Picking out your lunch box for elementary school was the single most important thing at the beginning of each school year! I loved this box! I thought the monorail was the epitome of technology of the time. I wanted to go there very badly! The inside of the box had a thermos (sadly gone now!). And all the helpful safety tips of the time! And, most precious of all, my mother’s handwriting.

We would keep our lunch box choices secret and excitedly wait for the first day of school to show ours off and see what everyone else picked! Other early school memories:

I wore dresses the whole time. I don’t think we started wearing jeans until junior high. My school was at the top of a hill. When we had recess, we would run down the hill to the playground. There were swings, a jungle gym and monkey bars. There were big jump ropes (I LOVED to jump rope!) and we would jump and jump to all the old counting rhymes:

Down in the meadow,
Where the green grass grows
There sat (Insert Name),
as sweet as a rose.
Along came (name), kissed her on the cheek.
How many kisses did she receive?

We played kick ball and red rover, and all those old games. And did jumping jacks! And then ran back up the hill! We had to be the healthiest kids around!

I walked to school almost every day. When I got home, Mom would usually have a coke and popcorn waiting for me, my after school treat!

I remember her brushing my hair. She would sit on the couch and I would sit on the floor. She called the tangles in my hair rat’s nests! (this is before all the wonderful conditioners we have now. And my hair was FINE!) She also went over my spelling words with me then.

These are some of the memories the lunch box sparked!