Misty Water-Colored Memories

Tonight, I am unmotivated. Instead of thinking about the many pages of paper I need to write, or the reading I need to do, I think of this:

• In 3rd grade, I had a teacher named Mrs. Rushmore. One time, we tried to trick her into telling us how old she was. I thought I was being clever when I asked, "Hey, Mrs. Rushmore, what year were you born in?" It didn't work.
• When I first moved to Costa Mesa, there was a girl named Alicia Sanchez, who I was convinced hated me. To this day, I have no idea why we were bitter enemies for all those years, but she is the only other person I've ever known to share my birthday.
• In middle school, my favorite thing to buy from the vending machine was the giant Cookie Jar cookie. It was delicious, and it cost $1.00.
• One of the funniest things Muriel Mason ever said in a classroom was in our freshman year, in Mr. Schilling's class, after she won a 300-count tub of Red Vines in a competition: "Oh great, a diabetic coma in a box."
• Annie Tomasek's favorite thing to do before setting up for a volleyball game was to push the button for the buzzer on the scoreboard.
• Also in 3rd grade, we came back from lunch to find one of the 1st grade teachers acting as a substitute. She said Mrs. Rushmore was eating a piece of celery during lunch and had choked on one of the strings. She did not return the rest of the day. To this day, I'm wary of celery strings.
• Mr. Kinkopf, my 4th grade teacher, knew what Mardi Gras was; I think there was a poster up about it in our classroom. We shared a special bond, until he gave me my first C- on an assignment.
• Mrs. Davenport was my 5th grade teacher. She appreciated my imagination. Although this is not related, she was my favorite teacher, and my mom's least favorite.
• I wore my brother's old dark green sweatshirt every day to school in 7th and 8th grade (and some of 9th). I don't think he knows that.
• I should have won the 4th-grade spelling bee. It was rigged.
• As a kid I wanted my name to be Jackie. My favorite athlete growing up was Gail Devers, who was quickly replaced by Jackie Joyner-Kersee, because her name was cooler and her fingernails were shorter.