What about this...

…..This is a great topic!

       What I clearly remember from my very early years - let’s say 5 -7 - was the culture of the early 1960s Parochial Schools at the time.

I was a tiny shy little girl.  I loved wearing pretty dresses, playing with Barbies, jumping rope, and making shiny bead necklaces with my girlfriends.  Yet, I also enjoyed riding my bike with boys who were older than me and playing ball games with them and their large dogs.

One day, a nun commented on “how unladylike” my scabby band-aided knee was.  I remember being so very ashamed, but being painfully shy, kept my feelings to myself.

The next weekend, I was playing frisbee with three older boys and Butch, their black lab.  ….Butch jumped up to catch the frisbee while it was near my head, and his bottom canine made a four inch slice on my scalp as he tried to catch it.  Of course it bled a lot, and I had to have that side of my head shaved and a bazillion stitches …After I came home from the hospital, I was an asymmetrical mess!  I kind of looked like Cyndi Lauper in that video! 😄

….The next day at school of course everyone stared, but the kids were, by and large, positive.  The nuns not so much - it was like I was a walking Jezebel.  I have blocked out most of what was relayed to me but I do remember being told that I had been “too wild ” and that this was how God had punished me for it.

    …..Well, this time I went home and shared everything that had transpired at the dinner table.  (Geez - was there a lot of “behind closed door” discussion between my parents that night! 😇)

My father never discussed with me what happened when he showed up unannounced the following day to have a conversation with the Mother Superior.  I do know that after he had done so most of the nuns found ways in which to compliment me in small ways, while others avoided me completely.  There were most certainly never again any comments about my cuts, bruises, band-aids or scabs.

And while I might wonder how we survived that era of rigid expectations, aren’t you thankful that we’ve remembered these moments and haven’t replicated them upon our children and grandchildren ? 

        
Oh again, thanks for this topic!  

(Aside, years later, my parents shared with me that, the weekend after this incident, they were sitting in the kitchen with the couple that owned Butch. They were discussing if and how to re-introduce me to Butch so that I would not be  “emotionally scarred for life” something to that effect.  This apparently continued until their teenage son came indoors, overheard their conversation, and yelled from downstairs, “Look out the window!”.

They all did.  There I was playing kickball with Butch and the boys. 🙋🩵

Enjoy the day! 🐶☀️

I don’t remember anything forced on me, except

for curfew Lol but I have always admired Cyndi

Lauper for following her own path and inspiring

others. By the way, I saw her in concert 30 years

ago and she was awesome! 🎶💜

 I'm an introvert and don't like being in crowds or around strangers. My parents loved the outdoors and we were always going somewhere on the weekends with relatives. A lot of them are loud and obnoxious and they all picked on me because I stayed in the background. My parents made me go every time and I just wanted to be at home. I'm a loner now and love it!!!

Found this fun thread @WebWiseWoman , and had to put this for mine.

Smoker’s saliva on a thumb to get something off my face.  
I vowed to never do it to mine.  Gross!