I Forgot My First Grade Teacher's Name

 Today I'm forcing myself to write. 

I had some time to think about a memory I wanted to talk about. 

Sometimes, it's easy for me to get caught up in whatever is going on in my life at the time. These days my mind is racing. Racing all the time, and not really on anything important. Maybe this is what they call "overthinking"? 

Either way, even now. I'm trying to relax my brain so I can retell this story.

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First grade. I don't remember much from first grade. I went to Alvord Elementary in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The school's closed now. But I have some memories of the school. Apparently very few from first grade. 

Here's a memory from first grade that stands out. I remember our first grade teacher giving us an assignment to bring our teeth that we lost to school. I remember we placed all of our lost teeth in small, clear plastic cups, and we filled these small cups with Coke and watched the teeth decay over the next couple of days. 

How did this work? Or is my memory twisted? I don't think everyone in the class lost their teeth at the same time. And what about the tooth fairy? Was this a sacrifice our teacher had us do in the name of science and dental hygiene knowledge? So many questions...

This stands out to me, though. This memory never left me. And from then forward, I knew that soda's had a negative impact on my teeth. I guess it's worked, too. I've never had a cavity in my life. 

I think the next lesson was how to brush your teeth. I remember the graphic that was shared on patters to use to brush your teeth. There were little kids doing cartwheels and this directed us to brush our teeth in a circular pattern. 

The other memory I have of first grade was of me presenting something to the class that I thought was interesting. I talked about the Tyrannosaurus Rex's mouth. I found out somewhere that the T-Rex could open its mouth up to three feet. At the time, I was three feet tall. So I made this connection and it blew my little first grade mind. So, this is what I shared. 

This is all I remember about first grade. I don't even remember my first grade teacher's name.

Now that I think about it, I don't remember my fourth grade teacher's name either. 

I remember what my fourth grade teacher looked like, but my first grade teacher--she's just gone from my memory. I don't remember what she looked like. 

Okay... I just remembered the name of my fourth grade teacher. Her name was Ms. Booth. She was from Missouri, or somewhere in the midwest. First grade is still gone. 

Here's a cool image I found from another blog of the angle a T-Rex was capable of opening its mouth.   http://palaeoblog.blogspot.com/2015/11/how-wide-could-t-rex-open-its-mouth.html

Have you ever seen those videos of seagulls eating large mammals, or a pelican eating a pigeon? I picture the T-Rex swallowing whole prey that seems like it should be too large to eat.