So when I came a close second in one particular race, I realized had I had my shoes off, I probably would have won. It was probably around this time that I made an effort to learn to do up my shoelaces. But I learned at home of course!
I must ask myself these days, when is it that boys start to notice girls? I look back now and can't comprehend how kids can be "boyfriend & girlfriend" at such a young age. Of course it can't be for the reasons us adults get involved with each other....so what is it? Just human nature? Well whatever it was, I got myself a girlfriend in no time. Her name was Joanne. She had short blonde hair, beautiful smile and crystal blue eyes. I have no doubt now that she grew up to be a real stunner. So lucky me had this girlfriend whom I always held hands with - even whilst sitting next to each other in class - even at the end of the day whilst walking towards my mum. I'm actually laughing about this now - just WHAT possessed me to have a "girlfriend"? I don't recall having an urge to kiss her, or to spend time at her place. The only spark of memory I have is that I just felt it nice to be in her company. It was her friendliness and beauty which was appealing. It was soothing to be around her. And it's funny, at that point in time there was no finger pointing or mocking from our peers. Just good clean innocent "friends".
As much as I loved her company, I don't remember feeling depressed when my family moved to another city (and state) at the end of that year, and I never saw her again. Perhaps for a child, life is one big adventure, and a change of scenery is like a new cartoon episode. Last week's show is long forgotten, and one always looks forward to next week's.
I guess I'd find out what was in store in Grade 2......