December 7, 2009
Then the worm turned
“The seventh and eighth grades were for me, and for every single good and interesting person I’ve ever known, what the writers of the Bible meant when they used the words hell and the pit. Seventh and eighth grades were a place into which one descended. One descended from the relative safety and wildness and bigness one felt in sixth grade, eleven years old. Then the worm turned, and it was all over for any small feeling that one was essentially all right. One wasn’t. One was no longer just some kid. One was suddenly a Diane Arbus character. It was springtime, for Hitler, and for Germany.”– Anne Lamott, Operating Instructions
This is exactly right.
I'm reading Operating Instructions now too!
never ever trust anyone who says they enjoyed middle/high school.
Grades 7&8 were terrible, but I actually loved high school. Or I thought I did at the time. When people told me those were the best of my life, I gave them a "Hell, yeah". How odd that I ever believed that. Perhaps my standards for best days have risen. I wouldn't go back to high school for a million dollars, and the thought of my daughter going through those years absolutely terrifies me, poor thing.