Your memories had me sighing and tearing up in equal measure. This has been my favorite part of these memes: when people elaborate upon the memory and so make it mine as well.

I went to Catholic school for eight years, even though my parents weren't all that religious because it provided a better education than our public schools, even back then. The gap has probably increased exponentially. I'm fortunate that I am by nature a questioner, so that the religious claptrap didn't take hold, but I have kept the good parts: I can still diagram a sentence and recite the times tables. My penmanship, however... let's just say that Sister Mary Richard would break her ruler on my knuckles if she saw it today.