Identity – Childhood Memories Alphabet – P & Q

P is for Paisley

    When I was fairly young my Mother bought a paisley skirt or dress for me to wear to school. I did not like it. I can't remember the style or the color, but only that it was paisley. Even if I didn't like it, I still had to wear it. We just weren't able to purchase that many clothes, so you wore what you had. What was interesting was, that after a while I changed my mind and I really did like that paisley outfit. So I guess it goes to show that we can't always trust our first impressions.

P is for Piano

    I began piano lessons when I was in the 3rd grade. Our school did not have any instrumental music lessons, so we were allowed to take time from school to attend a piano lesson. The piano teacher in town lived close enough to the school that we could walk there. If my parents would have had to drive to town each week for my piano lesson I am not sure I would have been able to take them. When I began lessons, my parents bought a new piano. It was spinet style and the brand name was Lester. I always thought that was neat since my father's first name was Lester. My father told me that he would be willing to pay for my piano lessons, but that he expected me to use this skill by playing at church. I have fulfilled his wishes. I took lessons for six years. It was fun to play for piano recitals, especially when we could do duets, trios and quartets. My skills were best at reading music, rather than memorizing. When I started high school I did not take lessons, but I did play for the choir so did continue improving my skills. Playing the piano is something that I still enjoy today.

Q is for Quiet

    Q is a difficult letter to use to find a memory. So I used the dictionary and looked at a number of Q words. Then I came up with quiet. Although it may be hard for people today to imagine it, I was rather quiet as a child. Maybe it was because there were not other children around for me to play with. I felt shy. I spent a lot of time reading. My Mother told me a story about my experience in the first grade. The teacher thought that I had been cheating and copying from someone else's work for my written work. So she moved me and I still did good written work, so I hadn't been copying, I just hardly ever would speak up in class. I have wondered since studying my family history that my grandfather's background as a Quaker may have influenced me to be more quiet.