Our family moved houses for various reasons, and I attended four elementary schools. In Saskatchewan, elementary school is from grades 1-8.

In grades 7 and 8, I was in a new school. It was small, with a combined grade 7 and 8 split.

I’m not sure if it was because I was new to the area, but suddenly, I found myself being able to assist in the library. I was voted the Red Cross representative, and I also had the opportunity to be our school representative in the Saskatchewan Legislature. I can’t recall the area of expertise I was supposed to represent, but I do recall spending part of lunch hour rehearsing my speech. At our grade 8 graduation, I was the valedictorian of our class.

I was seen.

However, the other side of the coin was that I had purchased new high heels with my babysitting money to wear for this prestigious event, but I had a hard time walking heel-toe rather than clumping. My dad told me that if I did not learn to walk properly, I would not be wearing those new shoes anywhere.

I must have accomplished the hee-toe walk because I know I wore them while I recited my wisdom to the class before the summer when we would go our separate ways to high school the following September.

Oh so wise