Remember Gold Stars?

I always say, "I can remember the words to every Beatles song, but I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday".

As I get older, I don't think much about things that happened in grade school, but every now and then, something triggers a great memory.

Remember gold stars?  The teacher put them on your paper, for a job well done.  This was the 60's, so they weren't the peel off, stick on kind of stars.  They came in a little box, and if you were the teachers helper that week, you had to be careful.  If you opened the box too fast, they spilled all over the floor.  Even that was a treat, seeing those beautiful, shiny little stars everywhere.

Third Grade.  Mrs. Wright is still embedded in my brain.   Every Friday we got back our book reports.  Everyone got a star.  Blue for good work, green for great and red for excellent.  But only one...I repeat, one gold star was given to a paper in the class every Friday.  The best paper.   It took a lot to get that gold star.  Perfect penmenship.  Perfect spelling,  And  you had to capture Mrs. Wright's attention by finding a unique way to tell the story.

I confess, I don't  remember the names of the books we read, but I remember getting  that gold star a few times that year.  It was a motivator and self-esteem builder, and it's why Mrs. Wright was my favorite teacher.

I think just because we grow up doesn't mean we don't need gold stars every now and then.  Today, give someone you love a gold star.