Procastination

While I accomplished a lot today, I also did a fair amount of procrastinating. We can safely blame most of that lost time on my childhood journals.

Over the weekend, while hanging out with my family to celebrate my father's birthday, my parents gave me yet another box of stuff they have been storing for me. The box contains journals from high school (the biggest time-suck) and lots of my notebooks from elementary school. This stuff is comic gold and I spent most of the day crying with laughter.

For example, at the end of every assignment in 2nd grade, we got to do a little free-style writing while using words or ideas from the main portion of the assignment.

This one reads,
GOOSE
Once I was giving bread to ducks and one goose, and the goose took the hole peas of bread out of my hand and I said. "Hay you." Thair is a tone called Duck. I love goose. Take a cap.
This one is the best:
Writing a Letter
Dear Linh Truong,
I miss you very much.
At recess I have no one to play
At school no one sits in your dest and no one dos think my freckles on my forhead look ugly.
Sign,
Laura
[Linh was my best friend in elementary school. Even though she was thinner than me, her nickname for me was "Chicken Bone" because I was skinny. I thought everything she said was the funniest thing ever. She is now a gorgeous weather forcaster in the Bay area.]

Other classics include:

Something to Share
If I had to share something I would shara the air.
[To which, Ms. Heckman wrote, "Really, Laura. Wouldn't there be anything else you could share?"]

The Goat French Toast
Ingredients: Book, shoelasis, radio, socks, pains and shirt. You need a bowl put the eggs in the bowl and do not! I repeat! do not! skrabil the eggs! and then tie and shoelasis arond the egg tirn the radio on then get a hammer and then smash the radio. Put sock in the bowl and pains in the bowl and shirt mix it up for a year. Do not! I repeat! do not! take the shell out of the goat french tost!

A Special Day
When I and my brother and dad went to the air show and I took pitchers at the air show.

And just for you, dear readers, here's a picture of my brother and I at the air show.

I know that all kids at this age are funny and make funny spelling errors. I think these notebooks delight me so much because I vaguely remember writing and thinking a lot of these things. It's joy to go back and re-visit these thoughts and ideas.

Update: Ended up (electronically) sending Linh the note that I wrote to her a long time ago. She responded with, "Oh Laura...you're sooo sweet. I love that letter!!! I honestly had the best childhood ever. I loved everything about Carlisle and all the great friends I made at Mooreland. I really miss those days. Thank you for sharing that with me. I will cherish that forever. Miss you..Chicken Bone!"