Turning 11....

I don't remember much about turning 11. It would have been the summer before I started grade 6....my last year of elementary school. My best friends were Barb and Kristal, we had a hard time getting along and most of the time two of us weren't talking to one of us (the combination of pairs and single changed frequently!). We spent most weekends at Idle Wheels Trailer Park near Gimli....bike riding, swimming, and playing on the swings. I remember loving being there but hating the process of getting there....packing, driving, getting set-up. I remember feeling grown up in grade 6. The school work was harder, Mr. Welander was a tough teacher. I remember being scared of him, how he turned one of the girl's desk around so it faced the back of the room, he said that she did everything else backwards so she should sit backwards too (even then I thought that was a horrible thing to do to a child). I remember the nurse coming in the class and giving us flouride treatments....we were given a small cup and we had to swish the stuff around in our mouth and then spit it out. She had a cart that she pushed around the room to hand out, and then collect, the cups. I remember the boys being taken into another room and the girls staying in our classroom....the nurse came and told us about our periods and how we would have to use pads and tampons. I was horrified and quite curious about what the boys were told in their room. I remember going home for lunch in grade 6, learning about the Pueblo Indians who lived in caves in Arizona and being referred to as #8 in the class. I remember Kristal moving away at the end of summer, just before I turned 12....I  remember being devestated.
On Monday my Grace will turn 11.
I wonder what she will remember.