ABSTRACT
I remember it like it was yesterday: my first day of school. I was so excited. When my mother woke me up that day, my three younger siblings were still asleep. That made me feel like the oldest. I felt responsible and special to be the first to go to school. Both of my parents had made a big deal about me starting school. My father’s mother, Grandma Emma, even traveled to Indianapolis from Aiken just for my first day. After I woke up, I ate cereal and put on a blue button-down shirt, gray corduroy pants, and new black Thom McAn shoes. Grandma Emma had brought me a brand new gray sweater, which she surprised me with after I got dressed. My father told me to pay attention to my teacher and my mom started to cry. I got a hug from Grandma Emma and walked out the door, with each of my parents holding one of my hands as we started to walk the two and a half blocks to James Whitcomb Riley School 43 in northwest Indianapolis.
