Mealtime Prayer

Thank you for the world so sweet.

Thank you for the food we eat.

Thank you for the birds that sing.

Thank you, God, for everything.

I've been thinking about the prayers of childhood.  (Little Lady Bug's approaching birth probably has something to do with that.)  Anyway, this was my prayer before we ate.  Each child in our family had a prayer.  It started with my oldest brother, then little big brother, then me, and finally little sis. 

I can still remember my oldest brother's prayer.  "Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest.  Let these gifts to us be blessed."  Little sis got the traditional "God is great.  God is good.  Let us thank him for our food."  However, I am quite sure that Little Big Brother and I got ripped off in the assignment of childhood prayers.  I can't remember his prayer for the life of me.  And then there was mine...!

I don't know what it was about this prayer, but I had a terrible time remembering it.  More than one prayer dissolved into laughter long before the end of those four lines.  Sometimes they prompted me; sometimes there were long silences.  Then there were either giggles or tears, depending on my mood and/or how cranky the parental units might be.  *sigh*

And it is such a sweet little prayer.  (Though even when I was typing it, I had to think long and hard.) Strange how some of the things from childhood never really leave you.

Every Sunday of My Childhood

I've been thinking a lot about my little hometown church that closed a few weeks ago. 

Every Sunday School of my childhood ended with our Sunday School class standing in front of that little railing and reciting the Bible verse of that day's lesson.  Each class would rise and recite their verse, then we'd all sing a hymn.  If there was a birthday, the birthday person (young or old) would go forward and put pennies in a little white plastic church bank:  one penny for each year of life.  Sunday School always ended with the same prayer.

"Let the words of my mouth

And the meditations of my heart

Be acceptable in Thy sight

O Lord, My Strength and My Redeemer."

Some things just stay with you.

Highs and Lows

Lows-
We just found out that our next-door neighbor has acute leukemia.  He has been sick all winter, but they thought it was a cold.  He is in ICU and is expecting a long hospital stay. 

I had been looking for him out in his yard.  (His backyard is pictured here.) I wanted to introduce him to Baxter.  Our last dog, Kiley, spent a lot of time visiting Lynn while he worked in his yard.  We hadn't seen him out, which should have been a sign that something was really wrong.  Poor guy. We'll be praying that he will be back tending his tomatoes soon. 

Highs-
I took a bike ride on Saturday afternoon.  It was beautiful.  As I was biking through town, I saw some dollar bills on the ground.  Jackpot! Strange.  I pulled over and went back to pick up the money and found a wallet, too. Luckily, it was a former student on the ID so I biked by his house where his dad was returning his cell phone.  Seems like the billfold and the phone had taken a ride (unsuccessfully) on the hood of his car.  Lost blocks apart, he was lucky to find his loot.  Only in a small town...!

We picked up a rain barrel yesterday, too.  Our environmental conservation organization was selling them.  I have been wanting one for several years, but this was a bit nicer than I expected.  There is a water spout at the bottom so we can hook a hose to it and water the garden.  There is also a wire filter to keep bugs, debris, and varmints out.  I am excited to set it up under our gutter spout.  That will probably be the best $15 that I have spent in awhile. 

And I've been humming this song all weekend:
"Oh playmates, come out and play with me
And bring your dollies three
Climb up my apple tree
Yell down my rain barrel
Slide down my cellar door
And we'll be jolly friends
Forever more."

That takes me back to simpler times. And it really makes me miss my Grandma's cellar door, to say nothing of missing my Grandma.

Books and Games of Elementary School

Tetherball and Four Square tournaments were a regular part of recess in grade school.  There were also a couple of games played on the ball field like "Steal the Bacon" or "Capture the Flag" that involved a lot of running. Our elementary teachers were masters at keeping us occupied.  I remember winning and losing at all of these games about equally.  It didn't take superior athletes to succeed.

Books were also a big part of my childhood.  My teacher (Grades 1-4) read all of the Little House books to our class.  The last book of my 4th grade year was These Happy Golden Years.  I still love those books. When I first started reading, I also remember reading a lot of Cowboy Sam books. 

Those were the books I read at school.  At home, I read  Pollyanna, Little Women, and other books from Mom's childhood. From the hometown library, I read every little orange biography I could get my hands on.  Other girls were reading mysteries--all the Nancy Drew or Trixie Belden books.  I read a few of those, too; however, I preferred reading about Louisa May Alcott, Jane Addams, Martha Washington, Nancy Todd Lincoln, Virginia Dare, and Lotta Crabtree. 

I like fiction.  I just like it better when it is based on real people and events.

For Monday Memories at Planet M

Sleep Craziness Continues--Childhood Memories

When I was a kid, I used to sleep from 7 PM to 7 AM.  I have always needed a lot of sleep.  When I was a toddler, Mom finally put a chair by my baby bed so I wouldn't kill myself trying to get into bed by myself.  I have vague memories of getting into bed still wearing my shoes.  What can I say?  I knew I needed my sleep! (How many toddlers do that?  See!  I was the perfect child!)

I can also remember one time when Mom wasn't home. Dad put me into bed and forgot to turn out the light.  I remember lying there and debating whether I should call for him to come back and turn it off or not.  I knew if the light wasn't off, I wasn't going to be able to go to sleep.  I also knew that Dads weren't as good as Moms at putting kids to bed.  I bit my tongue (for once!) and managed to fall asleep with the light on.

Those were memories from the early years, probably from about age 2 to 3.  As I grew older, the sleeping needs didn't decrease much.  I routinely fell asleep after the noon recess in 1st grade.  We each had our own rug where we were to rest while the teacher read a story.  Sometimes I would wake up in the middle of art.  The teacher had just let me sleep. 

By Junior High, I was the dud of slumber parties.  Always the first one to crash, I was an easy target:  tickling my nose with feathers and freezing my bra were routine.  They also loved to try to get me to talk in my sleep.  They didn't have to work at it very hard.  The next morning they would be screaming with laughter about all their pranks. Glad to oblige.  Think how boring their evening would have been without me!

Yes, I'm still very fond of my sleep.  I need at least 8 hours a night.  My Wii Fit happens to agree with me.  A few weeks ago after one of those nights when the Mr. wasn't sleeping worth a darn, my Wii Fit age was 69!! (69!!)  He's been sleeping great the last couple of nights and look:

Sometimes I love my Wii Fit plus and other times I want to toss it out the window! Or is it the Mr. I want to toss out the window??  I'll get back to you on that one. (I'm kidding, dear!!)
Monday Memories at Planet M

An Old Friend

Grade School- We met in 1st grade and learned to read and write together. Her dad was my bus driver and also a school board member. They lived just up the road. Then tragedy struck when her older brother accidentally shot and killed her younger brother. My friend was there when it happened. She never spoke of it.

High School- We were in a lot of the same groups and activities together: band, choir, volleyball, track, speech, and drama. We shared rides to school events. Sometimes in the summer, we would meet up to swim and sunbathe at the lake. We listened to the radio, scoped out the boys, and talked about almost everything. Her oldest brother did some jail time for drug trafficking. She was worried when she spoke of him, but always hopeful.

Post high school- I went to college and got married. Her oldest brother was found murdered in another state. I went to his funeral. That may have been the last time I ever saw my friend. I tried to contact her for class reunions, but her parents had me mail her invitations to them. She didn't attend. There were always rumors of problems: a marriage gone bad, problems with the law, and finally mental problems.

This weekend my friend died. She hadn't been feeling well for about a month. When she finally saw a doctor, they said the cancer had spread throughout her body and that she wouldn't last a week. She didn't. In just a few days, she slipped into a coma and died. Alone.

Hers was a life of tragedy. I'll never know what she went through. I'll never know what her family went through. I only know that the horrors of her life are over. No more demons can haunt her.

Goodbye, old friend. May you finally rest in a peace you never found on earth.

The Snows of Childhood

For Monday Memories at Planet M

The snow last week reminded me of the snows we had when I was a kid. I remember it snowing a lot. I'm not sure if it really did, or if that is just my memory playing tricks on me.

I remember wearing a long stocking hat pretty much like Schwartz's in A Christmas Story. I also remember the rubber boots--red or white--that slipped over your shoes. They were hard to get on and nearly impossible to get off. When you finally got them off, your shoes were usually still wedged inside and had to be pried out.

We used to play Fox and Geese on snowy days. Mom taught us to stamp a big circle in the snow and then stamp the wedges like a pie. The rest of the game was like tag. One person was the fox or "it," and the rest were geese. You had to stay on the paths while you were chased; if you stepped off, you were out. In the very center was the home base where you had to stand after being caught. Other geese could free you, if they could touch you without being caught. The four of us could make a pretty good game out of it, though my sister and I tried to play it without the brothers sometimes. Definitely not a fun game for just two.

We also used to have Youth Fellowship skating parties at the pond. These were always an impromptu affair, dependent on the weather. Once Dad was sure the pond was frozen solid, the calls would go out. He would build a bonfire at the pond's edge for the grown ups and for warming up, and all the kids would gather for a night of skating. Some would run down the pond's dam and jump on sleds to slide as far as they could. Others skated. We played crack the whip. I spent most of my time "sliding" in my boots. (Weak ankles and ice skates are not a great combination.) Frozen, we would finish the evening back at the house to warm up and drink hot chocolate.

There must have been more snow back then. I remember a couple of Christmas mornings when someone got ice skates from Santa. There was also the year that Santa left an orange aluminum disc toboggan. I can remember at least one winter that Dad kept the sled and toboggan tied on the back of the feed truck. Any time he went out to feed the cows, my sister and I got to go sledding behind him.

We used to play outside a lot when it snowed. I'm guessing that was because, no matter how cold it was, we had a wood stove where we could warm ourselves when we came in from the cold. You could stand close to get warm quickly. Now, we can only warm up gradually. I miss wood heat. It is hard to curl up to a floor register!