Lessons of Life

Do you remember those days when you were in elementary school? Did some people always treat you like you had leprosy? Although, you may be saying “Yes, I remember those days, and no, I was the popular kid. I was the one who always treated everyone like they were a horrible person.” 

    Well, as for me, I remember those days quite well. I was not the horrible person, but yet, I was not the popular kid either. I had my fair share of friends, some were the popular kids, but then again some were the “horrible people.” I was not the kind of person that could be really mean to someone. I have always tried to be a friend of anyone and everyone. There were plenty of people who thought I was a horrible person though, do not get me wrong. I believe everyone has those people who think that they are the scum of the earth. 

    Jobi, was the one who thought that I was the scum of the earth in sixth grade. See she was a popular kid, somewhat, we had a lot of the same friends, but we never could get along. It got really bad in the sixth grade, though. 

    She would write me notes that degraded me, but I would not let those bother me too badly. She would always say, “Your momma’s so fat that she fell and broke her leg and gravy came out,” and other “jokes” like that. Well one day, she took these sayings too far, and I went to my friend Jessamy, and Hanna to see what I should do. I went to them crying my eyes out saying, “Jobi is over there making jokes about my mommy! I am going to beat her up!” Jessamy, who was friends with Jobi and I both, said, “No, let me go talk to her and tell her to stop, it is not nice of her to talk about your mom like that.” Well, thinking back on this it was not a nice thing of Jessamy to say either. Jessamy went and talked to Jobi, and all was good at recess for about 5 minutes. While I was swinging, Jobi came up behind me and said, “Did you see Kristy’s mom earlier? Lord she is just so, so fat!” Well, I was pretty mad, so I jumped out of my swing walked over to the tree where she ran. Once I got there, I looked at her and said, “What did you say?” 

    “You heard me! I said your momma’s fat!” 

    Well that really mad me mad, I came at her and punched her in the face. I never really was a violent person, but she was talking about my mommy! She never told on me and believe me, she never said anything else about my mom. 

    Later on that week though, she started over again. Well, she gave up on the “momma jokes,” but she still gave me a hard time. I remember this day like it was yesterday, it was a Friday, Library day. Mrs. Adams, our teacher had given us some Math homework to do while in Library. The librarian placed us at our tables, and of course, Jobi was at my table. We were all doing our Math and minding our own business, when all of a sudden, “plop,” this big green, slimy booger lands on my book. I look up and see Jobi snickering. Well I scream, “MRS. ADAMS!” Well this did not make the librarian happy, let alone Mrs. Adams. She walks over and says, “Yes Kristy, what is it? You know you were really loud, you are in a library. Try to keep it down next time, ok?” 

    “Yes, Mrs. Adams. But, Jobi flicked a booger on my book!” I was pointing down to the booger. 

    “Jobi Wineinger!!!!!!! What were you thinking? How old are you? You are in the sixth grade you should know better! Now you get that booger off of Kristy’s book and throw it in the trash can, then you can head right on down to the office!” 

    The look Jobi gave me was worth a thousand words. She came back after a little while, and sat back down to finish her work. She apologized to me, but it was still gross. If you ask anyone who was there, they remember the incident just as well. 

    You would never have guessed that Jobi and I are really good friends today, would have you? Jobi and I became friends in eighth grade. We were not really close friends though. Being close did not come until our sophomore or junior year. I am not really sure what brought us together, but something had to of, we had really hated each other! 

    Well, graduation day came, and we were reminiscing on days past, and guess what came up, Jobi and the booger on my Math book. Everyone was dying laughing while we were discussing it as a class. A few more “Jobi and Kristy fights” came up, but they were not as well remembered. 

    After graduation, we went to Cancun, Mexico, for our Senior Trip. While in Cancun, Jobi and I were together the whole time. We went snorkeling, club hopping, to the beach, and shopping together. I kept my eye on her while she got smashed; otherwise she would not have been able to make it to bed on her own. Jobi would have done the same thing for me, if I was the one getting smashed, because we were the most unlikely of friends. We had our hair done together in the market place, had pictures taken together, and of course DMX came up to me in Senor Frogs. He was hitting on me and trying to get me on stage with him, but I did not want to go. He just would not take no for an answer. Jobi was standing beside me, she looked at him, she was totally wasted, and said, “I am really sorry sir, but my friend here, she does not drink, and she said she did not want to dance on stage.” He just looked at us like “Yeah, ok! You are crazy!” But, what he said was, “That is a shame, you are a pretty girl.” Now, we know why he looked at us like we were idiots, we did not know it was DMX! We found out later on, looking back on this, we both feel stupid, but then again we were glad that we were friends so we could be there for each other in our time of need.

    She calls me now every so often, just to say hi and see how school is going. When I go home on the weekends, I see her around our small little town while cruising around the block. We wave or stop to say our quick little “Hi, how are you doing’s.” Then we go on our ways. Our lives our completely different, but we are still friends, despite what went on in our younger days.