When Ron and I were in the 5th grade our teacher, Mrs. Chaudoin, who was also the music teacher for the entire school, decided to do a school production of “The Little Green Men From Mars.” Now Mrs. C. took great pride in her yearly musical productions and everything had to be just right from costumes to the assigning of dance parts. The boys, dressed as green aliens from Mars, would land via cardboard space ship on the moon. Upon their arrival they were to be greeted by lovely dancing moon maidens each dressed in gowns of various pastel colors.
One day, Mrs. C. began casting the moon maidens and arranging them according to height. Each girl stood next to a girl slightly shorter until they formed a visually appealing chorus line. This was all going according to Mrs. C’s plan until she came to me……. For some reason puberty had decided to pay me an early visit and I was already considerably taller than the other girls in my class not to mention the boys. There seemed to be no place for me in the ensemble where I would not stick out like a sore thumb. Suddenly, Mrs C. appeared to have been struck by creative genius. With only a slight adjustment to the chorus line I suddenly found myself not squeezed between to shorter girls but deliberately placed right smack in the center of the entire chorus line. I was immediately re-cast as, ta da, drum roll please….. “Lady Moonbeam” and was informed I would dance a solo and be surrounded by my moon maidens. Instead of my height being an eyesore it was miraculously transformed into an asset. I would be the piston of a beautiful flower surrounded by petals of moon maidens. Way to go Mrs. C.!
Ron doesn’t remember being a green man from Mars but I definitely remember. He was also the tallest boy in the 5th grade but it didn’t bother him since he had been the tallest kid in school since the 1st grade. So, I guess I’ll keep the memory for the both of us and try to find a picture of him with his little green face just to jar his memory!
2 comments:
Such a cute story! As the kid who was always the tallest in the class (boys included) until 8th grade, I can relate!
Because I was tall in grade school I got it in my head that I was a giant. It is the self-perception I had until I was in my 40's when I realized that everyone else was now talling than me. I'm only 5 feet 4 but because I always FELT taller I thought I was. Delusions of grandeur maybe?
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