Time On Our Hands:

First Communion

The socks are a dead giveaway.  This was before my time!  The dresses and veils are similar to what we wore in 1956 when I made my own first communion, but those socks?  No way.  So maybe the 1940s?  I don't know really.  Let me know if you do, would you?  

By the way, in my computer I can click on the photo and it will open outside the window.  Then I can make it as big as I need it to be to see those kids.  You might want to try that if you have trouble seeing them well.  

So now, first of all, White-Shoes-On-The-Right.  What was she thinking?  All the other shoes are black!  Didn't she get the memo? Maybe this was a fashion statement or maybe it's all she had. Or maybe she was just a rebel in the making!  Her see-through dress is long enough, though, so that you don't have to look at her knees and the wrinkly socks all the other girls show off so well.  

The girl fourth from the right is stupefied.  Hard to say why.  She looks off to the side, quite puzzled, and wonders maybe if she should be taking communion at all! She looks very innocent to me.  I am sure it's alright for her to go with the others.

Among these children we have prayer books, rosary beads and Easter lilies with ferns.  Hand-me-down dresses and veils as well as spanking new clothes.  The balloon/bonnet veils are new to me I must admit -- they would be the ones worn by the girls on the left end of each row.  I have never seen any like this.  

The second young lady from the left in the second row is a cute little thing, all smiles and sweet cheeks.  And next to her is the tallest of the class, very pretty.  At the far end of the row is a little girl in glasses who is huddled with cold or fear or both!  She looks pretty happy though, so her posture is probably not fear related.  

At the far left end of the little boys stands one tiny gentleman in a suit with a huge Easter lily.  This little guy is cursed with huge ears.

Let me tell you a story.

When I was in kindergarten, our first teacher lasted one day.  It was her first day of teaching and she was killed in a car accident on the way home from school. It was quite amazing to 5 year olds and a horrible way to start school.  But then, immediately, we had a "substitute teacher" even though we didn't really have a teacher at all anymore!  The sub was named Mrs. Cotton and she was a total witch.  I do believe she hated children and don't know why she became a teacher.  She was short and stout and had Brillo Pad hair.  

In our class was one little boy (whose name escapes me) who had huge stick-out ears.  Mrs. Cotton picked on him relentlessly, calling him names that referred to his appearance. Though I don't remember what names she used, fifty eight years later I do remember her terrorism.  I look at this picture and hope that the little boy at the left end does not suffer the kind of injustice my classmate suffered at the hands of Mrs. Cotton, the most horrible teacher I ever had.     

After all the smiles in the first two rows, it's strange to see only one or two in the boys' group.  Most of them look puzzled or depressed.  Not so much angelic as bored.  Come on, boys, it's your big day!

I wonder if any of these children realized what they were about to do and what it meant.  Probably not, though they may have later.  I hope that their faith brought them joy and comfort in their lives and that this day was the beginning of a wonderful and enriching relationship between them and their church.  

God bless these little communicants.