Purple Grass

I have so many flashes of moments that I remember from my preschool and kindergarten years. There were a lot of life changes during that time, so what I remember revolves around those changes. When I was 4 we moved from Mexico to Canada. For a few months we lived with my Uncle and his family (my dad's brother) while we settled down. I remember having a lot of fun with my cousins (we are all close in age so we really got to play!). I remember thinking that learning English was super easy. In fact I don't even remember actually trying, it's just like it happened.

My brother and I shared a room, with bunk beds. I had the top bunk, he was after all one year younger than me! And believe it or not I would sometimes sit up in bed and pick little pieces off the ceiling and eat them. Blech! My brother and I were always really close so we did a lot together, and I protected him fiercely. Later that year, we started going to preschool a couple mornings a week. I remember I was a bit shy, but then I became friends with this little girl with brown hair who smelled like chocolate chip cookies (and I totally don't remember her name). One day at pickup time, I remember we accidentally swapped lunchboxes because we had the same one. When we got home I was so upset because I had a special little toy in there. I am pretty sure the moms rectified the situation.

And oh my, I remember I used to have this little brown puppy that I absolutely LOVED. He was just the right size and I took him everywhere. All of us kids would play hide and seek so much and I remember one of our favorite spots to hide was in the closet under the stairs. It was a dark and cold room full of plastic bags and boxes. And I remember one day I hid in there and I lost my puppy. I was so sad. I don't think I ever got him back. I don't know if he got mixed in with giveaway stuff or what, but that was the last time I held him. He was such a great puppy.

I also remember that one of my cousins' cousin used to be so mean to me, when she came to visit she used to call me "crybaby" and tease me. I told my mom about it and she suggested the next time she was mean that I offer to let her play with my doll. So I did that and from then she was super nice to me. This lesson has stuck with since, I have always been a caring person, but if someone is mean or rude to me the natural response is that I am even more nice to them. I think rudeness is just a call out for love, after all.

And then when I turned 5, I went to kindergarten. I remember singing "the lady with the alligator purse", "frere jacque", and "the wheels on the bus". And I remember colouring. One day I made a beautiful picture of flowers and trees. And the teacher told me that my grass couldn't be purple, as I had wanted. My mom was furious when she heard that. I think her viewpoint was that the time will come when children realize grass is green, but while they can imagine it another colour, let them be. I think this was the beginning of my mom's decision to homeschool us, which officially happened a few months later.

It's amazing that even sitting here and writing for these few minutes has flooded me with so many more memories from those early years...so many little glimpses of a happy childhood. And I am left with a feeling of joy and sweet melancholy for the carefree, beautifully simple time that childhood is...

* Every Thursday for the following few weeks I will be writing about my story from Birth to High School. Please visit Mommy's Piggy Tales to read more stories and to find out how you can participate! *