For the first time in a year, I am going to write about something besides sports.
If I can, I would like to share a little about my fourth grade year.
I came out of the gate strong, with my teacher moving me into a corner about five feet away from anyone else because of my disruptive nature.
After that, my teacher wanted a meeting with my parents because of my struggles in the class, especially with turning in homework.
Her suggestion was to at certain times put a cardboard box around me so every one would know when it was “Tyler Time,” and I could focus on my work.
One time at recess, I made the first major mistake of my life. My best friend at the time was in the same class, and we were always on the same team for sports. One day, I missed a catch in three flags up and my friend made fun of me for it.
What followed was just stupid. I let my anger get the best of me and did something I would soon regret; I went over to him and straight-up choked him.
So with one fell swoop of my tiny hands, I lost my best friend. I had to sign a contract with him and the principal saying that I would go near or mess with him.
The second mistake I made is probably the stupidest thing I have ever done. I was getting bad grades on tests, so my teacher wanted me to take my tests home and get them signed by a parent. What followed is honestly the most ridiculous idea I’ve ever had.
I decided I was going to forge my dad’s signature so he wouldn’t find out about my poor grades. The only problem was, I signed it in pencil. Oh yeah, I also wrote it in regular writing, no cursive. Needless to say, that was an interesting conversation with my teacher, parents and principal.
Like most schools, mine had a multiplication challenge. However, I didn’t do my work from the day before, so I was not able to attend the competition. To make it worse, my class won. What’s worse than that? I wasn’t allowed to attend the party that went with winning the competition.
Another time, we were listening to classical music preparing for a field trip. While having ‘Tyler Time’, I started to mimic the instruments. Well, they spotted me and sure enough I was now not allowed to attend that either.
My fourth grade year was not all bad though.
Looking back, I can see the mistakes I made and the things I should have done but didn’t.
I can’t blame anyone but myself. The things I did were my choices and I had to deal with those consequences as they came.
I’m glad that I did all of those stupid, irresponsible things back then so I could learn from those mistakes and be better today.
I’m not perfect and never will be, but things like that make you learn and grow from them.
All in all, I think Heraclitus said it best when he said, “You cannot step into the same river twice.”
