Flashback Friday - Politics

In honor of the upcoming Presidential Inauguration, a story:

On Wednesday, January 21, 1993, William Jefferson Clinton was sworn in as the 42nd President of the United Sates of America. Three months later my family moved to England. (That these two facts share a causal relationship may or may not be completely accurate...)

But before we expatriated on principle, I was attending 2nd grade at The Meridian School in Provo. You may remember seeing it on 9th East just south of Gold's Gym (until it was torn down last year). This picture is of my first day of Kindergarten, but two years later, I was still wearing the same hideous uniform. (So just imagine me a depressingly small bit taller.)

January 21st dawned cold and cloudy, and Mrs. McDonald's 2nd graders shuffled a bit unwillingly out into the elements for morning recess (the beastly uniforms were also beastly cold). I was walking next to Phillip (Karissa, I believe you knew him), when he casually mentioned that his parents had voted for Bill Clinton. I (being daddy's little girl) stopped dead in my tracks and gasped:

"Your parents are Democrats?!?!"

Phillip proudly answered in the affirmative and I spent the rest of recess trying to avoid him in kissy tag for real.



Fun facts:

• We were living in Spanish Fork Canyon during my Meridian years, so every day we'd drive up State Street through Springville and passed the cemetery in south Provo. Tay and I would hold our breath so we wouldn't die/become possessed/lose our luck/boyfriends. My mom was concerned for our mortality and drove fast. My dad didn't want us to ever get married so he crawled passed. I remember him even turning around on one occasion for another go.
• I learned how to burn ants with a magnifying glass from Jonathon, another classmate. I heard later that year he caught the field on fire. (oops.)
• I also became a published author at Meridian. A poem I wrote was printed in the school newsletter:

Love Is
Love is flowers, love is sweets,
Love is little apple treats.
Love is cards with hearts of gold,
I hope you like what I've told.
Love is a kind of thing I like,
And I hope that you might.

(Obviously I didn't dedicate it to Phillip...)