Being at the "bottom of the Scott Family totem pole" as far as age went in our family definitely had some perks. One of the greatest benefits was that we weren't expected to do outside farm chores until we had reached the ripe old age of "third grade." So on those cold, wintry nights when our 5 older sisters and brothers were out milking cows, feeding animals and chasing after pigs (in my opinion the stupidest animal on the earth), my little sister Cindy and I were in the nice warm house playing and watching TV. Oh yeah, we little kids had the "life of Riley".
One cold and dark winter day, I can remember us playing in the house while Mom and Dad and the rest of our siblings were out choring. Everything was going fine as we played away in the house until one of us looked outside and realized just how dark the early evening hour had become. All it took was one of us to be scared and before you knew it, the other one of us soon became equally as frightened.
You know, I remember that it seemed like they had been out at the barn for hours by that time, even though it was probably only a half hour or so. But when a 5-year old and a 7-year old make up their mind to be "scared silly" it doesn't matter how long they have been gone. What matters is that they ARE gone.
Well, we did what any self-respecting "scaredy cat" little kid would have done. We ran back to our parents' bedroom and threw open the window that would put us closer to the barn. And then we started yelling.... "DADDY, DADDY HELP US, HELP US!" We didn't let up until we heard all the commotion of people coming in from outside.
There standing in the doorway with a baseball bat in his hand was our Daddy. Sure that something had happened to us, he grabbed the first weapon he could find and burst into the house. I'll never forget the look on our parents' face, when they asked us what was the matter. Sheepishly I'm sure we replied, "Well, we were lonely. We just missed you guys!"
I'm thinking pretty sure that we both got in trouble and darned good thing we learned that lesson fast. Pretty sure that Daddy put the baseball bat on the porch and children #6 and #7 probably warmed up a "naughty chair" for some time to come that evening. And when I stop to consider it, now at the more mature age of 56, I have to wonder, "who was more scared, us or them?"
And speaking of scary, today was another swimming lesson. But guess what? It wasn't scary in the least~really not at all. I looked forward to this lesson and the therapy it could possibly bring to "old lefty" as well. For as frightened as I was when I was a 10-year old, today I was more than ready to get back into that pool. I guess you could say that I've grown up a little! :) And you know, I think it's starting to show.
Once again the lesson was done in the 4 to 4 1/2 foot area of the pool. Even though I was willing to attempt the 5 foot area, as we did last week, Laurie thought it would be better to work on some different kinds of things this time. So for the next 30 minutes I practiced and re-practiced all of the skills that I'd learned thus far. I can do a pretty fair face and back float now and of all things, Laurie said to me today that I've got a "perfect kick" while I'm face floating. She said it's a "natural". Imagine that, ME having a natural ability to kick my way across the water! LOL, LOL And friends, she actually referred to me as a "fish" today....oh my word maybe there is a chance that I'll be known as "Peggy the fish" after all.
I love the water now but I still hold a healthy respect for it. I'm not ready to jump off a high dive yet but I'm still moving along. Without the gentle prodding of my dear friend who encouraged me to learn to swim well enough to save my own life some day and the marvelous teaching of a woman named Laurie Carr, I'd still be on the "outside looking in." Friends, that's one scare in life that I finally feel like I've started to get over. And may I say, it surely does feel good!
How about you, have you had to learn how to survive life's scares? I'm betting we all have at one time or another. You know how it is....we're all going along minding our own business and then one morning in the shower you discover a lump or a sore spot that's not supposed to be there. And the only thing you know to do is to call your best friend and say, "I need you." Or maybe you are the worker who is just waiting for that infamous "pink slip" to be handed to you some Friday afternoon. And THEN what are you going to do? Some of us may be facing scares with health issues and we're just praying that the test results don't come back saying "positive" and the list could go on and on.
Tonight as I write this blog post, I'm thinking of all the people who have helped me survive my life's scares. From my friends and family who have helped me through the dark days of being divorced, to the angels here on earth who have constantly picked up the slack for me as "old-lefty" healed once again, to the dear friend who was there for me when I went through a scary moment just this very morning...what would I have done without you all?
My friends, as we think about the hard times, the scary times in this life, we would do well to remember that they do not go on forever...they only seem like they do. I'm betting that if we stick together and lift one another up each day by our actions and words, then life would be so much easier and the scary times much more tolerable to go through. Good night friends and family!
The five surviving Scott kids...front row, Child #4, Sherry St. Clair and Child #1, Kaye Wright
Child #6, Peggy Miller and Child #7 Cindy Daniels
Child #5, Dick Scott
at the Scott Family Reunion, July 31, 2011 at our family's hometown of Haven, Kansas
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