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Back to School

carriesuepepper • Sep 03, 2010

September always brings Back to School thoughts and it’s more than easy to let my mind drift back to days in Virginia when I’d be dreaming of new books, pencils and pads of paper and shopping for new school clothes.  I clearly remember the store where my father would take me to get all the finest Richmond had to offer.  It was easy when I was in first grade or even third or fourth as I could just get out the Sears catalog and circle all my desired outfits. 

Once I was a bit older and wanted the things other kids had, we had to go elsewhere.  There was a little clothing store, Flair it was called where the racks were lined with the most beautiful cable knit “Tallyho” brand of sweaters.  I can see them now in my minds eye with their covered buttons and lovely soft colors of turquoise and coral and pearl white.  And the little skirts that went right along with them, minis that would show off my legs atop my knee socks and penny loafers. 

I can remember the year the little white go-go boots were in fashion, the ones that Nancy Sinatra popularized with these boots were made for walkin’ – and all little girls had to have them.  I begged my father until he finally relented and I had my own pair with the little zippers up the side and a sole that was definitely not meant to walk in snow.  I can remember gingerly walking along the sidewalk, my feet freezing inside the too-thin boots, trying not to fall down but stubbornly wearing them because I wanted to fit in. 

I never really did fit in though and when we would have recess and all the others would join together to eat their snacks or do show and tells with special things they brought from home, I’d be down by the back fence, along the tree line, collecting fall leaves or in the classroom with a big sponge and bowl of water, washing the blackboard.  That was one of my favorite chores to smooth out that big piece of black slate, wiping away all the numbers and letters and leaving a fresh palette for new things to come – treasures such as new vocabulary words or the names of Columbus’ ships, Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria – or geology terms like geomorphic or fissure.  All that knowledge up there in white chalk.

September has a magic to it.

The post Back to School first appeared on Carrie Pepper.

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By Carrie Pepper • 30 Nov, 2023
Out on my morning walk, street signs acted as memory joggers. Perhaps they were nudges so that I could remember, and be grateful for, these two women who were there for me as a kid. BRADFORD was the first sign. Grammy Bradford. I never called her anything else and I have no idea what her first name was, but I do remember she was there to tend to me when I was little while my mother went off to work at her government job "in procurement," which she hated. I know nothing, really, of what she did there, but I do remember the room. It seemed there were hundreds of desks in this huge room, no partitions. Dark grey desks and heavy black telephones. I visited her there a few times and she'd give me tablets and pens to keep me busy. I was ALWAYS thrilled to have a tablet and a pen! What she did there is a mystery to me, but when she and my father would argue, which was often, she'd always say, "I want my own money," and so off she went to work every morning at the Defense General Supply Center. He told her she didn't need to work, that he could support her, but, again, she wanted her own money. Back to Mrs. Bradford, Grammy. She was a bit on the heavy side (which I thought made for the best, most cuddly hugs) with long grey hair that she wore up with tons of bobby pins. She always wore a floral bib apron with large pockets and she'd fill them with pears when we'd go to that special corner of our back yard. Oh the smell! Those yellow pears and the carpet of yellow leaves. Memories of Grammy Bradford brought back memories of Thelma Massenburg. She looked exactly like Aunt Jemima (OH FOR HEAVEN'S SAKES, we can't say Aunt Jemima anymore!) Recently a friend told me he'd made pancakes and I asked what kind of syrup he used. When he said, "Pearl Milling," I thought it sounded kinda cool, but when I looked it up I found out it was the new name for Aunt Jemima syrup. SERIOUSLY? Anyway, she was wonderful. She cleaned our house, scrubbed the floors and walls and worked harder than anyone I'd ever seen. I loved her. She always wore a bandana tied around her head. She lived in a tiny reddish tar papered house with ten children. Who knows where they all slept! She was diabetic and I was a little stinker and liked to tease her with Hershey Bars. I'd wave one in front of her nose and she'd smile and say," "You bad, chile." The last time I saw her she was in the hospital and her eyes were very, very yellow. Liver disease. The scarf that was always wrapped around her head was gone and I am sure that I could hear her say, "You bad, chile," although she probably didn't. Thank you my sweet Thelma. My Aunt Jemima.
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