Laura Sjoberg
Sep. 22nd, 2006 10:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
morrigirlAs many of you already know, I lived in Pensacola, Florida for a period of five months when I was 10. It was my mother's home town and the place my grandparents had lived for well over 50 years by that point. My grandmother was in the process of succumbing to cancer, and my mother wanted to be with her during her final days. So, instead of returning to New York after summer vacation, mom enrolled me in the nearby private school my cousin Talia attended, the Episcopal Day School.
EDS wasn't incredibly good to me. There were only 15 kids in my fifth grade class, an unbelievably small number to a city girl like myself who was used to being in classrooms of 40+ children. I was shy and just entering my awkward phase, and because of the class size I couldn't fade into the back ground. All the kids seemed very aware of me and my lack of social prowess. Most of them had been attending EDS since kindergarten, had moved through all the grades together, and had already formed very tight friendships. The kids quickly learned to ignore me. This feeling of being out of place was punctuated by the fact that I hadn't done very well on the mathematics competency test I'd been given upon enrollment and, as a consequence, had to go over to the fourth grade class down the hall everyday during math period because the administration didn't think I was ready for fifth grade math.
On the first day of class, when we got to the math lesson my teacher, Ms. Sjoberg, asked her daughter, Laura, who was also in the fifth grade, to walk me to the fourth grade classroom. Laura had bright blond hair and I remember she was wearing a pretty blue and white dress that I'd been admiring all day. We walked down the hallway, side by side, in silence. I clutched my loose leaf binder to my chest and stared at the ground. I dind't know what else to do. As we approached the fourth grade class, and I remember this so clearly, Laura said to me, "You're very pretty." I think I mumbled a quick thank you. It was the first time anyone outside of my family told me I was pretty.
After that Laura took it upon herself to become my friend. I found out that Laura had only been attending EDS for a year or two so she didn't exactly fit in either. Sometimes the other kids made fun of her just as they made fun of me, so it was only natiral that we formed a bond. Laura was the only friend I had during those five months, and it was her caring, compassion, and humor that made my time at EDS bearable and even worthwhile.
When my grandmother finally passed in December of 1989, mom and I returned to New York and I went back to my old school after Christmas break. Laura and I wrote letters to each other for a short while, but as 10 year olds do, we became otherwise engaged in our lives and stopped. I have not heard a word from Laura Sjoberg in 17 years.
Tonight I was feeling bored and curious, and started randomly typing the names of my friends into Yahoo just to see what sort of hits I'd get. This is something I do periodically because A) it's fun for a research junkie like myself, B) I like to see what sort of presence my friends have on the web, and C) because I always, always, ALWAYS find out something I didn't know before about someone close to me whenever I do this. Tonight, I decided to see what sort of hits I'd get off of Laura Sjoberg.
Hot damn y'all! I remember Laura as this good natured, somewhat awkward ten year old like myself. This is Laura Sjoberg now! This is the book she wrote while she was at Harvard! (And that I absolutely MUST add to my library as soon as possible.) I was so delighted to click around her website and see what an accomplsihed person she has become. She is an author, a teacher, an academic, and she's getting married next May. How fucking awesome is THAT?!
So, Laura Sjoberg, I salute you! You have made much of yourself in a short amount of time. Though I always admired you, I've just been given more reason to continue doing so. You prove that the kid at the bottom of the social ladder can rise to the top. I also see you have a blog. Maybe one day, after I have read your book, I will leave you a comment expressing my admiration of your work, and asking if you remember the shy little city girl from fifth grade.
EDS wasn't incredibly good to me. There were only 15 kids in my fifth grade class, an unbelievably small number to a city girl like myself who was used to being in classrooms of 40+ children. I was shy and just entering my awkward phase, and because of the class size I couldn't fade into the back ground. All the kids seemed very aware of me and my lack of social prowess. Most of them had been attending EDS since kindergarten, had moved through all the grades together, and had already formed very tight friendships. The kids quickly learned to ignore me. This feeling of being out of place was punctuated by the fact that I hadn't done very well on the mathematics competency test I'd been given upon enrollment and, as a consequence, had to go over to the fourth grade class down the hall everyday during math period because the administration didn't think I was ready for fifth grade math.
On the first day of class, when we got to the math lesson my teacher, Ms. Sjoberg, asked her daughter, Laura, who was also in the fifth grade, to walk me to the fourth grade classroom. Laura had bright blond hair and I remember she was wearing a pretty blue and white dress that I'd been admiring all day. We walked down the hallway, side by side, in silence. I clutched my loose leaf binder to my chest and stared at the ground. I dind't know what else to do. As we approached the fourth grade class, and I remember this so clearly, Laura said to me, "You're very pretty." I think I mumbled a quick thank you. It was the first time anyone outside of my family told me I was pretty.
After that Laura took it upon herself to become my friend. I found out that Laura had only been attending EDS for a year or two so she didn't exactly fit in either. Sometimes the other kids made fun of her just as they made fun of me, so it was only natiral that we formed a bond. Laura was the only friend I had during those five months, and it was her caring, compassion, and humor that made my time at EDS bearable and even worthwhile.
When my grandmother finally passed in December of 1989, mom and I returned to New York and I went back to my old school after Christmas break. Laura and I wrote letters to each other for a short while, but as 10 year olds do, we became otherwise engaged in our lives and stopped. I have not heard a word from Laura Sjoberg in 17 years.
Tonight I was feeling bored and curious, and started randomly typing the names of my friends into Yahoo just to see what sort of hits I'd get. This is something I do periodically because A) it's fun for a research junkie like myself, B) I like to see what sort of presence my friends have on the web, and C) because I always, always, ALWAYS find out something I didn't know before about someone close to me whenever I do this. Tonight, I decided to see what sort of hits I'd get off of Laura Sjoberg.
Hot damn y'all! I remember Laura as this good natured, somewhat awkward ten year old like myself. This is Laura Sjoberg now! This is the book she wrote while she was at Harvard! (And that I absolutely MUST add to my library as soon as possible.) I was so delighted to click around her website and see what an accomplsihed person she has become. She is an author, a teacher, an academic, and she's getting married next May. How fucking awesome is THAT?!
So, Laura Sjoberg, I salute you! You have made much of yourself in a short amount of time. Though I always admired you, I've just been given more reason to continue doing so. You prove that the kid at the bottom of the social ladder can rise to the top. I also see you have a blog. Maybe one day, after I have read your book, I will leave you a comment expressing my admiration of your work, and asking if you remember the shy little city girl from fifth grade.
