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Last Monday morning getting up around 7 a.m. and preparing for coming back to work after a week in Orlando and giving the Walt Disney Company a boost in their stock prices I turned on Channel 2 and news anchor Fred Blankenship telling me it was the first day of school in Haralson County. I think that law enforcement and school officials did a remarkable job of handling the traffic of excited school children. It was the first day of first grade for Meghann Glaze who lives next door. Her mother Marcy said she was so excited that she was up after 5 a.m. ready to get on the bus. Her 2 year old brother Bo Bo was mad because he wanted to go to school with "May May" as he calls her. Recalling my first day of first grade has to include everything smelling like furniture polish and pine oil in Mrs. Downey's class room. The room was filled with chalk, crayons, mimeographed papers, and modeling clay. Our first day of school, Scotty McClain, David Godfrey, and Babette Brown made a life size replica of a giraffe out of Play-doh. My favorite part of school back then was we all had a mat to lie on and you had to take a nap. Why couldn't they hold that over when I got to college? Why did it suddenly go away in second grade? I still love a nap.

I recall that day at recess and seeing Fay Allen on the merry go round and thinking she was the prettiest girl in the world. I still think that even though she hasn't worn pig tails in about 5 decades.

That first day of school in the old multi storied Tallapoosa Elementary School with a bell tower out front was a memorable because the school wasn't air conditioned and the temperature that day got close to that of the surface of sun. Mrs. Downey was about the sweetest teacher I ever had. I admired her because it was obvious that she cared for all of us. She taught us to read out of the first grade readers. I have a collection of the first grade readers Mrs. Downey taught from featuring "Dick, Jane, and Sally". Do you recall "Spot" the dog and do you remember the cat's name? It was "Puff" if it ever is a question on "Jeopardy" one evening. I tallied it up and I have 19 years of formal education that all started on Robertson Avenue. I sometimes wonder what happened to some of the kids from elementary school like Big Bill who was in the 4th grade but had served in Korea. I wish I knew what became of Billy Huey, Edna Weeks, and Eddie Free. I remember August 9, 1957 because my mother made me a cherry cake with vanilla frosting for my 6th birthday. Fast forward to 1959 and I got a Captain Kangaroo coloring set. 10 years later on August 9, 1969 I got a draft card from Selective Service. On my 40th birthday Monica Pearson from Channel 2, Jim Ross from WWE, wrestling hall of famer Dusty Rhodes, Congressman Bob Barr and Las Vegas legend Wayne Newton all showed up for the celebration. I ceased making birthdays a big deal after that one. Today I turn 58, yes I said it. 58 today and I plan on spending it quietly with my daughters and a few friends in the town I grew up in. I refuse to allow myself to get caught up in "thinking old". In my heart I am still a member of the Pepsi Generation however today I mix my Pepsi with Metamucil. It also seems that when shopping I tend to put things in the shopping cart that say "for fast lasting relief", "low sodium", "sugarfree" or "use only as directed". I also now pay attention to television advertising for life insurance, soup, high fiber cereal and pharmaceutical products for acid indigestion, various dysfunctions, and pain relief. How soon will I be wearing a "Life Alert" button that C. Everett Koop, our former Surgeon General says could save my life someday? Will I ever call the toll free number for the information on the round bathtub that is easy to get in and out of? I also am thinking that if I ever have to have one of those Rascal rolling chairs, can I put a Briggs and Straton engine on it with a decal that says "In Memory of Number 3".

Rhubarb Jones is a Tallapoosa native and serves as a member of the administrative faculty at Kennesaw State University. He can be reached at P.O. Box 1001, Tallapoosa, GA 30176 or via email at Rhubarbjones@aol.com.