My twelfth birthday was set to be the best birthday of my whole life. I had so many fun things planned. As children, we were only able to have a birthday party every three years, this was not a party year for me but I had more important things going on. I was really unhappy at the small Catholic school I was going to. After weeks and weeks of begging my mom to let me switch schools and go to the public elementary school she finally agreed to let me transfer.
I was set to change schools on October 14th, my birthday. It was to be the last day at Litomysl for me. The first thing I had planned was that I was going to serve mass. The great part about serving mass was being able to miss the first class of the day due to setting up for the mass. That morning I served with Jacob. I was not going to tell anyone about the school switch until later, but I had a crush on Jacob, so on the walk over to the church I told him. He was really surprised, and I would like to think a little heartbroken.
Mary and Molly reading petitions in church.
After church, I decided, I would pass out my birthday treats that Mom had made for my class. Mom and I had made my favorite cookies to pass out. They were sugar cookies with jam pressed between them and dipped in chocolate. After handing out treats, I would be given the honor of picking the activity for gym. I had contemplated all week but decided to play goose and fox. It was going to be awesome.
The mass was great. I remembered every cue. Midway through the mass I saw Mom walk in. She was just on time with my treats. I walked back to class with my classmates, and the news about my leaving was spreading like wildfire. Everyone was very surprised, but they knew it was what I wanted.
Mom came into my class a short while later and asked me to come with her. We went into the school library. "This is it!" I thought. But no, I was wrong, she told me that she had spoken with the priest and told him I was leaving. She said the priest had recommended that I stay. They had talked for awhile and somehow he was able to convince her to leave me in the school.
I was shocked. I started to cry and scream. I could not fathom how she could change her mind. While I sat and wailed with my head on the table the nun who lived above the school came down to use the laundry room attached to the library. That nosy little sister came in to see what was going on. Mom told her what I was upset about. Sister Monique sat down with me and tried to comfort me. She told me that sometimes life doesn't turn out how we want but things do get better. She then invited me up to her apartment, or maybe because she is a nun it was an abbey; I'm not sure. She made me some tea and started to show me pictures of her many mission trips. She had traveled to a lot of cool places and helped a lot of needy people, but I really didn't care. I will admit that she made me feel a little better, but I didn't let her know. I was civil but stubborn. I would not give in. I vowed to remain upset as long as I could.
Eventually Mom took me home. We had spent all day with Sister Monique because I refused to go back to class. When we got home, I sat myself at the kitchen table and started to cry. I wanted to cry until my parents changed their mind. Dad brought me a little puppy figurine, but I barely acknowledged it, even though I really did love it. He also brought me home some flowers, I knew he had taken them off of someone's grave so it was easy to ignore those.
I cried at the table all that night and all the next day. I did eventually go back to Litomysl, but I was embarrassed and pissed. I was completely horrible to the all the teachers. I tried everything to get my parents to switch me. Turns out, all I had to do was teach a boy in my class to belly dance. I switched schools on Valentine's Day that same school year.
No comments:
Post a Comment