BE a Safety

Letter #5 in a series...

Lesson #5: Always vote for yourself.

Dear Future Grandchildren,

My favorite year in elementary school was 2nd grade because I had the coolest teacher. Her name was Miss Gold. She was young, pretty, and she wore decals on her long nails. On top of that she drove a purple car! I have lot of great memories of my time in her class, but one of them stands out.

Now, I’m about to admit something that may reveal (or confirm) that your Nana was somewhat of a nerd in school. This will most likely not come as a shock to many of those that read this letter, but once I tell you the story there will be no denying it. You see, in second grade I proudly signed up to be a safety. (Google it). As a safety your job was to make sure the other kids stayed “safe” in the hallways and on the bus. It mostly involved yelling “no running” and “no standing”. But, the very best part about being a safety was that you got to wear a fluorescent sash to flex your authority and to make sure the other kids knew who you were!

All of this is actually super funny when I think back on it, because I was the second smallest kid in 2nd grade, so the thought of me having any power over the bigger kids (and the older ones since our school went up to 4th grade) is comical. How do I know I was the smallest, you ask? Well, back then whenever we’d leave the classroom for lunch, an assembly or for gym, etc., the teacher lined us up in height order and the only person ever shorter than me during all my elementary years was Mary Pomilio. At the time I was happy to be at the front of the line with Mary, but in hindsight there's definitely something insulting 🤔 about having to line up that way. I hope that's not what they do in school nowadays!

Anyway, one day in class Miss Gold announced that we were going to be choosing a captain of the safeties! WHAT?! An upgrade to the already super cool leadership position I held? WOOHOO! Loving the authority that tiny-little-shy-youngest-child-complexed me gained by being a regular safety, I knew becoming captain would be even more awesome! So, I added my name to the list of candidates.

Back in the old days, whenever we had to vote on something in class we did so via the ‘heads down hands up’ technique. (Google it) So, my head was down on my desk because it was time to vote and Miss Gold started to say each candidate's name. When she said ‘Jennifer' though, I panicked. All of the sudden, my little eight year old brain started processing what I was about to do. I was about to vote for …myself!? Is that okay to do, I thought. It seemed to contradict with so many of the lessons my parents had taught me like- be kind to others, don’t be selfish, put others first, etc., etc. I was super confused, and in that split second I made a decision NOT to vote for myself. Instead, I voted for my friend Sonia.

When voting was over, Miss Gold said we could raise our heads and when I looked at the tally on the chalkboard (Google it) I saw that Sonia had beat me… by ONE VOTE. Translation, if I had voted for myself I would have won. OMG. Later that day, Miss Gold called me to her desk and she said “Jennifer, why didn’t you vote for yourself?” And I said, “I didn’t think I should." And she said “Oh, you sweet girl." I’ll never forget that.

The good news is that even though I did not become captain of the safeties that day, I really enjoyed being a leader in the classroom as a plain old safety. As such, I went on to assume a lot of leadership roles throughout my school years in Student Council, cheerleading, and all sorts of other clubs and sports. Through all of them, I gained a plethora of valuable skills like communicating, problem solving, brainstorming, analyzing, delegating, and compromising. And believe me, when the time came for me to get voted into those positions, I DEFINITELY voted for myself! You see, even though Sonia became captain of the safeties via my vote, I learned a very valuable lesson that day. You ABSOLUTELY…ALWAYS… have to vote for yourself!

I showed my empathetic, sweet, innocent side as I wavered over whether to vote for myself that day, but in the end I realized that I should have. It is crucially important for you to be your own best advocate in life. Sure your family and friends will always support and love you, but ultimately you are responsible for putting yourself first in this world! It’s a hard lesson to learn - especially when you become a mom or dad, but it's essential to your well being that you take care of yourself before you take care of others. You can’t help, or believe in, or even love others until you help, believe in, and love yourself. It’s that simple. That means making sure to vote for yourself in all senses of the word and at all times throughout your life.

So, don’t hesitate to vote for yourself the next time you are a candidate for captain of the safeties 😘 or whatever position to which you aspire. Do so with pride and confidence knowing that you are doing it so that you can become the very best version of yourself which then will enable you to be the very best dad, mom, son, daughter, husband, wife, brother, sister, and friend to all those you love. You will always have MY vote and you should always have your own vote too!

Love,

Nana XXOO

Note: I am searching for my 2nd grade class photo and promise to add it here when I find it!

UPDATE: Found it! Can you find your Nana below?