I blame Charlemagne

So here is my handwriting story.

I was, I guess, five or six. I remember this as being at my grandmother's house, but I don't remember if it was to her or my mother that I showed something that looked like this:



I said, "That's an 'a'". Having seen them in my books, I just drew it. And my mother or my grandmother said that that's an 'a' in a book, but that's not how you write an 'a'. She drew something that looked like this:


And I asked why you write an 'a' like this when it's not like that in a book. Apparently, it's just so.

Like I said, my handwriting hasn't really caught up to my reading.