Happy Monday everybody! I had to work all weekend, so you know I’m not gonna be doing much of that today. That’s pretty black of me huh?
Third grade was a tumultuous year. I remember we saw the Challenger blow up on TV. I am ashamed of this, but I laughed. My teacher gave me the meanest look and scolded me. She should have. I know I didn’t know any better and didn’t make the connection that people were inside the shuttle. I don’t know why, but it took me a while before I realized the gravity of the incident.
Of course we had the spectacle of Jeff and his fits to keep things interesting, and I had a girlfriend Roberta. I was also sweet on this tall skinny girl in the class named Javonna. I remember she had a pretty, short jheri curl, and had what seemed like a hundred of those jelly looking plastic neon bracelets on her wrists that went halfway up to her elbow. She didn’t like me though, maybe because I was shorter than her, or maybe because I wasn’t rough enough. She was from the east side, and those east side folk were entrenched in thuggery and ghettolisciousness. Oh well, her loss.
That was when suede pumas were the hottest thing to have. There are three material items over my lifetime that I loved so much I took extreeeeeeeemely good care of. Those pumas were the first. They were suede, black, with a red puma stripe. They looked just like these:
these minus the plaid insides
They looked exactly like these except they didn’t have the plaid insides and I put fat RED laces in mine to match the stripe. They were F.R.E.S.H.!!
I loved these pumas so much in addition to my bookbag, I brought a separate tote bag with some play shoes, so that when we went outside for P.E., I could switch shoes and not dog my precious pumas.
Well, hindsight is 20/20, and I probably shouldn’t have worn the shoes to school at all, but when you’re 8, you want everyone to see your fresh shoes, your fresh toys, and anything else you can be proud of in your tiny little 8 year old universe. My school was mainly comprised of east side folk, and I guess the thuggery and thievery starts early in those parts, because SOMEBODY STOLE MY PUMAS! I came back in from P.E. and walked to the back of the classroom to my tote bag, and it was droopy, like nothing was in it……and there wasn’t. I frantically looked all over for my shoes and told the teacher. It was useless. Apparently the “No Snitching” code starts early. Not a peep was made and no one ever came forward with my pumas. Also, they were smart enough to never wear them to school, cause I never saw those pumas again. Sigh…
That was the first thing I loved and lost, and the other two things I loved were this Cosby show t-shirt that I stole from my sister from when they were filming some on her campus (Spelman), that I had from 5th grade until a couple years ago. For the life of me, I can’t find that shirt 
The last thing I loved was my first car. It was 1992, and I had a black 2 door 1991 GMC Jimmy with dark tinted windows. My dad sold it when I went off to school. I loved that truck so much, I’ll dedicate a separate posting to it.
Until then, share with the class why don’t you? What are things that you loved a lot that mysteriously came up missing?
The first thing I loved and lost was my Bad News Bear in pre-school. My mom told me not to bring it but I’ve always been hard-headed… I brought it to school and it got mixed up with the other toys. When I went to get it back I was told that it belonged to the school and I couldn’t have it…. Years later my neice went to the same pre-school (I was 16) and I went looking for my bear, but it was long gone…
I remember losing my Mickey Mouse doll at where of all places???? Disney World. I brought it with me from home to Orlando, and it was my prized possession because Mickey could stand. I left it in the hotel room and bawled somewhere on 95. My parents called back and had my aunt go back and look, but no Mickey. My five year old self was devastated. It took a few years to get over that. Mickey was replaced and a Minnie doll was added by the time I’d turned fifteen. (My guilty pleasure is that I still love toys. Buy my “Elmo Live” and I’ll be somewhere trying to figure out a way to make and learn to drink your flavor of Kool-Aid.
)
i can’t recall losing anything of value except my virginity. it mysteriously came up missing in the summer of ‘99. but don’t worry, i found a second one
Ugh, the first thing I loved and lost was this damn blue pteradactyl (sp?) toy.. It was cheap and rubber and baby blue colored… One day I went to look for it to take it to school (2nd grade) and it was gone… I loved that thing so much…