Turning 12

In a few short weeks, my eldest child will be turning 12.  Today, I was thinking, "Wow, I now have a child the age of when I really start having clear memories."  That is not to say, I have no memories beforehand but honestly, 12 is so clear to me.  I now have a child I can "relate to", meaning, "I remember 12."

So, here are some of my 12 year old memories:

1.  I turned 12 flying home from Guatamala City, Guatamala having just attended the Guatamala Temple dedication.  My father was a mission president in Costa Rica/Panama and as a family, we were able to attend.

2.  They had just come out with a new Personal Progress book (the colors were in shades of green).  It was exciting to enter Young Womens.  There were three other girls in our English speaking branch who all turned 12 around the same time as me.  I attended a sleep over with the Young Women in the Young Womens president's house and made marshmallow cream for our ice cream sundaes by microwaving marshmallows.   (Costa Rica was still very much a 3rd world country back then.  It had not earned its "vacation destination" status yet.)

3.  I attended a private English speaking school.  There were only 6 other kids my age in my class.  I was one of the three good fairies in the school musical of Sleeping Beauty.  I got to wear a pink dress made for me by some local seamstress.  I loved that dress and hat.   I also had a really hard History of the World teacher.  I still remember many of the things I learned in that class.  (Israel became a state in 1948.)

4.  When I was 12 1/2, we moved back to Boulder, CO.  Six weeks later, both my brother and sister were married, one day apart.  I was a bridesmaid for my sister and wore a purple taffeta dress with dyed to match satin heals.

5.  I started 7th grade and junior high.  My locker was above a boy who was one of the tallest boys in our grade and I was one of the shortest.  I dropped things on him all year long and could never reach the hook to hang my backpack and coat on.  (I have no idea why we didn't just switch lockers.)   We became good friends and stayed that way all through out junior high and high school and through college.  I also met another boy who also became a great friend.  We became locker partners our sophomore year in high school.

6.  We had a great P. E. program in my junior high and every morning, we had to do calisthenics.  I now make my kids do "burpees" that I learned about in 7th grade.  We also had a wrestling unit, where we had to wrestle other girls in the class.  I didn't like that.  I also didn't like to shower in the community shower after P. E.  and would just wrap a towel around my body, get my legs and arms wet and report to the P.E. lady that way, showing her I had "showered."  (She never asked why my hair wasn't wet.)  

7.  I got in a bike accident and broke off my two front teeth.

8.  I was torn that whole time between missing Central America and loving the United States.  I was definitely somewhat of an outcaste and struggled quite a bit with fitting back into United States life.  Moving back home was harder than I realized.

9. I got braces and loved them because I hated my crooked teeth.  I had to wear a neck gear part of the time.

10.  My sister was a senior in high school.  She seemed so big and grown up to me.

11.  I was nice to boy who broke up with a girl in our 7th grade class and all of the girls in show of solidarity decided to not talk to him.  I thought that was silly and talked to him.  Years later, he said to me, "That always meant a lot to me.  I will never forget that kindness."  So, actions as a 12 year old matter.

And, those are just a few of my memories.  They are real and present to me.  So amazing I will soon be parenting a child the same age.  Time flies.