2018 September FROM MY
PERSPECTIVE
School has started for just about every child of school
age. Here in my community it started in
the middle of August. That’s not so bad
for the kids in my area because the schools are now air condition. Usually, it is hotter than the hubs of Hades
here in August; so, the administrator and boards of education got smart and air
conditioned the schools. Not all schools
in this area are, though. I remember
those days when all I taught for about a month, with fans blowing air the speed
of jets, was how many trips to the water fountain can one make before they have
to use the bathroom.
The Aztecs gave us the word “ahuacatl” which we’ve made into
“avocado”. Ahuacatl, literally means testicle,
but you didn’t want to know that, did you?
HA! Now you do. Tomato is the official fruit
of Ohio and Tennessee and official vegetable of the state of New Jersey.
Arkansas and Arizona can’t make up their minds and call it both official fruit and
vegetable. Finally, the US Supreme Court has decreed that it’s a veggie. It is, also, acceptable to pronounce it “tuh-MAY-to”
or “tuh-MAH-to”. In the South and other
rural areas, “mater” is used. Is everything clear now?
Brenduhh’s brother, Bubbuh came over asking if I’d please
loan him my object grabber stick. I
asked him why he needed it. He told me,
“Welp, the FedX man brought me a large, brown envelope and put it on my door mat. The envelope says, ‘DO NOT BEND’ in bold
letters, and I’ve been trying for 2 hours to pick it up without bending.”
Aint Daisy asked me over for some of her delicious
lemonade. I never pass up an opportunity
for that or to talk with her. I asked her
how she was doing and how her children were.
She is so blessed to have them live within 20 miles of her. She told me she was doing just fine, but was
a bit perplexed with the kids. “It seems
they just can’t find time to come visit at least one day a week for an hour or
so. I guess they don’t realize once I’m
gone, I’m gone for good. I’ve mentioned
them visiting me, but they always seem to have a full-schedule of events all
week which keep them, as they say it, ‘very busy.’ In my opinion, if yer too busy to call or go
see yer mom, yer just too danged busy. I
hope they’ll have time to make it to my funeral.” I ached for her and decided I’d go see her
every week, invite or not.
I went to college in West Virginia. I was from Pittsburgh and was used to urban
and suburban living. It was in the
county hills I learned a lot about life and folks. West
Virginia is the only state in the Union to have acquired its sovereignty by
proclamation of the President of the United States. West Virginia is
considered the southern most northern state and the northern most southern
state. Mother's Day was first observed at Andrews Church in Grafton on May 10,
1908. It’s rolling mountains and hills
are absolutely breathtaking in the Fall.
I find it ironic that the colors
red, white, and blue stand for freedom, until they’re flashing behind you. If at first you don’t succeed---skydiving is
not for you. “Oops” is not what you want
to hear from your dentist. I have found
that artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity. He who laughs last, thinks the slowest. If tomatoes are technically a fruit, is
ketchup a smoothie?
Daddy had a sweater he loved. It was grey with a
pocket on each side. He'd worn it so much that Mother had to patch the
elbow of the sleeves, rework the button holes, and sew on a button or
two. There were times he saw me a little distressed. He'd be
sitting in his chair with the old sweater around his shoulders.
"Seems like you have some burdens right now, Babe," he say. I'd
let him know that, yes, I was troubled, but was trying to work it out.
He'd smile and tell me, "Try this on.; you'll see why after a while."
I'd take it from his hands, put it up to my throat feeling the softness
surround me, and smell the fragrance of his aftershave. After a while,
the tension in my shoulders eased and I felt some peace. "Daddy,
thank you for loaning your sweater to me for a while. You were right, I
feel better." He grinned and said, "Sometimes actually feeling
a garment of one you trust is all you need to bring you some peace."
He didn't mention the fragrance of that person brings peace, too. There
have been experiments done with fretful babies and animals using clothing of a
caretaker placed so they can smell them. They would become calm
afterwards.
Once, twice, thrice... so what is four or five, or
more? There is no word for four times,
five times, etc., in the English language.
As a consolation, English does have words beyond primary, secondary, and
tertiary. There are quaternary, quinary, senary, and so on. Now you know,
if you didn’t know already.
TO ALL TEACHERS OUT THERE:
Every student needs someone who says, simply, "You mean something.
You count." -Tony Kushner, playwright (b. 16 Jul 1956)
A conundrum: Why is
it that BI-WEEKLY means twice a week, but it also means EVERY 2 weeks? Hmmm??
Food for thought: If
your absence doesn’t affect them, your presence never mattered. “Doing your best” does not mean working
yourself to the point of a mental breakdown.
The mind replays what the heart can’t delete.
A former student gave me a mug. It held 20 ounces of beverage and coffee was
my choice that day. I’d been struggling
with a problem, by myself, which didn’t seem to wane. As I drank from that mug using my right hand
in the handle, the saying said, “With God, All things are possible.” I thought and then turned it around using my
left hand to hold it. It said, “All
things are possible, With God.” There
was clearly a message there for me.
Guy, my Beloved, told me, he and our son
Stephen were riding in the car to go somewhere when another car sped around
them and cut Guy off. Stephen asked what
Guy was going to do. Guy told him, "Oh he's stupid and I'm just going to
leave him that way." They came up to the stop light and Guy was on the
left side of the other car. The man's window was rolled down. Stephen rolled
down his window, stuck his head out and said to the man, "You are really
stupid, and Dad's just going to leave you that way."
My daughter, Tara was having trouble with
another student when she was in first grade. She told me about it and I taught
her how to tell him off in Polish, but I never told her what it meant. She
practiced the saying often. This one day she came home irritated. I asked her
why she was irritated. She said, "John was bugging me again, but I fixed
him. I told him that saying you taught me. Oh, here's a note from my
teacher." I opened the note; it read, "Trudy, I know you're trying to
teach Tara non-violent ways to solved negative interaction problems with
others. Today she told John to "kiss my ass" in Polish. It was all I
could do to not laugh out loud. I asked Tara what she had said. She told me she
didn't know, but you'd taught it to her and it would fix the problem. My
grandparents lived with us while I was growing up. They were from Poland;
Grandpa had quite a temper. All the best
to you, Erika." I was sure no one
in this area spoke Polish. Thank goodness that was the ONLY phrase I knew. Be careful what you teach your children to
say; they will take it and use it……..that’s their job!!!
NEW WORD:
paragnosis: noun:
Knowledge that cannot be obtained by normal means.
