Fond Memories

Last night, as I was reading The Boxcar Children to my kids, I had such great memories of my first time reading that book. I was in 2nd grade, like my daughter, and my teacher was Mrs. Osborne, my favorite teacher of all time. Mrs. Osborne was married to a professional tennis player, and had a daughter named Olivia (I remember, it became my favorite Barbie doll name for awhile), though I can't remember her other daughter's name. She was very cautious about playing on the jungle gym because the above named daughter, who had waist length hair, had lost a chunk of hair when it was stepped on by a fellow student while she was hanging upside down from the jungle gym. If my memory serves correctly, my teacher looked a bit like Grace Farrel from the movie Annie. Anyhow, I associate Mrs. Osborne with reading that book, because after lunch recess, as we came into the classroom, she would turn out the lights, have us lay our heads down on our desks, then read to us by candle light. The Boxcar Children became one of my favorite books. I love that memory! I'm sure it was against school rules and fire codes, but it was the best way to listen to a story. So last night, though we didn't have a candle, we did read the Boxcar Children by "camping lantern" light--I think that's a pretty good substitute. Aaaahhh! The good old days.