Write about what you remember about your first year in school.

While sitting at the community table with mini chairs in my preschool classroom, I remember thinking that I didn’t know why all the moms didn’t just bring finger Jell-O for snack time. It was the best snack. It was slightly messy, it could be cut into odd shapes, usually red, tasty and it wiggled. Food that jiggled was delightful at that age. A case could be made regarding Jell-O is a science lesson and food all wrapped in one. I remember being scolded for taking too many pieces, and to my defense, I said, ‘but I don’t eat the other snacks that people bring.’ 
    The preschool’s automatic front door was troubling to me at age four. It was either my first experience with such a mechanism or maybe I had a close encounter with its monster-size motorized door. Either way, I dreaded stepping on the treaded rectangular doormat each morning for a year in Lansing, Michigan. I can still hear the grinding motor noise the door made as it swung open. Ironically, I do not remember exiting through the automatic door; there must have been another way out. Thankfully, this trauma did not translate into any phobias of moving sidewalks, escalators, or automatic doors.