Turtle

Why is my url http://www.turtlesneedlovetoo.blogspot.com/?

When I was in fifth grade. (Grade 5 for all you Canadians!) I had a teacher named Mr. Kalumaji. Mr. Kalumaji loved sports! I did not love sports!

Near the beginning of the school year, my best friend was murdered, (That's for another blog another day) I turned 11 and put on a bit of 'puberty' weight after being a fairly thin child most of my life and Mr. Kalumaji decided that it would be a good idea to make us run a 50 yard dash every day.

First, we ran for a week every day to get a 'base time'. Then for the rest of the entire first semester we ran that dang 50 yard dash every single day, rain or shine. If the weather was too awful, he would set it up to run in the gym/cafeteria. Every day of every week, each student shaved a millisecond off their time...except me. My time stayed the same and sometimes was even worse.

Let me tell you, when I was born pigeon toes and knock-kneed, I wore special shoes until I was about 9 years old. When I was 2 1/2, I was enrolled in dance with the thought that the ballet would be therapeutic and fun. I loved dance! I became a good dancer (if I don't say so myself).

As semester wore on and I continued to worsen my running time, my self esteem plummeted, making me run slower still. One boy, Joe, told me I was as slow as a turtle. Soon all the boys were calling me turtle. After a while, even some of the girls called me turtle. I think they forgot I had a name. It was so hurtful that sometimes I would hide in the girl's bathroom and cry so no one could see.

At the semester report card time, I got my usual straight A's with an F in P.E.. I was so afraid to show my report card to my parents that I hid it for a week before my mother asked about it. Eventually I gave it to her and braced myself for the worst.

As she questioned me, I told her through my tears, runny nose and hiccups how we ran the 50 yard dash every day; how the teacher yelled at me for being slow; how the kids called me turtle.

"They are all good at running!" I cried "I'm just not good at running! I have other things I'm good at, but not running. I bet they would all get F's and I would get the A if we did...TAP DANCING for P.E.!"

It all turned out okay. My Mom called Mr. Maniscalco, the principal, and made an appointment to see him. She showed him the report card, explained about the 50 yard dash and my physical limitations. Mr. Maniscalco had a soft heart and a son with little to no athletic ability and agreed that I should not have received an F. I can't really remember what grade I got, I don't think it was an A, but Mr. Kalumaji did not force us to run the 50 yard dash again. For those that wanted to, they could, but a second option was made available to the run-haters like me.

To this day, I still WILL NOT run (unless someone is chasing me with a very big knife) and I would still love to see Mr. Kalumaji tap dance.

Turtles do need love too!