Oatmeal Cream Pie Reflection

Sometimes it happens. Not every time, but it's so clear when it does. I stopped yesterday for a snack -- an oatmeal cream pie. Every now and then, when I open the package, get a whiff of that distinctive scent and take the first bite with the crispy chewy edges and just a hint of fluffy white cream, I am magically transported back to first grade. I am standing, waiting for bus 161, where I get to read words from a science book for a middle school kid because he is so impressed that as a first grader I can sound out all those words. I am carrying my little blue and red "booksack". I am in Ms. Meachem's class, folding a paper into 8 boxes, drawing a little picture in each box. I am singing the color song and standing and sitting at the appropriate time. I am struggling with greater than/less than in Ms. Ellis' class. I am in reading group reading Dick and Jane. Ms. Harper is fussing because I don't make my a's properly. I am watching videos (read filmstrips? probably. . . ) Ms. Caldwell is my principal. I am amazed by the library. Cheryl Graham is my best friend -- we sit on the bus singing Top of the World by the Carpenters. She spends the night and is somewhat afraid when my dad gets home; hiding under my bed. I find the prize egg at Easter, with the help of Terri's mom (even though Terri is in my class). I spend the night with Terri. (That house is now a gift shop. . . ) I am harrassed on the bus by Leon -- he even rips my dress. I go with my mom to talk to the guy in charge of the buses. I ride with my dad to school, and he is amazed to learn that he knows my teacher (I have a much more interesting version of that story perhaps I'll share sometime). I stand at the edge of the road waiting for the bus and I can see my breath, dressed in school clothes for fall, and the air is cool and crisp and there are leaves on the ground. I am walking the hallways of a school for the first time -- first grade -- playground, snacks, nice people, people disappointed in me, books, people who need friends, writing, people who are really nasty, good, evil. It is my first foray into the real world, and it all comes back with one bite of an oatmeal cream pie.