Much thanks to Mary for this class photo. My family had moved to Cleveland Heights and I was at Roxboro Elementary. I was hoping, at some point, to be in the same class with Cremer. While we were the same age, I had been held back due to my late fall birthdate.
Cremer’s photo is smack dab in the center of the bottom row. If you’re in this photo, please identify your picture in the comments.
The teacher at the top left was os Miss Kerr. I was in first grade with Cremer, but he was held back and repeated 1st grade. This was that year.
I was looking forward to being a classmate of Cremer; we were very close in age. I have a late Nov. birthday and didn’t make the cut-off.
I am fifth from left, second row. Cremer was my back yard neighbor, the house directly behind.
The drama of this shadowed my entire childhood, through several moves, including the move to a house on a Colby Avenue in another state years later (the anticipation of which almost killed me), but I think the ultimate takeaway is – this doesn’t have to define you or your past. Don’t let it overshadow what you are or what you do. Do what you can, whatever might be appropriate, to deal with similar things in the future. But recognize it as being what it it is, on its own, and don’t attribute more weight than it deserves.
I view each incident in my life as a book, and the collected experiences comprise a library. There is no book more important than any other.