True Confessions

A new theme, true confessions. The true confessions theme is stories about things I should have been embarrassed about at the time, but was not until much later.

For example, the hash shirt.

I am a drug virgin. Aside from a number of years of heavy drinking (a.k.a. college), I have never tried drugs in any form. I have no interest in them, and as you can see from this blog, I usually make my own fun.

BUT, in Grade 8, drugs were really, really, really funny to me and my cousin Tammy. I can't explain why. Grade 8 was in the early 80s when the rage (in Leader, anyway) was to get a glittering iron-on decal on your t-shirt, usually of a monster truck or something like that.

Grade 8 was also the era of Gwen is a shy geek who does her homework, hides in the house vacuuming, spends too much time with her cat, makes hideous craft animals out of chenille, and is very polite to her teachers.

So anyway, Tammy and I ended up at the local hack shop, and I chose my decal. The long and the short of it is that little Gwen Schmidt proudly shows up on the first day of school in Grade 8 wearing a sweatshirt with 'HASH' written across the front, set off by a pleasing graphic foil of glitter and marijuana fronds.

I wore that shirt for months. And now it's so funny. The only good thing about being a high school teacher would be to witness moments like that.