Lining Up

Geese on Pickerel Lake near sunset, August, 2013

When I was in school, in choir, at dancing lessons and in gym class, I was always horrified by this command, "Line up according to height." Because I was always the tallest until sometime late in Junior High. Most of my height is in my thigh bone, so when I was seated, and rose to my (then) great height, some innocent who was forced to ask someone to dance (These ballroom dancing classes were held in Schenectady in the Van Curler Hotel. My mother, who loved to dance, worked hard to manage the money to pay for them.) fell back in horror. I was self conscious about this and about the length of skirts (which girls then wore every day to school) and compensated for that by sewing my skirts extra long or adding a band to the bottom of skirts that were given to me. I think I enjoyed the motion of the fabric of these long skirts, even if I never really enjoyed dancing.

Here are some examples. These are images of myself I don't remember ever seeing; it is fun to have them now. If you are waiting to scan your family slides from the 1950s, I encourage you to take that step. I used Scancafe,com. They often have good reduced-price offers. If you sign up, they will send you special offers in your email.
Looking at these pictures and remembering how I felt about my body then makes me wonder why we can be so self-critical. I look OK, it's that porch on the farmhouse we have recently acquired that needs help. And another slide shows that it got it. Recover and label your family history while you can!

I promise poetry will come back soon . . .