I’ve just finished reading the first chapter of A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller
What I remembered what this:
Third grade was completely and totally useless. Okay, okay…so I’m not sure I can say that it was completely and totally useless, but it was at least pretty useless overall. The bulk of my third grade experience was spent learning two useless things; cursive writing and long division.
What a waste of time and energy.
I can still remember questioning repeatedly, even at 8 years old, why we were learning something as useless as long division, and ever so worse than long division, cursive writing. What made these useless topics even more terrible was the fact that there was lots of homework involved. Homework was not my strong suit. Our house was a crazy and chaotic place. By house of course, I mean trailer. At this point we had lost our house and we had downgraded to a run-down trailer with a “silver hot dog” propane tank in the yard that I would later crash into with my uncle’s dirtbike. But back to what I was saying. Homework was not my strong suit.
My grades had begun to suffer, partially due to la vida loca all around me and I’m sure mostly due to the fact that I was lazy and disinterested. My third grade teacher informed my dad that I had not been turning in my homework, which was a surprise to him since I had been telling him that I hadn’t had any homework lately. The teacher told my dad that, “the kids have homework every night of the week”.
Nuts.
Dad then told me that if I didn’t come home with homework I was going to be in some serious trouble and I was going to get a whoopin’. No problem. No problemo. I’ll just bring home my homework and get back on track. No problem. Well…the problem came when wouldn’t you know it, there was no homework the very next day. That time came when I was expecting our homework assignment to be doled out as per usual and it just didn’t come. I even asked my teacher and she said, “Oh, enjoy the day off…no homework today!”
Nuts.
What they heck was I supposed to do? My bass was grassed. There was no way my dad was going to believe that I didn’t have homework right after my teacher specifically told him that I had completely and totally useless long division and cursive writing homework each night.
So I hatched a plan. I was going to California. I wasn’t sure where that really was, but I was running away and heading straight there. I figured up a way to leave school a little bit early, ran home instead of catching the bus, packed my backpack with everything I needed for a California road trip, and jumped on my Huffy. Unfortunately, my dad caught me less than half a mile down the road and asked me where the hell I was going.
From there things get fuzzy, but I remember everything being completely and totally okay. More than that, I had four G & W mini pizzas for dinner that night.
14 Comments
At 28 I still use long division when there’s no calculator at hand. And I write in cursive only. But I didn’t learn writing another way so there was no additional pain involved.
What I found completely useless was physical education of any kind, hated it. I would fake injuries and minor disabilities to avoid some of the lessons and most of athletics related field trips or competitions.
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Totally random.
Enjoyed it immensely.
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I loved cursive writing — and I still do…I even took several calligraphy classes as an adult I like it so much! Now math….not so much. I still struggle with algebra.
I’m reading Million Miles too. I love Donald Miller books.
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Okay…your memory triggered one of my own. Are the G & W mini pizzas you mentioned the little, 5 or 6 inch pizzas with very little cheese, wrapped in little plastic bags? If they are, I remember getting those as a treat when I would go to my grandma’s house. We didn’t have much growing up, so when I went to grandma’s to spend the night, she would get me two of those, and I thought I had died and gone straight to heaven. Funny how you associate differnt things, huh?
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I love it! How often do we assume that commandments given by our father are going to end up in a whoopin, so we do everything we can to run away and avoid the result? Yet we’re always found out, and more often than not, doing all we can–and usually failing miserably and coming up short–ends up in mini pizza’s for dinner.
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LOL! What a great memory
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Thanks for sharing that!
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This is a great post. I love everything about it. What timing! And then, for things NOT to go the way you thought they would…you will never forget that. Seriously great story. It’ll preach, man.
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i also always write in cursive, as i hate writing in print. you have to life the pen/pencil after every letter - cursive is all one stroke (save the i-dotting, j-dotting, t-crossing, and x-slashing) and much faster, in my opinion. plus, my writing looks like crap when i print.
and math? i still do long division sometimes, too. when there is no calculator. i was always good at math though (well, up until geometry) and didn’t mind it so much. interesting how different God makes us all!
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My son is in the 3rd grade and currently learning the most useless skill taught in school these days… cursive writing. This post makes me chuckle because my 8 yr. old is having to show me the “real” way to do most of the letters. How do you explain to your child that he’s wasting his time learning something he will completely discard for his own style??? Besides, people don’t actually write with pen and paper anymore… they should just teach them the keyboard and perfecting their signature. Love your blog, by the way.
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I’m glad you are a good writer, because I am a teacher. I almost clicked on the x. However, once I continued reading you sucked me back in. I still think that those third grade lessons were important, but not to the extent of losing the priorities in a family’s life.
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isn’t it funny what triggers memories?! After I read your post, my own 3rd grade memory was triggered where I (for whatever reason) didn’t want to go to school that day. But I got up, got dressed and walked to school like I did every other day. I took a left turn before I reached the crossing guard and hoofed it back home. At the time, we lived above my grandparents small town cafe just a few blocks from the school. (aah those are good memories too!) Too afraid to go inside/upstairs, I hid in my grandpa’s truck for most of the day. Thank goodness it was a warm day! I even remember eating turtle candies he had in his truck because I was SO hungry by the afternoon… and I DO NOT like nuts LOL
Thanks for the trip down memory lane… mine and yours
<3 your blog
Dina
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Whahahahahahaha!! Great story!! Joys of childhood
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Have you read Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz? It’s a great book.
I bought a D90 in May. It was the BEST purchase EVER!
I just found your site today through Pioneer Woman but I’ve got no thyme for carrots
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[...] This Is Reverb » Just a memory… http://www.thisisreverb.com/2009/11/just-a-memory.html – view page – cached I’ve just finished reading the first chapter of A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller and it caused me to think of a very specific memory from the third grade. I figured that I’d… Read moreI’ve just finished reading the first chapter of A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller and it caused me to think of a very specific memory from the third grade. I figured that I’d better write it down so that I don’t forget it. After all, it’s hard to say we’ve even lived certain parts of our lives if we can’t remember them. Read less [...]