Dr. Daniel Singh - Which Reminds Me of a Story

WHICH REMINDS
ME OF A STORY

Dr. Daniel Singh

Copyright 2022 by Dr. Daniel Singh.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of creative non-fiction. All of the events in this memoir are true
to the best of the authors memory. Some names and identifying features have
been changed to protect the identity of certain parties. The author in no way
represents any company, corporation, or brand, mentioned herein. The views
expressed in this memoir are solely those of the author.

Cover design and art by Ariel Sinha. For further information about the artist
visit www.arielsinhaha.com.

Rev. date: 03/30/2022

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CONTENTS

Your life is full of at least a million things that have happened to you! Some have been good, some not-so-good, some in-between. Think of all the places youve visited, the people youve met, the friends youve made. School. Hobbies. What youve done. Things youve thought about in your private moments. Good decisions youve made and yes, mistakes youve made too. The list is endless. Together, they all comprise the events and memories that have filled your days as youve been growing up. This is life, your life, and no one has lived it exactly like you. Its your story!

Which brings us to this book. For most of my career, I was a teacher. Ive recently retired, but over the years, I had the pleasure of teaching children of many different grades, from elementary through high school. Every once in a while, whether in conversation with a student out on the playground or in class discussion, something would come up that would remind me of a story that happened to me when I was about their age (yes, I was a kid once too!). If I thought the story might illustrate a point or be of interest to them, I would tell it.

In so doing, I discovered something. I found that despite my being an adult and older than the kids, the stories resonated with them. This is because, from generation to generation, there are things we all have in common as we grow up. They could be emotions we are feeling, finding whats fair and unfair, dealing with embarrassments and hurts, going through situations with family and friends, experiencing laughter and milestones, or overcoming special challenges, to name just a few. So, in relating my stories, it wasnt hard for the kids to link to the lessons of my own youth.

Before the telling, Id always start with Which reminds me of a story... This little phrase caught on especially with my elementary and middle school students because when the class heard it, they would often erupt in a spontaneous Yay! and quickly settle in to see what was coming. Some of the stories were funny, some poignant, some serious, some informative, some mysterious, and some stories, if we had a spare minute or two, I would tell just to entertain the class. As I related the stories out loud, the actor in me would change voices, add sound effects, do gestures, pause for effect, and employ other means to make the telling more memorable (youll have to use your imagination for this book!). I found too if the timing was right and I told them well, the stories could be impactful, each in their own way. And it wasnt uncommon for a student or a small group of students to ask to have lunch with me in the classroom in order to relate their own (oftentimes, similar!) experiences. These get-togethers made for excellent teacher-student bonding moments too.

From time to time, students would ask whether Id written down any of my personal tales. I hadntuntil now. So what you have before you is a collection of bite-size, autobiographical anecdotes Ive finally put to paper. Each can be read in just a few minutes, so you can pick it up and put it down as you like. Youll also see I may introduce a story with a little background information or comments that paint a picture of how life and times were when I was young, and at storys end, if theres a lesson or two I learned, I describe that too. Most that Ive picked out happened to me when I was a youth, but Ive also included a few that involved my own children during my parenting years, or from when I was a teacher. Throughout the book, Ive changed the names of people and places to respect identities, but aside from this, in case youre wondering: yes, all these stories are true; they actually happened!

If youre in the fourth to seventh grade (sometimes referred to as the tween years), you might especially like this book, though of course, theres no hard-and-fast rule on that. It depends on you, your reading skill, and the story itself, but Ive found most students that age have generally accumulated enough life experience, power of imagination, sophistication of thought processes, and vocabulary to enjoy them. I hope you do too.

One last thing. Dont forget to ask the people who care for youyour parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, other family membersabout their stories. They wont be around forever, so nows the time. Think of questions to ask. What happened to them as they were growing up? What tests in life did they face? Triumphs? Defeats? Things theyd do differently if they could? Take a walk together or sit down and just listen. Enjoy each others company. Theyve lived lifetimes, and their stories, what theyve gathered and gained, can be invaluable. Youd be surprised at what you can learn and the wisdom they can offer.

And dont forget, someday youll be older too. Youll have your own stories to tell the next generation!

Dr. Daniel Singh

THE BURP HEARD
ROUND THE WORLD

You burp. I burp. Everybody burps. If you babysit infants, you know its wise to have a burp towel on your shoulder in case the little one blubs onto you while burping him/her. You might say, when it comes to humans, every-body burps. Its a fact of life, isnt it?

Having been a teacher, I know it happens in the classroom too, but have you noticed there are differences as to how burping is accepted among boys and girls? In most social gatherings, girls tend to refrain from burping. Its as if it were an unspoken rule among them: ladies simply try to avoid doing so in public, if they can help it. If they do burp intentionally, its often for comedic effect or at just-girls gatherings, like at a sleepover or slumber party. Boys can be different. They tend to feel less inhibited about burping, and theres the inevitable one or two in class who discovers how to swallow air and do it at will. Guys even come up with contests among themwho can burp the longest, the grossest, or do chain-belching (one after the other in a series). Sometimes a kid in class whos clowning around (usually a boy, almost never a girl) will burp loudly to get attention or provoke a reaction out of others. As you can imagine, this usually doesnt go over well with the teacher!

Every once in a great while, however, there comes the rare perfect storm that brings forth a burp that defies the laws of the universeand herein lies my tale.

It was lunchtime in the school cafeteria. I was in the third grade, therefore eight going on nine. Typical in elementary schools, the gym was used as the cafeteria, and the entire school was there having lunch. Filling the cafeteria were the many long tables with fold-down bench seats that could seat a whole class at once. Oh, I want to give a shout-out to the kitchen staff of my school. They were amazing! Every day they would prepare tasty fresh meals of a healthy variety for all the students. Desserts were a special treat too. They could be selections like a brownie, a cookie, strawberry shortcake with whipped cream on top, or other good stuff. And throughout the week, if there were any leftover, you could buy seconds for only 5. I usually kept an extra nickel in my pocket for those occasions!