[vivaldirules]

I've been dreading this day for a long time. I was going to put my head in the sand to avoid it all but now I find I'm immersing myself in the immense sadness. Maybe it's standard human behaviour, maybe not.

I was a first grader in Arlington, Texas (a few miles from Dallas). It was the Friday before Thanksgiving and it was just after lunch and we were finger painting. I was excited at the prospects of doing this for the first time. I never got the chance. Shortly before it was my turn, the teacher and the principal told us to gather our things and go outside where we said the pledge of allegiance and maybe sang the national anthem and then walked home. I was confused and didn't understand at all what had happened. The thing I remember most is about having been personally denied the chance to finger paint, not about the death of JFK. And somehow I'm still ashamed of that though I was just six at the time.

So what was your day like?