High School Aftermath (RDP)

From the Ragtag Daily Prompt, today’s word is “Aftermath”

I don’t know why, but I’ve been thinking a lot lately about school. Grade school, junior and senior high and if I’m going to be honest then I’d have to say that school was pretty much a pain in the buzzipsky for me until I made it to college.

I suppose I could talk about the time I tried to join the wrestling team in the 7th grade, but as a short fat 12-year-old in a sport broken down by weight and not by age, I had to wrestle a tall fit kid three years older than me and he pinned me in less than a minute. It was painful, both physically and mentally, so I did what any embarrassed fat kid might do: I never went back.

I could also talk about the time I tried to join the football team in the 10th grade, but as a not-so-very-much taller, but slightly less fat 15-year-old, I wasn’t in very high demand on the football field. I wasn’t sure how to join the football team so I just showed up in the locker room one day shortly after the practice season had started and after everyone left for the field I walked up to the team manager, who was easily identifiable as the only kid dressed just like the coach in a white polo shirt and shorts, and I told him I wanted to be on the team. He told me to wait in the locker room while he went to get a uniform and equipment for me and after waiting 30 minutes I figured out that he wasn’t coming back so I left. Like the tall fit kid I had to wrestle three years earlier, the football manager guy probably didn’t like me too much either.

I don’t suppose I can blame the wrestler guy or the manager guy because growing up in junior and senior I didn’t like myself all that much either.

But school wasn’t all bad. Band was good because I fit in because in band all you had to do was like music and play an instrument and I could do that. I could do that just as well as anyone who might be three years ahead of me and I could do it better than a wrestler guy or a manager guy. And English was also good. Reading and writing, what’s not to like? Band and English not only helped keep me sane throughout junior and senior high school, but they helped average out the C’s I got in pretty much everything else and the D’s I always got in gym and math.

Math. I’m not sure I ever got a grade above a D in math. Although I can credit my ability to balance my checkbook as an adult as my having learned something in math so it must have some value in my life. Math had something else going for it, too, because in high school, for whatever reason, I had math every year in the afternoon after lunch and every year after math I had band.

If I miss anything from school it’s band. The other kids, the different bands, being a part of something and especially walking home carrying my trumpet case in my left hand and feeling special.

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2019/12/27/rdp-friday-aftermath/