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Saturday, August 23, 2008

The Number One Fight Between My Parents and Me

There have been moments this past week where I have felt as though summer has flown by and moments where I felt as if the clock is broken. For instance, when on earth is my older son (OS) returning to preschool? Yes, I know his classes start in the second week of September, but I feel as if it must already be December. On the other hand, I almost convinced a friend of mine today that OS's birthday party is not for another 3 weeks. Almost...but not quite. She realized that it is happening in two weeks. Boy was I surprised. I pulled out the calendar so that OS and I can count down the days until his birthday. I couldn't believe it is already only ten days away.

Hmmm...if that is only ten days away, then that must mean that the submission deadline for Congratulations, You're a Woman Now! is only nine days away! We've been pleased with many of the submissions we've received so far, but there is still room for more. For the record, there is no minimum number of words required, and men are also welcome to submit relevant period stories, for example about a sister or a daughter. I've gotten emails from some people who worry that their stories are boring. I would encourage you to submit it anyway. It may be just the story we are looking for. It also doesn't have to be about your first period. For example, someone once told me that she used to get paid to test out tampons when she was in high school. Every month she would be asked to review a new batch. You don't hear about that every day!

You also don't encounter your old junior high school classmates every day...or at least you didn't until Facebook became popular. I have been making "friends" with a lot of my people whom I hadn't seen in decades. A recent moms group meeting on bullying made my junior high memories seems far more recent. Never mind summer flying by. How about life flying by! While I enjoyed many great moments in junior high, I had some other, less enjoyable moments. In particular, I may never get over...icebreakers.

Icebreakers were part of swimming, youth group, and student retreat day, which was called Snowball in our school. (Despite the name Snowball, icebreakers were never literally named.) We always had to play one or two variations that I hated. In one, everyone had to introduce themselves by saying they were bringing something to a picnic that started with the first letter of your name. Beth brought bananas, Catherine brought cookies, and Mary brought marshmallows. Now if Alex were my real name, rather than a "nomme de keyboard," I could have said I was bringing apples, but if you've read the Congratulations, You're a Woman Now! website, you know my real name and therefore understand how embarrassed I was when I had to announce that I was bringing nuts to the picnic. Most of the class would cackle raucously at the word "nuts" in a fashion later popularized by Beevis and Butthead, Oh come on! You know the junior high puberty jokes! (Even when I tried to "bring" nectarines, my classmates would gleefully suggest that nuts were a "more appropriate" offering.)

The other one icebreaker that made me freeze was being asked to use an adjective to describe myself that started with the same letter as my name. Alex would have been awesome, Beth was beautiful, Catherine was cool, and Mary was marvelous. I was either nice or neat. Yeah, major boring. My parents and I had quite a few fights over why they picked my name, and at one point I was determined to use my middle name when I went off to college. I swear it came up every year from junior high through high school and college and then again when I was picking my kids' names. I cannot count the number of times that the Big Giraffe rolled his eyes during my pregnancies because I grilled him about what our kids could bring to a picnic or how they could describe themselves.

I'm not sure why I can't get this out of my head.

A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Some old memories feel like they happened yesterday; if your first (or other significant) period is one such memory, please write it up and submit it.

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posted by Alex Elliot @ 6:59 PM   3 comments
3 Comments:

  • At 8/23/2008 11:42 PM, Blogger Heather said…

    I submitted mine earlier this week. I almost didn't send it in because I don't think it's particularly exciting or unusual, but I figured it never hurts to try. Can't gain anything without trying eh?

    Thank goodness I never had to do icebreakers like that! I have no idea what I would have brought or described myself with.

    Hicamas?
    Hypochondriac?

     

  • At 8/24/2008 6:41 PM, Blogger Sally HP said…

    I'll be submitting mine...now that I'm back from insanity. Also, reading about having icebreakers in junior high...CRAZY! it just makes me realize how small my school was...we had one icebreaker...it was called Kindergarten :)

     

  • At 8/27/2008 7:18 AM, Blogger Goofball said…

    what about bringing noodles? nacho chips?

    and being "nervous because these endless stupid icebreaker games"?

     
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Name:Alex Elliot
Home:MA, United States
About Me:Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 6 year old and a 3 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
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