Remember Topsy Tails?

I'm sitting here on the couch with Stephanie, seemingly writing an essay on social rights and economic justice, but instead I find myself staring at the page blankly, playing with my hair.

My hands automatically turned my ponytail into a Topsy Tail.

That's right, a Topsy Tail. Or Topsy Turvy. What have you.

"Do you remember flip-throughs?" I asked Steph.

Her eyes went wide. "YES!"

"And do you remember that little tool you could use to make one?"

"Yeah, it had a name, didn't it? Not a flip-through...."

"A TOPSY TAIL!"





I can remember when I was in second grade, having Jessica Richards over to play (even though she was a terrible playmate, one of those girls who's nice at school, so you invite her over to your house, only to find out that she's secretly an anarchist who would dictate every game you would play, forcing you to count the minutes until your mom said it was time for her to go home). I remember she walked through my kitchen, and her perfectly shiny brown flip-through glistened in the sunlight. I knew I had to have one. From then on, it was history. I was hooked.

Perhaps topsy tails are where my love for "doing hair" was born. Who knows. But my second-grade-self loved them. Ah, memories.

I think I still have the Topsy Tail Tool at home.

What are your second grade memories?