The Growth Spurt

I had a growth spurt during the summer between 5th and 6th grade. A serious growth spurt. I think I ended up growing about 3 inches in three months. There is no way I could not have been in pain during that time. It almost makes me wince when I think of somebody going through that kind of thing. In retrospect, it may help to explain my bad joints and my lack of trust in them. When it comes to dislocating joints I am always cognizant of the possibility of it happening. It has happened often and is always very, very painful. Anyway, back to my growth spurt.

When I went back to school on the first day of sixth grade I was probably a mess. Added height, probably a voice at was starting to change, and all the inner turmoil that hormonal transition brings. I do remember at one point how is was excruciating to lie on my stomach unless I did it just right because I had some sort of puberty breast thing going on. I guess it was nature deciding whether or not it needed to be switching the boob growth gene on or leave it off. I'm sure it was during this time that my parents decided it was time to shop for a real house to separate the boys and the girls.

One interesting thing about my growth spurt was how I dominated the 6th grade games on the last day of school. Every year on the last day of school, Algona Elementary School had Game Day. There were a bunch of events structured around races and competition. Some were meant to be more fun than sporting, and some were more athletic than fun. That year I dominated them. Before 6th grade I don't think I ever won a single event. Seriously. That was even considering the fact that they were all grouped by ages and things. Before that I never won a single ribbon in any event. I made up for my prior years of incompetence and weakness on the last day of 6th grade.  I think I won first place in all but one event. When I think about it, it's not all that surprising--the news is full of people excelling with hormone therapy, right?  I didn't win them all on athletics alone though.  I remember one event where everybody had to take of their shoes before the race, and they were put into a big pile at the far end of the field.  We would race down, find our shoes and put them on, and race back.  I remember planning that one and I had some brightly colored something on my shoes that made them ultra easy to find.

The last day of school was always a fun day at Algona Elementary School.  It was a celebration of the last day of school and the onset of summer--all at once.