There’s something very special about the friendships forged in elementary school.  This is uniquely true for the friendships my classmates and I had in a Catholic grade school.  That’s what we called it then.  “Grade school” was the 8 years we spent in grammar school, first through eighth grade.  It was definitely a memorable, shared experience.  Actually that is a huge understatement.  In many ways it was a trial of sorts.

Let me explain.  The first thing was that we were taught in extremely large classes.  However, the classrooms themselves were quite small for the number of students they housed.  There were 52 kids, yes, 52, in my class.  There were only 16 girls and the rest were boys.  That made the girls a definite minority.

Because we were in a minority, we shared some of the same issues.  We all had less privileges, but more expectations.  Girls were supposed to be “good” all the time.  Fear kept us in line pretty easily.  The nuns were fierce.  But in retrospect, they had to be in order to control that many students.  And our parents were totally on board with that.

The boys were more of a challenge and bore the brunt of the wrath of our teachers.  But we learned.  Even in such large classes, we got a pretty darn good education.  I was a very good girl and was never in trouble.  But I was so happy to be home at the end of the school day.  I was a good little mouse.

That is not to say that all the teachers were scary.  In fact, I have some really fond memories of the special ones we had.  It was not a horrible situation.  And we all turned out pretty good.

Now, 56 years later, my girlfriends and I have begun to get together again.  And we have so much fun it must be sinful.  Just kidding.  But it is truly amazing how much we like and love each other, even if we hadn’t seen some of our classmates in years.  We now have lunch or dinner once a month, sometimes more often when the ones who live out of town come in.  Most of us live in the same area where we went to school together.  But one thing is certain.  My childhood friends will always hold a particularly special place in my heart.  They are treasures to be cherished forever.