Mom, I must confess...

Hey mom,

I have something that I need to tell you. I know that I was not known as being a good kid when I was younger, however you and everyone who knew me as a kid knows that I did a complete 180. However, before I can fully leave the past alone I must confess something…

Whenever I got into trouble and was sent home with a note, I would hide the notes. How did I do this, you ask? Well…even though I was five or six at the time and not too clever, I would either rip up the note and “act like I never got it”. Or I would take the note and put the note in my pocket and throw it away deep into the garbage can. Either way, I just could not have you know that I was getting in trouble. Looking back, I can laugh thinking about how mischevious I was. However I am not quite done yet.

My teacher was always curious as to if you were getting the notes, so she made it where I needed to show proof that you were getting the notes; by getting you or dad’s signature. I thought it was the end of the world. So, I thought of a more clever thing to do. If they required signatures, I would copy your signature and give it to the teacher. I have been known for years to have a good signature. In fact, you told me how I can write like anyone. It took practice and determination for me to copy you or dad’s very difficult signatures to copy. What can I say? I did not want you finding out that I was talking too much or I was in trouble for tackling boys too hard when playing with them. It is actually cringe thinking about me being like this.

Oh my teacher knew something was not right. I was still getting in trouble but she started getting suspicious and wondered if you or dad was talking to me. So, she called me. You are probably wondering to yourself, “I never got a call from your teacher!”. Yes, yes you have. Many actually. You just never got the messages because I knew how to delete the messages. Yep, this six year old was deleting the messages and pretty much covered my steps. I was deleting the messages as soon as I was in the house.

Eventually, I began to behave a little more but I was scared that I would get caught. My teacher always wondered why I was never getting into trouble but well, what can I say? I was good for a six year old. I calmed down and became a good kid. I was too scared of getting in trouble, but the thing is that I felt like I was disappointing you and dad. Looking back now, I must confess that while I can laugh at it now and maybe even tell you since it has been over 20 years, I still cannot believe how mischievous and cunning that I could be at the age of six years old. I guess that the thing about it all is that in a weird way, that experience actually changed me. Yeah I was scared of getting in trouble as it was, but it was so exhausting having to hide it every week. So mom, I am sorry that you never knew about all of the sneaky things that I did. I finally feel free to acknowledge what I did and to let you know that while I feel this changed me for the better, I am sorry.

Love,

Your daughter