Dyslexic Matriculation

Graduation season is here. This year I have some friends and family members who have children graduating from high school or college, even a friend who is graduating with a PhD from UCLA. Best of luck to all of you - it's a tough world out there at the moment.

I still have my "diploma" from kindergarten graduation at the Lakeview School in Grayslake, Il - it hangs on my wall. That's me in the above photo at my kindergarten graduation wearing a hat (the same hat my sister Cathy the Dragon wore on Easter - see previous Easter post), gloves and crucifix around my neck. It was also, thankfully, the year that my kindergarten teacher Mrs. Morse discovered that I was dyslexic. She brought it to the attention of the school and my parents because, among other things, she observed me cutting out paper shapes with the scissors reversed in my palm, aiming towards me. Mrs. Morse was very forward-thinking for a 1950's kindergarten teacher.

With effort and time I managed to work my mind around the affliction, although even today I sometimes struggle. My new hobby is crochet and often when I'm not paying enough attention, I crochet backwards. It's caused a lifetime of having to think harder about the task at hand, which in retrospect is not such a bad thing.