“My First Day and Sleeping Is For The Night”

I remember it. Little, me heading to school dressed in my uniform. It was a dark red pleated skirt with a cream shirt. I had a First Primer West Indian Reader, a copybook and a pencil in my dark brown book-bag. I had three sisters and one brother who attended the school. They were in 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th, grades respectively. On the first day, they walked with me to school. I was feeling anxious but was happy. We arrived at school and we joined the lines in the back yard. One of my sisters told me to start running home the moment my class was out for lunch. My other sisters and brother agreed with her then they all went to join their lines. We all repeated the prayer that was said by one of the teachers. The principal told us we have to learn the prayer and a hymn. When we got to class I looked at all the faces but they were all strangers, so I did not speak to anyone. The only time I spoke was the moment my teacher pointed at me to say my name. My voice trembled, but I said it. Most of the people looked at me as though I had a stupid name. One girl smiled at me and I smiled. During recess she spoke to me and I thought she was funny. We became friends and we are still friends 45 years later. The morning went well. Our teacher read a story and we did writing and Arithmetic. At lunch time the teacher reiterated what my sister said about running home. I started running not realizing why it was important, until the bigger children caught up to us. They got out of school fifteen minutes after we did and they were like giants. It was scary and I stood up while they zoom passed me. I felt better when one of my sisters came up to me. She held my hand and we ran together. What I did not like about the early school years was nap-time. I believe that sleeping is for the night and not the day. If I fall asleep during the day I wake up feeling stupid and when I realize it’s not the next day I feel more depressed. I hate going to sleep and waking the same day. Daytime should be spent doing something meaningful. I promised myself when I was a teenager, if I ever had children, I would never make them sleep during the day. I found a preschool for my son and was happy that the principal agreed with me. When most of the children in her school were asleep, she gave him class work, or he read books and played educational games. My daughter followed in her brother's footsteps. Now they are teenagers and they believe as I do… Sleeping is for the night.