Post #1: "First Day"

I read the story "First Day," about a little girl going with her mom to the first day of Kindergarten.  The little girl is extremely excited to go to her first day of school; her hair is all done-up, her clothes are all ready, and there is even a flower behind her ear.  The two first go to Seaton Elementary School, which is conveniently right across from her mother's church, but are turned away because they don't live in the district.  They then go to Walker-Jones Elementary school. where, when filling out her forms, the little girl realizes that her mother doesn't know how to read.  She is too young to be embarrassed for her mother, as people surrounding them take turns to gawk, but as she gets older, the little girl thinks differently, and reflects on this first learning experience.

One of the most important parts of this story was when the girl is turned away from Seaton Elementary School, because not only greatly disappoints her, but it also frustrates her mother, for as the school was right across from her church, she feels a strong, spiritual connection with it.  Another part of this story that I thought was very important was when the little girl's mother admits to the woman at the registration table that she cannot read, because it connects to the first sentence of the story, that this was the morning "long before [the little girl] learned to be ashamed of [her] mother," and sparks a feeling of shadenfreude in the woman, and impolite staring for those who walk by.  The last moment I chose as one of the most important ones was the ending, when the little girl, though too young to fully understand what is going on, realized that her mother is different, and that feeling follows her throughout her entire life.