Padd Solutions

1st Grade vs. College

(a journalistic representation by young Hilary Hulsey)

“School is fun.”

It’s safe to say school is not always fun. Certain classes make a person regret the day their mother met their father. College Hilary says: School is fun ... sometimes.

“If I had $5.00 I would buy a book.”

Back then, five dollars was plenty of money to buy a book for a five or six year old. College Hilary says: “If I had $5.00, I would buy a bookmark for my $175.00 textbook.”

Somehow, I think Mercer Mayer’s Me Too! and Numeroff’s If You Give a Mouse a Cookie entertain far more than any textbook I own. Perhaps if our textbooks had better illustrations ... maybe then I would love it.

“My idea of a good time is school.”

My, how things change.

“I wish my teacher would give me a hug.”

College Hilary: “I wish my teacher would give me a break.” Especially now, since midterms hover over every classroom.

“I wish my parents knew I love to go to school.”

Is it becoming obvious? Brown nosing is my forté. However, now they hear the endless amount of ranting, so I’m pretty sure my parents know just how much I love to go to school.

“He was cute.”

Honest Hilary: I still think this, to a degree. In a presidential way, of course.

“I like doing tests [...] I like doing math.”

I don’t know if this is true or not. Maybe I did? It’s certainly not the case now. I think the next journal entry shows what my parents thought of “I like doing tests”.

“I like having a MRI.”

No child loves tests that much.

“On Friday I watched Wizard of Oz.”

Well, maybe things haven’t changed - it’s Friday, and I’m about to watch The Wizard of Oz. But, I'm certainly not as limber - I won't be doing the splits in the floor while viewing.

Growing older genuinely matures the brain to some of the unhappier realizations in life - perhaps it’s time to start thinking like a first grader again.