Friday, Mar. 22, 2002 | 5:06 p.m.

one is that this girl named cathy was absent the whole first week of school because she was in disney world. i tried to envision her in my mind. i thought she would be this really pretty, popular girl with curly hair.

she is, even now, the dorkiest girl i have ever known.

the other thing i remember was lunch. i'd never eaten lunch in a cafeteria before. when i took up my tray, i had my cookie in my hand so i could eat it. a really tall african american woman yelled at me to put my cookie back on my tray.

i didn't get to eat it.

why are these the only things i remember about the first day of first grade? why don't i remember riding the bus or something we did or how my teacher was nice?

i think there must be something wrong with me.