The quilt was washed today and sent on its way to Pennsylvania to a childhood friend that I have not seen since 1974! That is the year we graduated, and I don't think I seen her after we graduated...we were not really close friends then but have been emailing for the past 2 years. She emailed to wish me happy birthday for the first time in 2005 and we email at least 4 or 5 times a week if nothing interferes.

She does not know it is coming so am kind of anxious to see what she says. I love surprising someone about more than anything. I did wash and dry it before I sent it...I used a Shout Color Catcher and it did catch color. I meant to write care instructions but didn't because I wanted to get it sent.

Her dad was from Tennessee--the community I was from. But she was born in Pennsylvania and didn't move to Tennessee till in 5 or 6th grade if memory serves. It had to be huge change for her! I think we had one of the last old time grade schools....

It had 4 big rooms--I am not good at all at extimating sizes but they were big and each room had a coal stove and that was how it was heated. Two grades were in each room--one teacher per two grades. I think all through the first 8 grades there were the same 4 boys in my class. Then there were 5 of us girls that went through all 8 grades together...another girl came for a couple years in 5 and 6th and then moved. Then Deb came and stayed.

We were not really close in school, specially in the elementary years--I and my best friend were tomboys. Always wanting to play whatever ball was in season a big part of the time. There were times when it seemed like the kids would all play hide and go seek, or tag. And every now and then the girls jumped rope...

Are you beginning to realize we did not have any sort of gym or organized sports? I really don't think we missed anything...we all had a good time. We had two 15 minute recesses--one in the morn and one in the afternoon. I can still remember the times of those recesses--grades 1-4 had them at 10:00-10:15 a.m. and 2:00 pm--2:15 p.m. And grades 5-8 had the next 15 minutes. I am not real clear on lunch--we all had it at the same time--but I cannot remember if it was at noon or not. I tend to think it was.

We ate and then got to go outside and play a while...younger grades were not supposed to mix with the older students but my best friend and I got permission to cause we played ball with the older boys...we were told not to come crying if we got hurt. That was a lifetime ago...oh, and we had outhouses--one for the boys and one for the girls. And for the first 4 years we had to take our lunch, and then that only changed because parents complained and they started shipping in hot lunches from one of the other elementary schools!

You cannot imagine how scary it was for me to start high school! All those rooms! So many kids that I didn't know. Just so many things that my kids were doing from the time they started school. That is when the girls in our class really started sticking together...other than Deb, I have kept in touch some with the other 4 ever since graduation. And would have her too if she had not moved back to Pennsylvania and me to Indiana...maybe not right at first but I am sure it would have happened sooner than this.This is a picture I 'borrowed' from my brother--this is how the old school looks now. So sad to see it this way...one of my friends has tried to talk people into turning it into a community center but no one seems to care.