I moved to Forest Glade after Xmas, in sixth grade. My mom and dad had decided we would be better off growing up in The Glade than where we were. So we left my mom and moved in with my dad and my step mom. And this is where I’m sure my separation anxiety began. I was four when my dad left. We went back and forth a couple times for short periods. So it was like my mom or my dad were leaving. We spent six years on Lassaline before we were shipped to my dad’s place. Thus, my mom leaving us. Shortly thereafter, my older sister couldn’t hack life with my dad and step mom, so she bailed and went back to my mom’s place. It just always get like people were leaving me.

It was after this move that brought me to Parkview Elementary, that I met the boys who would be closest friends for the rest of my life. Who was closest to each other has often switched over the years, but as a group, we’ve (almost) always been tight. I cannot see these guys for months and when we get together, it’s like nothing has changed. Most of the time, I don’t know what I’d do without them. I’ve met new friends along the way obviously, and some have even become close, but those guys have always been around and always been there for me. We added one more mainstay to our group in high school and he’s been an integral part of us ever since, as well.

Parkview was a good school. There were good teachers there and good people. When I first got there, I felt like I was behind everyone. Like they all were taught things that I wasn’t taught at my old school. It took awhile and caused me some grief and confidence issues, but I managed to catch up eventually. Life at Parkview was good. It’s where I was first introduced to children with disabilities in school. I don’t think we had any at Coronation. These kids would make an great impact on me mentally. We were occasionally jerks to them because we were immature kids, but we also talked to them. I joined a group of students that would take them swimming. The dressing rooms were chaos, and we may have decided to help somewhat, to go swimming with the cute girls from class, but we went and we helped them. Years later I would see some of them in high school or out in the world after that and most of the time they remembered me. Their smiles always made my day.

In my two and half years at Parkview, I had three homeroom teachers, one French teacher and one other teacher who made an impact on me. My first teacher there was Mr. Ronholm. He was a decent guy. Didn’t take much crap from anyone. My most memorable story with him actually came after I got into a fight with a kid in class. This kid and I always seemed to be at each other. It even lasted into high school. Anyway, on this occasion, the kid was being a dick and I had, had enough. So we scrapped a little. Ronholm separated us and kept us back from the line of kids headed to an assembly. After talking to both of us, he sent the other kid on his way and then turned to me and said, “Don’t fight on school property. You’ll get in trouble and you seem like a good kid. If you’re going to fight him, do it after school and away from school. And hit him once for me.”. This kid was a problem for the teachers too. Lol

The other teachers who had an impact on me were Mr. Breen (arguably the best teacher we had at Parkview), Mr. Graham, the VP, Mr. Hayes, Mr. Dennison, the French teacher and our grade eight teacher, Mr.Peck. Mr. Breen was firm with us always, but treated us with respect. The guys all loved him. Mr. Hayes brought us to his farm. He was a firm teacher too. You always knew where you stood with him. Mr. Graham, the VP was fun. He was also our music teacher. He taught us, ‘Cats in the Cradle’, by Jim Croce, and if it wasn’t for the girls in our grade eight class, we would have sung it at our grade eight grad. They just didn’t get the song like we did. I actually met Mr. Graham later in life as well. He was a friend of my wife’s Aunt. He looked the same. Maybe a little older, but still had that heartwarming smile. He actually came to one of our wedding events and the boys and I all sing Cats in the Cradle with him again because I asked if he would. I’m pretty sure I didn’t make this up. Haha

Mr.Dennison, the French teacher was just an all around good guy. We would see him out in the world long after we graduated high school and he would always stop and talk to us with a smile. Mr. Peck was in a league of his own. I don’t think we did much school work that entire grade eight year. We spent most of it playing floor hockey in the gym or practicing for all the sports teams we all played on and setting up for the Cinderella play we put on that year.  He would have a half a dozen coffee mugs around the classroom at all times and some of them had mold growing out of them. It was gross. Lol

Speaking of Cinderella…I played Prince Charming. I auditioned for the role by singing, ‘Heaven’, by Warrant. I wanted that role more than anything. Cinderella was being played by the girl who I had on crush on from the moment I met her and had pretty much for the next eight years. She was the most beautiful girl in the school. The most popular of our grade for sure and was also one of the nicest people you could ever meet. That never changed through high school, or as far as I can tell, in adulthood either. She has a beautiful family now. I never did get to date her, but the Cinderella play gave me the opportunity to land a kiss, dance and get some one on one time with her, that I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. It was definitely worth it. I once called her before a dance to ask if she was going. She was on crutches at the time and ‘dating’(it was grade seven, I think)  someone. When she said she wasn’t going because of the crutches, I responded with, “I can hold you up.”. Yes, it’s true. I’ve always been this smooth. Lol

Her understudy actually became my first real girlfriend. I had dated someone else, but it was grade six and I don’t know if that counts. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ . But grade eight and her understudy is where I got my first ‘real’ action. And by real action, I mean we French kissed, there was some boob action and the first time I had ever put my hand down a girl’s pants. I wouldn’t go all the way until I was 18.

I was suspended in grade school twice. Both were in-school suspensions and both were for fighting. One with the aforementioned kid and one with my best friend at the time. The first one was a fight outside, where I picked the kid up over my shoulder and dropped him on his back on some ice. I would fight him once in high school too. I put him in a headlock and squeezed until he passed out. I wasn’t a big kid at all, but neither was he. The second time was with with my friend and we just got mad at each other in class and ended up wrestling and moving desks all over the place. We ended up walking home from school together.

There was so much more going on outside of school that I can tell you. I’ll introduce you to the boys in a separate chapter. I’ll do a small chapter on the floor hockey years because there’s a few good stories there. And of course the introduction of my step mom, my step siblings and life at home in the Glade. Our lives were school and road hockey. And it remained that way for a long, long time.