I never met a lasagna I didn’t like."-Garfield.

A HAIRBRUSH, AXELOTTLES?, and a Reward

Our primary school was in the bush.

literally tucked away behind gum trees and set into a little country town called Oakville.

I’m going to bring you into one of our fav memories… it’s gonna sound so GROSS but as kids we thought this was the coolest thing .which,I don’t know , maybe a reflection on just wanting to have some one “see you” 🤣.

I’m dying on the inside trying to think of how I can accurately depict what happened..let’s just jump right in

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So year 3 comes along.

Finally I’m in a class with my great friends. When I look back at the school photo I just see people I still truely adore even if we don’t see each other now.

I feel safer and ready for term.

We sit in tables of 4 pods. I’m with 4 of my friends and I get to sit next to my neighbour and brothers best friend Mitch (stories of mitch with unravel as well he has a big part to play in our family.) each table has Garfield figurines on them.

There’s a fish tank below the window and an axolotl in it. This class is unique and quirky and just what I need after a bad first few years.

I can finally hold a pen and participate in class and Mrs Mills doesn’t make you feel small and silly at all.

BUT THERE IS A CATCH. When we did something good or showed great behaviour our reward was to brush Mrs Mills tight curly hair 😳.

I know you just thought you read that wrong but nope we used to get so competitive about who would be the lucky one to comb Mrs Mills hair. It was really greasy and you really had to dig the comb through to get the result she wanted lol.

(a similar comb but hers was like a switch blade one you had to open at the sides 😆)

Another reward she’d get us to do was clean her car which she called “the tip”. Now this was the biggest reward we strived for because it meant she trusted you enough to get her car keys and go into it and pry through all her stuff.

She wasn’t wrong about it being a tip either. I smelt like old cigarettes, and cartons of take away and alcohol and my friend Amanda also said tuna. *gag*

How did we think this was a reward!?? I’ll hand it to her she got the class competing for these “rewards “ which just seemed like normal personal care a person should do themselves.

For example of her teaching style Instead of learning maths if we were reading a book she didn’t care if we didn’t learn what she was teaching.!Fantastic so at library time we’d get heaps of books and share them. This is where our class maths skills went on a decline but hey we can all read!!

I also have a memory where she came over our place. Mrs Mills was somehow great friends with all the mums and popped in for hang times.

My friend Janelle brought it up last night and we laughed so hard because our other friend was horrified she’d actually come to our houses 😂😂.

Mrs Mills came over and she had this jack russel dog, she kept him in the car so I went out into “ the tip” to play with him. I felt super special she was in our lives not just at school.

( 3M. The best class)

Now remember those home work sheets you had to take home and do each night? No? Yeah me either because I used to get Mitch to give me the answers to the questions. I learnt early on I had issues with comprehension of things, I still do. I can read something and I read it completely wrong. Same with numbers I get really overwhelmed and it is just a big puddle in my mind. So Mitch was my hero. He’d help me after school and we’d do homework together as during school we just always laughed and shared the Garfield toy we were given that week.

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So the axolotl was a class pet which was cool because there so odd which basically summed up our class vibes with hair brushing and cleaning cars and Garfield sayings everywhere! But none of us can remember what happened to it, I vaguely have a memory of feeding it worms but then nothing!

And I guess that’s like Mrs Mills. I can’t remember her being at our school after that at all. She was a unicorn that came into our lives when we needed it and gave a really bizarre way of showing us acceptance but honestly we all loved her.

Maybe not so much brushing her greasy hair in front of the class or cleaning her “tip” but somehow it made us feel like someone saw us and we weren’t just 8 and 9 year olds who none listened to. She appreciated books and knowing who we were and knew our lives.

She inserted herself into our world and didn’t expect anything but a strong effort in character and class.

As odd as it sounds she was my favourite because it was the first time I hadn’t felt dumb.I felt like I had a chance of learning and she reset a lot of the trauma I’d had the previous years.

If you can move past the really weird rewards we were lucky to have someone believe in us.

There is so many memories I’ll be sharing don’t worry they won’t all be school memories.

I want to thank Amanda and Janelle for helping me with these memories and school photos. People will never really understand how this wasn’t punishment lol

Side note: My mum accidentally left some boxes of photos of our childhood pictures and stuff out in the rain for a few years a long time ago so I’ve lost some of the things that help me remember! 😂 that’s a whole other chapter haha.

But thanks for sticking with me in this. I’m still trying to learn how to make it interesting for you and put into writing the stories I tell.

I appreciate the support for an outlet that’s helping me continue and grow in self reflection and healing.

X until next time