Oh to Hand Write!

The Handwritten Draft of this Post

     Oh to hand write indeed!  When I was a youngster, I could not wait to learn to hand write. It seemed so magical and mysterious.  How could these markings, these endless flows of penish waves be made in such a way that others, in on the code, could decipher them.  I wanted to be part of the inner circle.  I wanted to know the key.
     At Burns Elementary in Detroit, they first taught us to print.  I understood why.  As we were learning to read printed block letters, we should first learn to write the same way.  But, come on, I wanted to hand write.  I really wanted to hand write.
     If not the first day of 3rd grade, it was in the first week, we began to learn cursive writing.  We didn't call it anything so highbrow.  We simply called it handwriting.  I was excited.  The day had finally arrived.  We spent the whole first session writing i's and e's.  I was proud of my page of i's and e's truly.  I took it home to show my Mom.  But, it also felt lame.  I felt like I could have handled three, five, ten, heck, I was ready for all 26 letters.
     Actually, it came very quickly after that first day.  Almost as quickly as I learned, two negatives popped up.  First, it was faster than printing but dang if it wasn't still tedious.  I always thought because of the flowy and graceful appearance, the handwriting would be much faster.  Second, my handwriting was not uniform.  It was just not very elegant looking or beautiful.  A few of the girls seemed to be very good at it.  Their handwriting was uniform, elegant, and beautiful.  Mine was ugly and embarrassing.
      Soon after we learned to write, we were given themes, book reports, and such.  I struggled.  I struggled with the handwriting and the content.  I do believe a lack of eloquent content was the biggest factor.  It took everything I had to fill a page with the handwriting that I had so longed for.   And when I say a page, it was that greenish very wide rule beginning handwriting paper.  I used every schoolkid trick in the book.  I wrote larger and longer.  I cheated on the margins but never enough to be obvious.  Who am I kidding?  I am sure our teacher, Mrs. Blakely, knew.
     I remember Gail Palmer, Patti Haley, and especially Mary Simmons.  As I would be turning in my ugly handwriting wide margin page, I might catch a  glance at the girls' papers.  They all seemed like they had six pages of the most beautiful handwriting with no extra margins.
     I was not until I started this daily writing habit back in 2002 that I really became comfortable with my handwriting.  I am OK with it today and realize I have my own style that is elegant and uniform in its own way.  Plus, I can now  crank it out when I want to.  It may have taken a long time but I may have fulfilled that childhood dream of handwriting.