Little me 😂
We all have childhood memories either beautiful ones from good experiences or bad ones from ugly experiences.
Most times we find out that these experiences are usually unforgettable, try however we can. We may think that they are long forgotten and in the past especially since it is about our childhood and may not really have anything to offer to our adulthood but when something similar to those experiences happen, we see the memories coming back in torrents flood and every single detail of that experience will be remembered as if it were just yesterday.
This is exactly the situation I am right now as I write this story and what led to the flashback was this weekend thread topic of the @crossculture community
Tell us about your least or favorite teacher.
Naturally, I'm endowed with hair, long full and dark and I started plaiting hair right from when I was little. Well, I inherited it from my parents same as every member of my family.
I started plaiting my hair when I was little till I entered primary school days. In my school then, there wasn't really a strict rule against plaiting of hair so some girls were plaiting hair including myself.
Then hairs were usually plaited with black threads so every weekend, mom will make out time to plait mine with beautiful styles like sun gaps, congo high then packed all back or by the side, 3-pack ponytail, etc.
These hair styles will always make me look so beautiful that it will win the commendation and admiration of my fellow mates in the class and some teachers too but it seems one of them weren't so happy with my hair.
She was no other than one of my primary two teacher, Mrs E.
She was nicknamed Madam Okpokoto Shoe meaning Madam Big Shoe because she liked wearing big and oversized heeled shoes, probably to help her height because she was short. Not only that she always had the habit of dressing funnily with heavy make up and unfitting hair styles even when all her hair had almost fallen off. The frontal have all been eaten off yet she won't allow the hair to rest, always jerry curled and shinning black with dye making her look like a chicken that was drenched in the rain.
First term in my class two everything went well but second term, she became a thorn in my flesh such that going to school almost became a nightmare for me. She will always make remarks like
see how small you are yet you carried all the hairs meant for others. You better cut this hair off so we can see you well.
Remembering this now I couldn't help laughing because indeed I was so small and slim, infact if a heavy breeze blows, it may carry me. And the funniest part of this whole gist is that I haven't changed much, every year young with same factory fitted body 😂. Oh my world.
Sorry for going off track but please allow me crush on myself a little.
Each time she says this, I felt like crying and being a quiet person it even made me recoil more into my shell. I almost developed hatred for her and dreaded going to school. But you dare not say you won't go to school to the hearing of my dad, no matter what, so to school I must go.
Well one day she made it emphatically clear that if I do not get a hair cut and she sees me next time, I will be punished because I wasn't supposed to plait hair since others weren't.
I got home that day and told my mom what she said. It was a friday so mom had to give me a hair cut so I don't get punished. Although I cried while the hair was being cut but I guess I was better off without it. What a relief.
Monday I dressed up and went to school happy that I won't be bullied again because of my beautiful hair which was nature's gift. When she saw me, she surprisingly why I was carrying a low cut and I told her that it was my mom who cut it. I was happy to be free from her awful words and behavior.
Few days after she saw my parents and I on our way back from Sunday Mass and asked my mom why she had to cut my beautiful hair.
When mom asked her "where you not the one who insisted her hair must be cut, why are you now concerned?"
She replied that she it wasn't exactly what she said, that I misunderstood her. Oh what a hypocrite.
Well the deed was already done so no changing it.
I finished primary class two on low cut entered primary class three. At the end of the second term in primary three, a new headmistress or head of school was transferred to my school and she brought with her new rules
Starting from the new session, every pupil must wear white stockings with brown sandals or shoes.
The girls must plait hair and adorn it with blue and white ribbon while the boys will wear bow tie.
Blue and white - white shirt and blue pinafore for girls and shorts for boys, was my school's uniform color then.
I was the most excited about the news because it means I can freely plait my hair without having any teacher to bully me again.
So during the holidays after the second term, mom started grooming my hair again and before school reopened it had grown to some length to allow all those beautiful styles. That was how I went back to plaiting hair till I finished primary school.
When it was time to enter secondary school - high school I had to cut it again because my school didn't allow plaiting of hair. I cried again, I had wished to be admitted to one of the schools that allowed making of hair but it didn't work out.
After secondary school I started making my hair again - perming, braiding, fixing of hair extensions and the likes.
When I was perming it
But now I've stopped perming it, but groomed it back to natural and I love it. No one gonna bully me again into cutting it.
Now natural
I'm glad that experience didn't affect my performance in school. I was a bright pupil who never played with her studies. Sometimes when others will be out playing during break period, I will be all alone in the class reading. This helped me to always come top in class. I never crossed first to third position all through my primary school days.
Also it didn't make me think less of myself, it even helped build my self esteem because I realized that I was unique, beautifully made and possessed what others wished they had. I am so proud of who I am despite being small like she termed me and I love myself to the moon and back 😍
I hope you enjoyed reading my long story. Please do let me know.
Thank you.
Till I write again, it's still @luchyl, the #threadsaddict 😂
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