Fourth Grade Adult

by Jen on May 16, 2012

I walked into the building and the first thing that caught my eye were the lockers.

I was at a parent’s meeting for parents of incoming second graders. In our school district, kindergarten and first grade is in one building and second, third, fourth and fifth are in another. Next year, Hayden would be going to this school.

The principle began talking about the school. She was explaining the daily schedule and what we could expect but all I could think about were the lockers.

When I was in elementary school, only the fourth graders got to have lockers.

It was a huge deal.

Each year since third grade, the year when kids began to care about getting lockers,  kids would long for a locker. I mean, who wouldn’t want a locker. It was a metal box with a door on it that you could put stuff in. It was so much better than some silly hook.

But the best part of a locker was that you could hang pictures and stuff up inside on the door.

Many of the girls in my class hung pictures of cute boys but not me.

When I was in fourth grade, I was all about being grown up. I was 11 years old, I was in the double digits and that meant that I needed to act like a grown up.

I took care of my baby doll, dressing her each day before school and giving her her bottle, I focused on my studies to make sure I could get a good job and I put a lot of effort into practicing for my chosen career… being a singer/actress/dancer girl.

My locker was full of pictures of me performing. There were pictures of me in church choir, acting in my after school performance classes and pictures from my dance recitals.

I was so proud of my locker.

One afternoon, I walked down the hall after recess and I noticed my locker open with a couple of boys staring at my pictures.

“What are you doing?” I screamed at them horrified.

My screaming startled them and the slammed my locker closed. They just stood there smirking at me.

“What?” I seethed at them, hands on my hips. I was an ‘adult’ I didn’t have time for these children.

The boys looked at each other and began to laugh.

“You are Jenny Jazz!” they giggled at me. “Jenny Jazz! Jenny Jazz!”

In that moment, if I could have shot daggers out of my eyes, I would have.

Then I realized they were talking about my dance recital pictures. Oh those silly boys, what did they know? I was thinking of my future. I was going to be famous and someday they would be begging for my picture.

“Oh yeah,” I said.

And with that I did a quick step ball change, step ball change, hip check, hip check, turn and pose, jazz hands!

The boys, looked at me shocked that I had just danced at him.

But soon they couldn’t contain their laughter anymore and ran off down the hall.

“Boys are dumb,” I said to myself as I opened my locker to put my coat away, “I am never going to like boys.”

I smiled as my day dream faded away.

Then I realized all the other parents was half way down the hall. I stopped staring at the lockers, tried to focus on the present and hurried to catch up with them.

As I walked, two things hit me, we are entering grade school territory, a whole new ball game, and maybe Jenny Jazz should make a come back.

This post is part of Writer’s Workshop

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Two Realsies and a Whopper

by Jen on May 16, 2012

I like knowing things about people.

For example, when I am walking down the street, I want to know why a woman is angry texting on her phone. Is she talking to her teenage son who forgot to take out the trash or a lover she just discovered was cheating on her.

I want to know the reason behind my neighbors buying a new car one day and then putting their house up for sale the next. Did they win the lottery? Did they get new jobs? Or is this one last spending spree before the government comes and arrests them for unpaid taxes.

I want to know the reason behind the affair. I want to know who was cheating on who and how someone could do something like that.

Call me noisey. Call me a butt-in-ski but I just like to know.

I think that people are some of the most entertaining things out there. People never fail to amaze and shock me. I enjoy watching the events unfold and learning the hows and whys behind them.

I believe this is why I love blogging so much.

Blogging fills my need to know things about people. It is a non-stop 24/7 thing that gives me a glimpse into people’s lives.  Whether it be a look at what’s for dinner, pictures of children playing or the story behind an affair or divorce, I get the inside scoop.

Blogging and social media makes people brave. They become more transparent and put things out there to feel encouraged and supported.

Since social media is a powerful tool, brands want to use this tool in order to make connections with people. They are putting things out there about themsevles that we might not have known to foster relationships.

Now, I thought it would be fun to play a little game.

I am betting that you like to know things about people just as much as I do.

So I have gathered a child, myself and a major Brand to play… Two Realsies and a Whopper!

Watch the video. We are going to make three statements about ourselves, revealing something that we have never told anyone before.

Can you guess what the whopper is? Do you know what is true?

Now spill the beans, tell me something that no one knows about you.

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Join the conversation by telling something unknown about you for your chance to win 3 year Unlimited 4GH Hosting from Go Daddy!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Go Daddy. The opinions and text are all mine.

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Defense Mechanism

May 14, 2012

I am pretty sure that any mom will tell you what a roller coaster ride motherhood is.
There are some of the highest highs and the lowest lows and then everything else in the middle all wrapped up into these little people who are parts of your soul walking outside your body.

We love them with every [...]

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A Story of Mother’s Day

May 13, 2012

“Oh mom….” I cried into the phone.
“Jenny. What?!” my mom said sounding alarmed since she was at work and I ambushed her with my tears.
I am not usually a crier. Sure, I cry over sappy movies but that is usually because there is wine involved and wine makes me all emotional.
It was just that in [...]

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Mommy Meatloaf

May 9, 2012

“Ew! Gross! What is that?” Claire asked as she slid her chair back from the table.
I rolled my eyes.
“Oh yum!” Hayden said in his best kiss up voice, “It’s meatloaf.”
I am pretty sure the cure all for a grey, cold day is comfort food and on that night, a nice turkey meatloaf with cheesy bacon [...]

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Being a Writer?

May 8, 2012

“We are all writer’s and we just finished our dress rehearsal for our show, Listen to Your Mother,” she explained to the server taking our order.
The rest of the woman around the table smiled and nodded and began talking about the show and what it was but I was taken into my own thoughts.
“We are [...]

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This Girl’s Gotta Dance

May 7, 2012

Dancing makes me happy.
Ever since I was a little girl, I always loved to dance.
I was even deemed ‘Jenny Jazz’ by some boys in my 4th grade class. They did it to make me feel bad but I embraced the name and tried to live up to it.
If there is a beat, I just gotta [...]

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You Smell Like a Man

May 3, 2012

My husband and I have a healthy appetite for bumping uglys, naked twister, riding the baloney pony… sex.
Now we are not going at it 24/7 like when we were first married but we still do enjoy it.
That being said, to keep things interesting, we have a drawer.
I am guessing that most people have a drawer, a box or a closet [...]

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That Healthy Orange Glow

May 2, 2012

About this time of year, I begin to long for it.
I get so sick and tired of taking my clothes off and being blinded by white.
I just want a little tanish glow.
Not much, I don’t want to look like old leather but like I was traipsing around in the tropics with my lover.
For years, I [...]

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Dealing with a “Bully”

April 30, 2012

He gets off the bus looking defeated. And some days the tears stream down his face before he is off the first step.
My heart breaks.
“Mom why are they so mean to me?” Hayden cries his face buried in my neck. “I don’t eat trash off the floor, I don’t!”
His little body just sobs in my arms [...]

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