Frenchman's Bay, Maine

Frenchman's Bay, Maine

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Boarding School Thoughts

At the age of eight, my parents sent me to Windy Hill School in Mweya. It was a day's drive away from our little mission station of Murore--and I could come home every three months for a visit. I remember the day my father drove me to school for the first time. I sat in the front seat of our Jeep, watching the green hills and scrubby grass pass by, and every so often, breaking into tears and sobbing, "Please, couldn't mom teach me! Do I have to go?"

Anyway, boarding school was both a wonderful and a horrible experience. Horrible, because the dorm parents (whom I shall call the Caines) didn't seem to like most children except their own daughter, and were (in my perception, then and now) rigid and rule-bound. Wonderful, on the other hand, because I met kids my own age and formed some tight friendships, especially with red-haired Nicki, companion and fellow rebel against the Caines. It was quite a year, one I'll perhaps write about more in future posts--but fortunately, at the end of that grade, my parents relented, and allowed me to come back home for another round of homeschooling. The next year we left for the States, and into an entirely new environment...

Don't know why I'm thinking about this today, except that as 2005 ends, I've got the topic of "change" on my mind. Some changes are so easy to make, others are quite difficult. What are your times of change, and how have you reacted to them? Just curious. We're all flexible in various areas, and in various ways. Or, as the case may be, inflexible. What makes the difference?

No comments: