Margaret Duarte

Visionary Fiction

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Dash off A Memory / School Days Growing Up

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Here’s guest blogger Dorothy Ann Skarles with another lesson on Memoir. What do you remember about your school days? Dorothy has memories a plenty.

School Days Growing Up

What I remember about my school days—is moving. I never went to the same school twice.

Daddy always used to say, “Pumpkin, traveling is the best education you can get.” And we sure did travel the US map.

No matter where we lived, when the magic month of April rolled around and Daddy got itchy feet, he would say, “Mama, let’s get Dorothy Ann and go to…” And right then and there, I would be taken out of school and not taken back until the snow hit in November.

For Daddy, having a new business was pleasure—work, save, buy, have a quick sell, and move on. Then like the song, “Mama always said there would be days like this,” Mama smiled at Daddy and me and answered, “Give me time to pack and we’ll go anywhere Daddy goes, as long as I have room for my waffle iron in the car.”

And even though I’ve grown some, I guess I inherited Daddy’s itchy feet, because I still believe traveling is the best education you can get. With each change, I had opportunity to learn and get to know how the other half lives. While I faced challenges from all those lessons I missed from April to November in school, I still made it to college, and earned a teacher’s degree.

So what can you conjure up from your school days to Dash Off A Memory for your memoir?

  1. Did you stay in the same school, or go to different schools?
  2. Were you a good student? If not, why not? What subjects were hard for you?
  3. Do you have the same friends from grade school, high school and college? If not, how come? (I did have one before she passed away very young.)
  4. Did you go on to college? If not, why not?
  5. Did you like grade school.  Why, or why not?

I liked to learn and go to school, but it was hard because of what I missed. On the other hand, being a kid when the month of May came, I knew I’d grow anxious for April to hurry on up and do its magic. Get my Daddy’s itchy feet antsy to move on to something bigger and better, which it always did. Then all at once, it would be summer and winter vacation time for me. I could hardly wait to get out of school to see where we’d go next.

Dorothy Ann Skarles.

 
 
Thanks Dorothy!
 
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About Margaret Duarte

Former middle school teacher, Margaret Duarte, lives on a California dairy farm with a herd of “happy cows,” a constant reminder that the greenest pastures lie closest to home. Margaret earned her creative writing certificate through UC Davis Extension and has since published four novels in her “Enter the Between” visionary fiction series: Between Will and Surrender, Between Darkness and Dawn, Between Yesterday and Tomorrow, and Between Now and Forever. Her poem and story credits include SPC Tule Review; The California Writers Club Literary Review; finalist in the 2017 SLO Nightwriters Golden Quill Writing Contest; First Place winner for fiction in 2016, Second Place winner for fiction in 2018, Honorable Mention for fiction in 2019, and Gold winner for fiction in 2020 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLISHERS AND AUTHORS Book Awards Competition; 2019 California Author Project winner for adult fiction.

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Comments

  1. L.A. Lopez says

    I went from kindergarten-4th in one state, then 4th-to college in another. It was only two, but I do believe living that kind of a life is adventurous and kids can learn a lot about life, other people, and places. Your parents I think gave you a great education…

  2. bernadine says

    Nice article dorothy. I'm sure you learned a lot from your 'non-curricular' education. Reminiscing about 'school days' is an excellent way to get into writing about your life and elementary experiences. A good 'trigger' point for people to begin writing. thanks for the tip. As always, bernadine

  3. Dorothy Ann Skarles says

    Hi LA, I also feel I had a good education. It has helped me in my grown up years. I have always enjoyed seeing new places and meeting new people.

  4. Dorothy Ann Skarles says

    Yes Bernadine, I do use some of what I learned while traveling to different places. It was a wonderful education. I was lucky to have a husband that also liked to see different places.