Feeling Nostalgic Today

Dear Diary,

Next month will be the 50th anniversary of my high school graduation and I am in a very nostalgic mood.  This is the elementary school I attended, grades one through six.  No Kindergarten in those days in my town.  You were expected to be able to read and write when you started grade one.  I was reading at age four so no big deal for me.

That photograph is the first school picture I have from September of 1955.  I colorized it.  I remember that corduroy jumper vividly.  My mother made it for me especially for the photo.  I also remember, equally vividly, all my teachers...six "Misses".   Women who were married didn't stay in teaching at the time.

My father started school in that building in 1925 although he later moved to New Hampshire.  The old building was taken down and a new school put in its place, named after my fifth grade teacher.  The playground looks very much the same.  Lots of memories.

I had some sad news late yesterday that my first husband had passed away on May 11.  His funeral was on my birthday.  We hadn't spoken in 35 years but it still touched me deeply.  He was only 70 years old.  Perhaps that news is also adding to my sense of nostalgia today.  May he rest in peace.