First grade for me was an interesting experience and the first exposure to cultural awareness. Aside from the fact that we moved and I was in 3 different schools, I had my first memorable exposure to OCD at the hands of one of my first grade teachers. I'm sure her heart was in the right place at some point during her teaching career, but I totally didn't like where she was going with some of her concepts about life. Pretty good analysis for a fledgling first grader, don't you think!
I am a glass half full person, the "God gives you lemons - you make lemonade" philosophy all the way. I am a problem solver and moderator and have been my whole life. I was always taught that if you really want to accomplish something, you can make it happen through faith and hard work. So, imagine my frustration in the first grade when this crazy teacher told me I couldn't color one of the handouts because I didn't have a flesh colored crayon. Everybody knows that the "special" colors only came in the Big Boxes. Like most of the kids in the class, I wasn't privey to the Big Box. Being that lemonade personality, I came up with a plan and I took an orange crayon and just colored very lightly on the page. Hey, I thought it was a cool idea and I got to color with that select group of kids that had the Big Box! It was a cool idea until that insane OCD excuse of a First Grade Teacher released her fury on me and snatched my coloring sheet away and scolded me in front of the whole class. Back in those days, kids didn't talk back to anyone, but especially your teacher, so I kept my jaw clamped tight and my fury inside. My picture looked good. I stayed in the lines and everything! I was an artist! How dare she! Humiliation and public embarrassment humbled me at the tender age of 6 and all because of a stupid crayon!
Some 10 to 15 years later, Crayola came to my rescue and renamed that stupid crayon to "peach" because they realized that not everyone's skin color was the same. Duh! There was another crayon renamed as well. Indian Red became Chestnut. Prussian Blue was renamed Midnight Blue because the country of Prussia didn't even exist anymore.
To this day, I still love the smell of a fresh box of crayons, and I still love to sit and color. There is nothing like being the first one to use a box of those wonderful sticks of color with the fresh point and the unsoiled paper. Did you know that crayons are even in the top 20 of recognizable smells for adults! You can't sit there reading this and tell me you wouldn't be able to recognize the smell of a good crayon. It's right up there with that fresh pot of coffee and hot cinnamon rolls in the oven.By my age, you would identify me as a grown-up, but by my secret hobbies, I'm still a little kid. On a dreary day, it would not be unlikely for you to find me in my office, content with my 96 count box of Crayola Crayons and a coloring book that I bought at the dollar store. As far as flesh colored crayons are concerned, if you want that cowgirl to have a blue face, hey honey, GO FOR IT!
