Whoever said that high school would be the best years of your life clearly never attended the torture that is Catholic high school, or the absolute joy that is Catholic grade school. My six years in Catholic grade school were the absolute best years of my life. I can only look back on those years and grin from ear to ear. These are the years where I made my first true friends, and I will forever be indebted to my Catholic grade school for two of my current best friends. I even remain in touch with other classmates as well, more than 10 years later. The little quirks that made you a "Catholic school kid" versus a "public school kid" were some of the things that I loved the most, and while I never was able to have the "public school experience," I wouldn't change it for the world. The following are 10 signs that I experienced, and I am sure many others experienced if they went to Catholic grade school.
1. You would get so pumped when you got to sit next to your crush at school Mass, because it meant that you got to give them the sign of peace and hold their hand during the "Our Father."
2. You never forgot to fast on Ash Wednesday because morning snack was always cancelled.
3. You felt like a rebel compared to your non-Catholic friends because you got to drink wine, I mean blood, at Mass. (Starting at eight years old, nonetheless.)
4. Every other art project, if not more, had a religious theme behind it.
5. You got reprimanded at least once for wearing the rosary like a necklace.
6. "Catholic Schools Week" was something to look forward to all year because it was an excuse to not have real classes or tests but instead have a week of celebration, food and all-school movies in the gym.
7. The excitement surrounding "Grub Days" or "Dress Down Days." Need I say more?
8. Your teachers used the whole "leave room for your guardian angel" when sitting next to each other at Mass just so that you wouldn't talk as much.
9. You chose a patron saint and dressed up as them at least once.
10. You and the 15 other people that you went to school with for six years straight became a family that created lifelong memories which you still reminisce about to this day.
