Hmmm, where should I begin this story? How about kindergarten, everyone’s adventures begin in kindergarten. Mine starts with the first day when I didn’t wanna go to school. My mom kept telling me, school is fun, kindergarten is just like Pre-K. You’ll feel better once the day REALLY begins. All riff-raff. My parents, an explorer and a scientist, we’re rarely at home and just needed to drop me off somewhere. As someone who had already been through babysitting, daycare and Pre-K, I was used to being dropped off somewhere, but I didn’t always like it.

Today I just wanted to stay home and watch Tourney the dancing dinosaur. But no, I had to be rushed to school, where my mom eventually left me with a yellow crayon and some printed black and white photo of a sun. Well, at least I liked to draw.

All I remember from there is that while everybody else colored in the lines of the sun or was busy licking the ‘cinnamon’ colored crayons, I scribble-scrabbled my picture of the sun and really got busy on the back, drawing a beautiful self-portrait. When the teacher came around she told me I had a beautiful drawing of myself on the back, but maybe I should have paid more attention trying to color in the lines?

Whatever.

Eventually, she took us outside, and began to tell us about what it means to be ‘in our elements’.

She began explaining that there are elements all around us, the air, fire, water, wind, and soul, and that, if we were careful, we could tap into that power.

She demonstrated by going over to the lake and sitting on the bricks that were a barrier around its edges. She closed her eyes and thought. Then, she put the palm of her hand over the water. That’s when the amazing stuff started to happen. Little by little, tiny balls of water started to lift up to her hand, and she slowly started to lift her hand up. Soon, orbs of all sizes from all edges of the pool were being pulled to her hand like a magnet. Before I knew it, when she raised her hand right side up, a water orb was hovering right above it.

The whole class erupted with ‘WOAH!’s and ‘COOL!’s.

“Eh, I can do better.” said one boy standing in front of the teacher. He put his hand in the air, and focused his eyes on his hand.

“Thomas-” the teacher started, but what kindergartner actually listens to the teacher?

He flexed his fingers a bit, and blam! A fire ball was in the palm of his hand.

More woahs and cools. The fire ball jiggled in his hand. All that concentrated fire must have been heavy, since he said ‘woah’ himself, and went to balance the thing between both his hands.

Showoff, I thought.

All I can remember after that was getting a nose bleed.

“Oh gosh, Samantha, your nose is bleeding, you’ll have to go to the office,” The teacher told me.

As I walked off I heard her say, “Everyone else, you will all get a turn trying out your elements!”

“Aw,” I said aloud. I was going to miss some of the fun stuff.

But off I stomped...