What do you remember about elementary school?

It's amazing what can trigger a memory.
Most recently for me, it was two things. Earlier Monday, I read another one of those Facebook survey notes. And as the day went on, a story came across my desk about the first day of school for year-round students in Riverside County. And poof, it happened.
I rattled off, in my head, my seven teachers from elementary school. Kindergarten through sixth grade. All of them. I was so amazed, that I went ahead and posted the names in my Facebook status.
Seven women who shaped my life, all in certain ways: Mrs. Michael, Mrs. Hershey, Mrs. Helms, Mrs. Morris, Mrs. Freitag, Mrs. Liles and Ms. Young.
But it wasn't just the teachers, there were other things that came back. Some funny, some embarrassing, some just weird.
Maybe it's the upcoming 20th high school reunion that has jarred some of these loose. Or maybe it's just that I'm actually taking a vacation. But anyway, here's some of the things that jarred loose.

Mrs. Freitag was an older woman who was judged mean as a teacher could be, earning the nickname "Mrs. Fry-frog." But everyone was right beside her when her apartment was one that was lost in the big fire along Palm Lane in Anaheim. A bunch of the tall palms blew in the wind, knocking down power lines and setting a whole row of apartments. One of the greatest disasters in modern Anaheim history.

Mrs. Morris, at a parent-teacher conference, telling my mom that if I wanted to kiss the girls (for some reason, I would spend some recesses chasing the girls, looking for kisses ... got me), I could kiss her (she was pregnant at the time). I stopped after that.

In sixth grade, we got a new student. Her name was Carol Oh. And being sixth graders, there was a lot of smart alek comments being made about her name. And Jennifer Hanna, came along and told her not to worry, that it'll get old. Me, being one of the smart alek's, made sure to remind her of the ribbing she constantly got about her name, in regard to the cartoons made by Hanna-Barbera. (Sorry, Jen.)

The naiveness of being young and sheltered that showed when the first Mexican students joined the school. Jose Guerra was his name, if my memory is holding up well, and the amount of teasing (very racist when you look back on it) that he had to deal with ... It was a lot.
And we also watched as more and more, the school became a melting pot, as children from the Middle East and Asia moved in to the neighborhood. And what's sorta weird as I look back on it, despite her parents very traditional Indian ways (they lived up the street from us), I don't think Shalini Patel was ever treated differently than anyone else. I'm probably wrong, but I hope not.

Mrs. Liles catching on that my parents pulled a fast one on her when reading my state report. We were supposed to do a state we had never been to and knew nothing about. I was out sick the day the states were assigned, and my mom worked and worked and got her to give me Utah ... where we tended to go on our summer vacations to visit family, and the previous summer had gone to visit the national parks. About 20 Utah shaped pages in was a note that said something to the effect of "Boy, I wish I could have gone there."

Speaking of Mrs. Liles, she had problems managing her blood sugar, and so every morning, we had a snack time in her class. Something healthy to eat, since she had to as well. That, and the fact that she let us bring in our handheld electronic games on rain days, made her a favorite at the school.

Adam Dove was the king of Halloween costumes. He and his parents went all out every year with just amazing get ups. In sixth grade, I though we had him. We went out and got all the clothes, and my dad made a foam hammer, so I could be Mario, from Super Mario Bros. (My brother that year was a Pac-Man ghost.) But it was not to be, as Adam showed up in a costume as a dragon (complete with smoke coming from the nostrils if I remember right). Such are the things we worry about in school.
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It's funny, all these memories. The thing is, my parents are still in contact with some of my classmates' parents. They tell me about running into so-and-so's mom at the store and I get to hear about how that person is doing.
Before Russ Tamblyn's parents moved, there were a couple of events that we stopped by at and there were more. Everyone still remembers volunteering for the PTA, in classrooms and on the youth sports fields. They remember the parties we'd have for Halloween and Valentine's Day (ones that a lot of kids today don't get).
Anyway, it's been a fun trip down memory lane. I know I have a trove of things I want to write (embarass others) about high school (in honor of said 20th reunion). I'll get to them soon.