August 16, 1966
Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. School starts tomorrow. Dad says I should be excited. He even preached on being excited about learning on Sunday. Of course, he was talking about learning from the Bible or learning more about Jesus. Not school. Maybe I used to get excited about starting school. Back when I was just a kid.
I asked Wes if he was excited when he used to have to start school. He said that was so long ago he couldn’t rightly remember. But he imagines he was excited. Getting to go see all his Jupiter kid buddies. He says in Jupiter you start school when you’re three and graduate when you are ten. That frees up a lot more time for fun things. Like taking space trips to earth. Wes is funny. And gee, if I was on Jupiter, I’d be through with school already.
But I’m not on Jupiter and tomorrow I have to go back to school and find all my classes again and try to figure out my locker combination and not get run over in the halls.
But first day isn’t so bad. And the last day isn’t bad at all. So those are the two best days of the school year. Leigh went with me to Grundy to buy a new skirt and blouse to wear. Leigh likes to shop, but boy, do we have different ideas of what’s cute. She likes ruffles and pink stuff. I like blue jeans shorts. Can’t wear those to school, so I did get a skirt. Dad says he wishes the skirts would get a little longer. I think he would be for me wearing those blue jean shorts too. At least a girl could lean over then. Dad says I might need to add a ruffle to the bottom of my new skirt. He’s kidding, I think.
Leigh told him that’s what everybody is wearing. Well, all the girls. Boys have it so much easier. They can just wear blue jeans and cut their hair real short so they don’t have to worry about curls or not. I don’t have curls. Even if I sleep with rollers in my hair. Even if I use a curling iron. No curls. But Leigh says straight hair is back in style. I’m good with straight hair.
And Leigh says I’ve got cute legs, so the short skirts will be okay. I’m not sure I think my legs are that cute. I’ve got these knobby knees, but then nobody has cute knees. Nobody. Knees are sort of like noses. They’re fine if you don’t look at them too closely, but if you do stare at them a while, then you begin to think they look funny. But noses are good for what God made them for. Breathing and smelling and more. And knees are good for what God made them for. Walking and bending and kneeling. So I’m glad I’ve got a nose and two knees. A person should be thankful for the body God gave her. Knobby knees and all.
Did you like going to school when you were my age? People tell us school days are the best time of our lives. Let me tell you. That sometimes has some of us kids worried about what’s going to happen after school!