for my father

     Good morning dear family and friends from here a long ways away from where most of you are this day.  It's the early morning hours, just about 4:30 and I've just finished up cup of coffee #1.  You know I used to never be able to make it through a half of a cup before I'd had a plenty.  Nowadays there's usually 3 cups' worth in me before I make it out the door for school each morning.  Good thing I only have to drive 9 miles or so to get to school, because one of the first things I do is to "hit up" the bathroom LOL.  I know, I know....that's a "TMI" kind of moment but I'm getting older, you know?

     Today would have been my dad's birthday, his 91st to be exact.  Gone now from us since 1982 at Christmas time, it just doesn't seem possible that all the years have sped by.  I was a young woman when he died, a mother to a little 2-year old boy named Ricky.  Now as my 59th birthday approaches at the end of this year, I am exactly the same age my father was when he died.  Sometimes I think about that and ponder what all he missed out on seeing in his very short life on earth.  As over 3 decades have passed by, my perspective on his life and on my own are very much different now.  I miss him and I'll be the first to admit that it is not the kind of yearning for him that I cry each morning for his presence around me again.  That's not the way he would have wished for it to be for me, I'm sure.  I miss my father in those certain times when a girl, even a 58-year old one, just needs her dad to be around.  I still feel his spirit with me and boy have I ever called out his name, certainly in times of trouble.  Just last week as I was travelling in blizzard-like conditions from La Junta to Lamar, I remember crying out, "Daddy, I could use a hand here.  Where's the road?"  I know some might find that crazy but to me it made perfect sense.  Just as an aside here, I think my dad sent me a private message that sounded something like this....  "What are you doing driving in a blizzard in the first place?  Get your head where it belongs and you will make it!" 

     I always knew that I had good parents and although I'm sure I didn't agree with them on things some times, in retrospect they were doing the best they could in order to provide a secure and safe environment for me to grow up in.  My father was gone away from home from mid-May until late in the fall each year as he followed the harvest run with his crew of combines.  I never thought about it all that much at the time and it just seemed "normal" for him to be on the road travelling straight north and then back to the south in the geographical stretch we call the "Great Plains".  But now that I sit back and realize so, that was a lot of time not to have a father around.  Yet life didn't fall apart, we didn't get into trouble at school, and we learned a lot about a strong work ethic because of the fact that he did what he did.  I admire him for that and as I look back now, my father (and mom too!) "role-modeled" for me the person that I was destined to become as well.  I thank him for that and with regret I wish I would have paid even more attention to him in my growing up years.  I guess we all can say that from time to time.

     So to my daddy this morning I would say how much I still love him.  He gave me my entire name, "Peggy Ann Scott".  I am who I am this day in great part because of him and I know of the many sacrifices that he made on my behalf.  If you are blessed to still have a father my friends, please give him a call today and even if it's no more than to say "hello", just do it.  Don't pass up an opportunity that may not be here by the morrow.  You won't regret it if you do....you might regret it if you don't. 

See you in Heaven Daddy!  I haven't changed a bit~you will recognize me right away :)

The day I graduated from college in 1979 and he was there to see me walk across the stage to get my diploma.  I think we both might have been crying :)

The harvest of 1975 in Kinsley, Kansas

 

All because two kids fell in love, I got the chance to be the baby in this picture.

 

 

I might have grown up a bit....but I will always be his little girl.

There's no place like Kansas

     In two small cemeteries in rural Harvey County, Kansas lie the earthly remains of my family members.  My folks, a brother and sister, a niece, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, they all lie buried beneath the Kansas soil in the Halstead City Cemetery.  My great-great grandmother and several other members of the "Brown" side of my family are interred in the tiny Quaker cemetery called "Fairview" just up the road to the north a ways.  A monument just outside of that little burial spot honors my great-great grandmother, Rebecca Burch, as the last living pensioner of a Revolutionary War veteran in the United States.  It is the empty piece of earth, just to the south of her grave there, where I will be laid to rest as well when my time shall come to leave this earth.  By my count, over 30 members of my immediate family have been lain to rest in the soil of the Sunflower State.  Each one of those departed family members in their own way played a huge part in my becoming the person that I am this day.  The blood of my parents and grandparents runs through me and I would swear that their spirits have gone with me, especially in some pretty tough times in life.  I think it might be a reason why I love Kansas so very much.

    Today is Kansas Day, the 153rd birthday of the state of my birth.  January 29th has come and gone in my life 58 times over. Never would I have dreamt that this year I would find myself spending this special day of statehood in a state other than Kansas yet here I am in Colorado.  This morning as I sit here typing away at the kitchen table in our home just outside of the city of Montrose, I'm thinking about just why it is that Kansas is so very special to me. 

     You know, I've always been grateful that as fate would so allow it, my six siblings and I would be born to a Kansas farming couple named John and Lois Scott.  Even more so appreciative I am of the fact that all during my growing up years I was raised up near the most beautiful little town ever, Haven.  All of my childhood was spent there being nurtured not only by my own folks but just about every other adult there as well.  Haven was a lot like that, you know?  From the little old ladies who lived along Kansas Avenue that ran right through the center of town, to our teachers at school, to all of the patrons of my family's business called Scott's Café and Service, and anyone else in between that wasn't busy doing a thousand other things, the motto "It takes a village..." applied to my life and shoot, to the lives of every other kid I knew as well.  The people that lived in that little Reno County town are good and decent folks but as I stop to think about it, so are the others that live throughout not only Reno County but the remaining 104 counties of the state as well.  The people?  Well, hey maybe THAT'S why I love Kansas so very much.

     I've been wrestling with writing this blog post for over a day now as I keep going back and forth as to why the 34th state of the Union, the 34th star on Old Glory means so very much to me.  Perhaps it is because in 58 years of living there, my heart had the chance to store up so very many good memories of people, places, and things.  I have wonderful recollections of being a little girl there doing all sorts of fun "kid" things like going to the library in the summer, attempting to learn how to swim and nearly drowning (LOL, or so I thought), of working in my parents' restaurant from the time I was 11 until I graduated from college.  I remember friends from my childhood, the friends of my youth.  We all grew up together and for better or worse, we generally speaking stuck pretty much together.  So many things happened to me there and at some point in time, my spirit must have written the name "Peggy Ann Scott" in the Kansas soil.  I'm really at a loss to explain it and I guess that is that.

     I never did a lot of travelling outside my home in Kansas, well that is until 2012 when I decided to make a "bucket list" trip to Maine to see my first lighthouse.  I had always been a "home body" and never really wanted to stay away from my home for more than a day or so.  It was stretching it pretty far to remain away for a week.  I was satisfied there.  After going to Maine, I learned that there was a great big world outside the boundaries of Kansas and I found it was actually kind of fun to see it.  I began to travel more and in early 2013 when I renewed my friendship/acquaintance with this boy from my high school days back in Haven, I learned just how beautiful the state of Colorado really was.  When Mike and I got married and I moved here in the early summer, it was a tough thing go away from the place that I had called my home for so very long.  I suffered through some pretty "mean" homesickness but I made it and as time has gone on, I've felt much more comfortable in my new home here along the Western Slopes.  Time it takes~

     Today we are having a Kansas birthday party in our fourth-grade classroom at Olathe Elementary School.  The "18" are inviting their kindergarten buddies down for some cake and a Kansas story.  It feels good to know that even though I now live so very far away from there that I can still remember it and honor its presence as the next-door neighbor of Colorado.  We're going to sing "Home on the Range" and if the weather allows it, we might even go outside to play a game that the pioneer "4th graders" might have played back then.  I hope it is fun for my students as I know I will be enjoying it.

     I was born "Peggy Ann Scott" in Newton, Kansas on the 26th day of October of 1955.  I am a Jayhawker and I am a Kansan.  I always will be.  I have been blessed at this point in time to have two places to call "home".  My new home in Colorado, my new life as the wife of Mike Renfro are signs to me of the unfolding of the next chapters in my very wonderful life.  May you feel equally blessed my friends.

     Happy Birthday to you Kansas!  You don't look 153 :)

Wish you all didn't live so far away from us~we'd be glad to share a piece of cake with you too!

 He's a nice boy and although my parents never met him, I'm sure they would have approved.

                                                  "There's no place like Kansas."




    

having returned to the "land of miracles"

Monday, January 27, 2014

the return to the land of miracles

August 4th of 2011 seems like so very long ago, in fact so long ago that I had to just now stop to remember the actual date I was thinking of.  Wow, that was weird!  The days and weeks that followed that infamous day in my life's time were filled with many regrets, one of the biggest being that I had so carelessly decided to attempt to jump a curb while riding my bike.  The ending result, a left arm smashed to "smithereens and back" that would never end up being the same again. 

It's been so long that my left arm, wrist, and hand looked "normal" that I can't even remember what that was.  Sometimes I see pictures of my left arm  just prior to the accident and it makes me a little sad, even now nearly 3 years later about what happened to me that day.  I don't stay sad for long though because I know how much worse I would look without any arm at all.  In the least of things, I give thanks.

During my visit to Kansas this past week I went to see the good Dr. Chan over at the Kansas Orthopaedic Center in Wichita.  I'd been having some continuing problems over the last few months and I wanted him to take a quick "look see" to determine what might have to be done.  After taking a look at my x-ray, the verdict was the same as it was earlier in late 2012 when I complained of the same issues.  I need yet one further surgery to excise a little bone spur that has randomly attached itself where it should not be.  The continuing numbness and tingling in my left hand and fingers will forever be there with me.  There is nothing to do for that and as Dr. Chan so seriously reminded me, "Your injuries were just that severe Peggy."   

                                              "old lefty's" photo, taken last Friday
My beautiful "Red Greene" hardware is still in place just where it was put, now nearly 3 years ago.  It will stay with me forever and ever.

While I was there, I looked up my good friend "Kim the taskmaster".  He did months and months of physical therapy on my arm.  There were a lot of times that I didn't exactly really like his visits but he continued to "crack the whip" over me and made me work even harder.  While I was there, I asked him if he could check my strength level in both hands.  From late 2012 until now, my right hand remains unchanged at a level of "55".  Poor "old lefty" has had to work hard coming from a strength level of only "18" back then to its current level of "37".  Still not normal but trying so very hard to catch up!  The degree at which I can turn my hand over, palm side up is a little bit better but will never be the same as it was.  I had to laugh when Kim was measuring it this time.  My right hand is normal at "85" but the left one of course is far from normal.  As I was attempting to turn the left one over, Kim looked at me and said in a voice  that I have heard a thousand times before...."Is that ALL that you can do?"  It was.  I can only turn it to a degree of 70 which is just about what I can expect for the rest of my life.  One of the first things I heard from each and every medical person who took care of me was the same~I will never have a normal wrist again.

For now I am just waiting to decide what to do.  Dr. Chan assured me that this surgery would be nothing compared the four previous ones on "old lefty" and that I would only need to be in a long arm cast for two weeks and then it would be done.  I have to decide now whether to let him do this one or to find someone who would be willing to go in there and take care of the problem here in Colorado.  One way or the other, a final surgery or not, I will be ok.  I can't think of anything that would compare to the exciting 9 months' time of recuperating from this ordeal the first time around.

I wrote a lot in this blog about those days of recovery and last night I sat down and reread some of them.  I'm reposting one below, in fact it was the very first one that I wrote about it, shortly after returning home from the hospital the first time.  My son Grahame typed it and I dictated to him in my "morphine induced" state of mind.  If parts don't make sense, please keep that in mind, ok?  :)  That was a good drug to have in my system back in those days. 

Wherever you may be this day, I hope that you are well.  I wish for you that all of your "limbs" be intact and not broken.  I pray for safety for you, especially as you travel to and from places this day.  So many good folks said prayers of travelling safety for me as I went down the road to Kansas and back to Colorado this past week.  May God watch over all of us, no matter who we are, where we live, or the destination we might be going.  Have a good day everyone out there~  Be at peace with your lives.

The re-post from that blog entry of August of 2011 is shown below.  Little did I know, the recovery time would be about 4 times longer than I had originally thought.  When I break an arm, I do it really good :)you just never know

Grahame here again. Otherwise this post may not make it until next week to be online.


I didn't wake up yesterday on August 4th expecting things to go the way they did. But, life happens and you just have to take whatever comes your way.  I'm putting this post online today because I'm feeling really sad and right now things seem kind of hopeless. I bet that by the time I post this online, I'll have a better outlook on life.


My day started off really good yesterday. It was a beautiful morning here in south central Kansas. I knew by the early morning forecast that the temperatures would be in the low 70s by the time I rode so at 6:30 I headed out for my usual 10 mile ride. When I went past the Medical Center "time and temperature," it read 74 degrees. NOW THAT IS A BICYCLIST'S DREAM RIDE.


It was a lot of fun riding to the south on Main Street. I passed a lot of the usual people that I see every morning as I ride. It was interesting to notice that everybody seemed to be in a much better mood yesterday. Must've been those cooler temperatures that helped make people feel "human" again. Whatever it was, it was nice.


About halfway through my ride down Main,  I saw my good friend, Mike Fazio,  working on putting up banners on Main for the city. I yelled "hello" and kept on riding. Because the north breeze was pushing me I found it easy to keep a steady pace at 12 mph and it felt good.


Halfway through the ride, I decided it was time to come back home because some storm clouds were appearing in the northwest. As much as I miss the moisture, I still don't really want to take a bath in it on a bicycle. I came back on Main, stopping to visit with Mike about maybe riding bikes sometime in the future and then headed home. 


For some strange reason, instead of turning on 14th for home, I went on to 17th Street. There is a family on 17th that has been working really hard all summer on making a patio/fenced in garden area by their house. All summer, I kept thinking that it would be good to stop and tell them someday how nice everything was looking. So when I went past their house and saw them there on the porch, I decided that today was the day. 


There I was, a total stranger on a bicycle standing there talking to people I'd never met. But after five minutes of conversation,  we were strangers no more. They really acted like they appreciated the fact that ANYONE would've noticed what they were doing, especially someone they didn't know. How many times have I blown opportunities, just like THAT one, to let someone know that I appreciated their hard work and effort in doing something? 


I headed on home from there at a pretty steady pace. As I rounded the corner at 14th and Elm, I remember seeing by my odometer that I was close to ten miles for the trip. Without even thinking, I started riding faster. No special reason to do so, it just felt good. By the time I made it to my house,  my speedometer read about 10 mph and that's when it happened.


As I got to the point where I turn into my driveway, I realized that I was late in making my turn. Rather than go ahead to the next driveway, for some asinine reason I decided to try to jump the curb! To my friends Craig, Dennis and LeRoy, I already know what you're thinking! LOL But I did it anyway. 

I knew better, but at age 55, I guess you just have to chalk it up to being an old person. It didn't work out so good and the results were catastrophic for me. The picture below shows the indentation of my handlebars and mirror in the ground. It's a wonder that I wasn't hurt any worse. 

Except for popping the mirror off, the bike was in decent shape. No issues with the rim or tires, just the mirror. I didn't fare so well. 


During surgery yesterday, the doctor found that my entire radius was shattered. Bones were twisted around and a few even fell out to never be found again somehow. But he did the best he could under some very dire conditions, attached an external fixator on my arm and got everything relocated. For the next 4 weeks I'll have the pins and then another 4 after that with an actual cast. My wrist will never be the same possibly as this was nearly a worst-case scenario, but all-in-all, I got off pretty easily. 


I have to admit that I broke two of the cardinal rules for bicycle riding yesterday. I wasn't wearing a helmet and I was going too fast for the conditions. I was a total idiot for not wearing my helmet and I know it. So to anyone reading this who rides a bike, please take my advice and always put your helmet on. I was blessed to not have any head injuries and for that, I give thanks. I will never ride my bike again without a helmet on. And on the issue of going too fast, hopefully I will never feel this need for speed again. It's fun to go fast on a bike, but only when it's safe to do so. 


I want to thank everybody for their kind wishes to get better and prayers for recovery. I have more good friends and family than I can even imagine. I'll be spending the next few days reevaluating the remaining items on my bucket list and trying to decide which one to tackle one-armed. I have been blessed even in this accident and I know it. I can at least walk and laugh and do most things normally including writing and driving as I'm right-handed. Things could have been so much worse and I know it. I've been told that I chose the best possible limb for this to happen to, so what else could I ask for?

from her hands unto mine~

Hello my dear friends and family from our home here along the Western Slopes of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.  This day has been a long one, marked by many miles that were travelled by me in order to get home to Montrose from my old home in Kansas.  I made it and as I sit here this evening and think about the day's journey, I give thanks for the many blessings that were mine.  I got pretty tired a couple of times but managed to keep safely pushing onward to the west. Colorado weather was much better for the return trip and the sunny skies definitely lifted my spirits.  The car ran great with no mechanical issues to deal with and when I finally made it back to Montrose, I didn't have to come home to an empty house.  Someone was there waiting for me and I give thanks for the "extra blessing" that is mine. 

Mike and Sally the dog got along fine without me but they both seemed glad that I decided to get back home again today.  You know how it is...we just get used to people being around us and when they are gone, you tend to miss them pretty much.

I decided to leave Hutch yesterday evening about 6 and make the journey towards the west with the intention of getting as far as the Ford County, Kansas town of Dodge City.  At the kind invitation of my dear friends, the Godbey Family, I planned to stop for the evening and get a good night's rest there before journeying on to Colorado this morning.  Given how tired I was during the latter part of the drive today, I'm surely glad that I did.  When I pulled into their driveway at around 9 last evening, Sarah met me at the door with open arms of welcome.  What a great friend she has been to me.  We first met several years back when I helped to take care of her mother, Neva Jane, at the Wheaton Greenhouse in South Hutchinson, KS.  We have been friends ever since that first meeting and even though we live so very many miles apart now, our friendship has remained intact.  God blessed us.

We had a bit of time to catch up on the latest of news in both of our families and how wonderful it was to hear about how Neva Jane is doing as well as all of the members of the Godbey Family.  I loved looking at the photos of all the grandkids and with a smile in my heart and on my face, I remembered the days when they were all so much smaller.  Their visits to the Wheaton House brought a lot of joy not only to their great-grandmother but  to all of the other residents as well.  Time flew by~

Before I went to bed, Sarah gave a package to me and said that it was mine.  Inside of it was a the most beautiful thing, something that I had secretly been wishing for many years now.  During the time that I took care of Neva Jane, I always admired the prayer shawls that she had made for her family members.  Those special pieces were filled with love and carried with them much meaning.  Now Neva Jane had knitted a new prayer shawl and the blessing of having one this time was to be mine.  Tears came to my eyes as I held that beautiful piece of craftsmanship made by the hands of someone I have always held near and dear to my heart.  As I lay down in bed to sleep last night, I wrapped the prayer shawl around my shoulders and drifted off into a deep and restful sleep.

I left Dodge City this morning about 5:30 and as I started out towards Highway 50, something told me to stop and pull over so I did.  There along the side of the road I sat for a moment and I reached over for the prayer shawl that was in the seat alongside me.  I wrapped it around my shoulders, closed my eyes and bowed my head in the very early morning darkness.  I prayed that God would give me a safe journey and that if I had any trouble along the way that I would know what to do.  It was really a simple prayer as they go but just as soon as I said my "AMEN" to it, I felt pretty much at peace with the journey.  For several miles I kept the shawl about my shoulders and when I would get anxious about anything, I found myself rubbing my fingers along the edges of it.  As I did so, I remembered the fine Christian woman whose hands had created it just for me and I was at peace.  Her talent for knitting provided a sweet blessing for me, a tired and worn out traveler who needed the gift she had provided more than a person would ever know.

I made it home here to Montrose about 3 this afternoon and I am thankful to finally NOT be inside of a moving vehicle :) There is much to do around here before the morrow comes and so it would be wise for me to get busy.  It was a wonderful 4 days back home in Kansas and for all of the people I was able to see and spend some time with, I am thankful.  The hours always pass so quickly and try as I might have, I didn't get around to all of the places that I had hoped to. 

Tomorrow it is back to the "18" and school as we start yet another week.  I am thankful to be so blessed my friends and if you are reading this, then YOU are a part of that blessing as well.  I don't say it near often enough but I will say it now.  Thank you for being my friend, for loving me and caring about what happens to me in this life.  I hope to do the same for you as well.  Life is good and we need always to remember that.

Good night everyone and may peaceful sleep be yours.

One of the kindest and most loving gifts that I have ever received in this life.  It brings me much peace and joy.

Thank you Sarah for the "welcoming" Kansas sunflower.  It will help me to always remember the kindness that you and Jim have always shown to me and to countless others as well.  God bless you!

for the things that I left behind~

Good morning everyone out there and greetings from the "old neighborhood", the14th Street neighborhood of the south central Kansas city of Hutchinson.  It's not quite as early as I wish it was at the start of this good day.  I had set my alarm to go off at its usual 4 a.m. hour but the warmth and coziness of my old bed kept me captive there until nearly 5:30.  Even though I overslept, by my usual habit of being one of the "early" guys, the sky is still black here and save for me and old Oblio the roundhead most every other house on the block is still in the dark. 

I came here to visit for a few days and to take care of more things that I've left undone around the house.  The time has gone so quickly as I knew beforehand that it would and even though I had the best of plans, not everything got finished.  Although I should be hard at work right now and continue to pack things up, I just wanted to pause a moment to pay a visit to each of you out there and to let you know that I'm thinking of you.  What a journey this has been~

I left out from Olathe, Colorado just a soon as I could do so on this past Wednesday afternoon.  This would be a trip on my own as Mike wasn't able to take time off from work.  I knew I could make it coming back alone, shoot I did it 6 times on my own last year.  So with the car packed with my things ahead of time, by 4 p.m. I was headed towards the Black Canyon of the Gunnison and the road back home to Kansas.  Skies were beautiful, filled with a few clouds and lots of sunshine.  For that I was so grateful.  You know, I say a lot of things that are not exactly complimentary about the mountains.  It's no secret that I don't care for them all that much and the claustrophobic feeling that they have at some times given me.  But there is something very different about the Black Canyon and I really can say that I love it.  Its beauty is quite striking and I'm forever amazed at that each time I have travelled through it to get home.   It's a view that I see as I leave our driveway each and every day.  In my heart, I call it the road back to Kansas.  So there you have it, I love the Black Canyon.

Along the way on Wednesday night I did pretty well.  Old Monarch Pass was standing tall and proud and I was thankful for a clear and dry road.  The sun and I were racing each other and my prayer was that God would just help me get to the top of it while there was still a little light left.  He did just that.  By the time I made it to the bottom, it was night time and I knew the curvy and winding road that would lie ahead.  Soon I found Canyon City and then on to Pueblo.  I'm actually getting kind of good in knowing how to find the Walsenburg turn off in order to continue on to Highway 50.  I can remember a few times when I missed that thing by about 500 feet and then had to make what "Chloe the navigator girl" on Garmin refers to as  a "legal U-turn". 

By 10:00 that night I was plain tired and worn out.  I knew that if I didn't find a place to stay by the time I got to La Junta that it would be quite a spell before I made it to Lamar.  After checking a few places, many of them wanting a price way heftier than I wanted to spend, I chose a decent one and settled in for the night.  My sleep was awoken about 3:00 on Thursday morning when I found I was sleeping in one cold room.  Turns out that a storm had come in not long after I had arrived and the power for the entire town of La Junta was out.  The storm was still coming but the roads were open.  I decided to make a run for it about 4:30 a.m. because I was afraid that it would be even later that day before it was over.  It took me 8 hours more and driving through some blizzard like conditions between La Junta and Lamar before I actually pulled into Hutchinson about 12:30 p.m.  God is good and my car was filled with the most beautiful guardian angels as they helped to steer me along the way.  I've worn out several of them over the years and I'm sure they must shake their head at me and the way that I sometimes have done things.  I made it!

This trip home to Kansas has been filled with so many memories.  I have caught up with some friends and that makes me happy.  Wish I could have seen more of them but perhaps yet another time we all will.  I have surely missed you all dear friends and family but please rest assured that I will always carry you in my heart and memory.  Did you just feel that?  It was a hug from me to you.  It was one of those kind of hugs when you embrace someone and refuse to let go.  That's my feeling for all of you here in Kansas and points far away.

I'm going through lots of things here in my house in Hutch and it's amazing to me, nah on second thought not really, of the kinds of things I've collected over the years.  Boxes are filled with them and to be honest, I am just not ready to give any of them up at this point in time. So off they will go to the mountains with me and I'll have to sooner or later deal with them.  What's that?  You are wondering what kinds of things?  Well, it'd be stuff like......

This is the t-shirt I was wearing the day of my accident in 2011.  They had to cut it off of my body as they were doing triage on my condition.  I'll never forget the first nurse that I saw in the garage area of the hospital and the short conversation we initially had.  It kind of went like this.....
Me-"I BROKE MY ARM!" 
The nurse-"Oh my!  I think you are right."  (Pretty sure that my left hand dangling off to the side of my arm was a pretty good indication that even though I'm not a doctor, I was right!)

The stones that I kept in my flower bed here that had the names and room numbers of many of the elderly friends I made as I cared for them in the Wheaton House on the campus of Mennonite Manor in South Hutchinson a few years back.  I loved them all so very much and will always be grateful that I could take care of them.  Except for one, all have gone back now to their Heavenly home and I'm sure that we will meet again someday.

 

A box full of old memories and newspaper clippings from my folks' time in Haven, Kansas.  Cream O'Gold Dairies was part of a company that my dad used to work for my parents opened Scott's Café and Service along the highway in Haven.  Mom was right when she called those times there "good" because they most certainly were.  If I were ever given the chance to relive a day in time, it would be without a doubt, right there in my hometown.

These things and thousand others are stored away in tubs here.  Some day I'll get rid of them but only when I am dang good and ready to do so.  We all have our collections I suppose.  I guess you could say that I collect memories.

Well, time to get going and get the day started.  I know how fast it will fly by me.  That's a "given for sure".  Take care my dear friends and family wherever you are this day.  For now I am in Kansas but by tomorrow at this time, I shall be getting ready to cross back over to the other side.  I'm glad I was here, if even for a very short time.  There's a guy I know back in Colorado that sounds as if he misses me.  I'm coming back home very soon Michael Renfro and I'll see you there. 

This blog post today has been brought to you by me and old Oblio the roundhead.  It's taken me more than an hour to do this, mostly because of the help that I really didn't need from a cat that wanted to sit on my lap and assist in the typing.  I made quicker blog posts two years back when I was typing with only one hand.  :)

The one and only reason I left my Kansas home to begin with~"the blessing".

How much is it worth to you?

I stood in line for several hours that Saturday afternoon in Wichita's Century II Convention Center with the thousands of others who had ventured there for the same purpose.  The popular PBS show Antiques Roadshow had come to south central Kansas and as each of us stood in line clutching our treasures, we all were wondering just what those famous appraisers would say about them.  In my arms, I cradled the most valuable thing that I thought I owned, a child's bentwood rocker that had been in my family since the year 1900.  Was it a rare find?  Could it be worth millions?  No and uh, no. 

By the time I made it to one of the people who gave each of the items a "look-see", I began to sadly realize that it probably would be one of those things that was referred to as "sentimental value" only.  Turns out that little rockers, just like mine, were mass produced at the turn of the century.  It was nothing all that special but the person that I spoke with did give me some tips on what I should do to preserve it.  I was advised not to paint it but to rather leave the worn appearance of the wood just as it was.  The man I spoke with told me it adds to the "character" that the chair has.  You know, as I turned away from him and headed back out the door to head home, I realized that there is a value to things that sometimes no amount of money will ever buy.  My little rocking chair was a good example for that. 

Now that I look at the worn seat, arm rails and the complimentary "ottoman/foot rest bar", I can just about imagine a little one sitting in it.  As I type the words, I can just about hear my mom's voice calling out to me, "Peggy Ann get your feet off of that bar.  It wasn't meant for that!"  The man at the Antiques Roadshow  was right on that account.  It truly does add the character. 

The story of how I even came to own the chair is a memorable one for me.  Originally it belonged to my grandparents, Andrew and Catherine Brown.  All 3 of their little girls rocked in it, my mom being one of them.  In time, their 12 grandchildren (me being one of them) sat in it and rocked just the same.  As we all grew up and had children of our own, our children continued in the tradition.  Even one of my own great-nieces, an additional generation of Brown Family descendants, sat her bottom into the seat of Grandmother's old rocking chair.  During our Scott Family reunion back in 2009, little 5-year old Megan Dwyer was the only one tiny enough to actually do that.  That little one was the last to do so.

The little rocker always sat in Grandmother Brown's spare bedroom at 215 Locust Street in Halstead, Kansas.  As the years went by and she got so very much older, Grandmother began to give away a few of her things and put into auction many of the others.  The little rocker went into the very last sale before she moved into long-term care at the age of 101.  Both my cousin and I were interested in buying it and although I would have hated to have bid against him, I was prepared to do whatever I needed to.  We joked about it a lot, he and I, and the morning of the sale I came with my checkbook in hand as I prepared to become the owner of it.  Funny though, as the auctioneer put it on the block, my cousin disappeared just long enough for me to be the winner.  It was only myself and one other man who were bidding on it.  I was prepared to stay there all night if need be.  That little rocker belonged to me.  It started at $5 (geesch hard to believe) and I kept at it with $5 bids at a time.  The stranger that was bidding against me backed out at $40.  I remember thinking that $40 was probably more money than I should have spent on that day in 1993 but now I am so glad that I did.  In my mind, I kept telling myself that $100 had to be my limit and I'm surely glad that I didn't have to come up with that much in the end.  It seems strange to imagine that I was so concerned about spending the $40 back then on a chair that would stay with me forever.  Today I drop that amount of money off at the local City Market just for a tank of gas.  Times change I guess.

It's been with me now for over 20 years and when I came to live here along the Western Slopes, it travelled along as well.  I've enjoyed having it and remembering the lovely and kind grandmother who it once belonged to.  When I rub my fingers over the smoothly worn seat I think about all of the "little" people who helped to create that effect.  I can imagine my own 3 children sitting there with their little legs dangling down and if I listen carefully in my heart, I can almost hear their sweet young voices calling "Momma" to me.  It was destined to be mine from the moment it was obtained by my grandparents, now 114 years ago.  Now in the winter of 2014, things have changed.  Its time has come to move on to another generation.

Tomorrow morning I will get it prepared to be mailed on to my son and daughter-in-law to be given to them in honor of the birth of my first grandchild in now just a few weeks away.  Ricky and Angie don't know whether they are having a boy or a girl, nor do they wish to know until it is born.  Whether they have a daughter or a son is not important to them.  They are wishing for a healthy baby and so am I.  The "new life" that arrives in just about 6 weeks is being born into a very loving family and will have two parents who were chosen just for him/her.  Hey, and if they were chosen to be the parents, well I guess that means I was chosen to be the grandmother as well.  :)  I look forward to seeing a picture in the years to come of a very special little "Miller baby" sitting in their Great-Great Grandmother Brown's rocking chair.  Catherine Brown would have loved to see that too.

Have a blessed Sunday everyone out there.  You are all in my heart this day which explains why things seem so crowded right now in there.  Full heart~

 
                                               I'm glad that it was mine for a while. 

I'm so grateful to this beautiful young woman, my daughter-in-law Angie, for safely carrying that precious life inside of her.  It's not easy and I'm sure she is very tired by this point in time.  That little baby is the product of two wonderful people  who love each other very much.  What more could a "grandmother" have asked for in this life?  Not much~

Day is gone, night has fallen

As days go, I remember having better ones and as night has fallen I am glad to finally be home.  Yet come to think of it, I have had much worse ones than this so in the least of things, I do so give thanks.  It's hard to imagine how quickly the day went and as I sat here in this very same chair and typed a blog post from earlier this morning, it's difficult to imagine that was over 12 hours ago now.  I had no intention of typing another post this evening but as some times things go in my life, those plans were changed. 

It was on my way home tonight that I noticed the sunset and how beautiful it was and always seems to be for that matter here along the Western Slopes.  Luckily I was carrying my camera in my school bag, so I turned off on a different road to try to get a different glimpse of the setting sun over the Uncompahgre Range just about an hour ago.  It looked like this~

I'm not sure when I developed this fascination with photographing the sunrises and sunsets of the world I live in but I do know that I've probably taken dozens of photos of them since I've lived here in Colorado.  Even in the dead of winter, sunrises are still pretty spectacular to behold and I am amazed at the myriad of colors that are show within them.  From purples, pinks, reds, and golden yellows it is as if the Master saved the very best shades for the day's end.  I'm glad to be able to see them, no matter if it is here in the Rocky Mountains or back home on the plains of Kansas.  It is a treat for the senses to behold.

I have found myself chasing the sunset as I've grown older which is kind of strange for me to imagine.  Countless days have come and gone in my life and the sun has continually sank into the horizon but I surely didn't get excited enough about it to have taken a photo.  Yet as I have gotten older, life and the way I looked at it, has changed and I've found myself making sure that every minute between sunrise and sunset counted for something good.  Seeing the beauty in the way the sky looked as that golden orb we all are thankful for was disappearing was a gentle reminder to me that the days in our life come and go as quickly as the blink of an eye.  I've had over 21,000 of those days already and all you have to do is the math to help you to realize that the days remaining in our lives as we grow older slim down quite a bit.  I try to remember each day to enjoy living life and to not take for granted the blessings that have been mine all along.  Ok, that'd be the end of my sermon now.  AMEN

I hope this day has been kind to you, wherever you might be in this big world of ours.  May you have a restful and peaceful sleep to awaken fresh in the morning to start the journey all over again.  I've been thinking of you all and hold you close to my heart.  Life is good~

This little doll is over 50 years old and is soon to be taking a journey to Whidbey Island along with the 100-year old rocker that she has always sat in.  It's time to give these belongings of my childhood days to my oldest son for his new little one to be born in the weeks to come.  For me it's time to begin the switch to travelling "light" and it actually feels really good to do so.  When that baby gets older, "Grandma Peggy" can tell the story of how I found that little doll in the bottom of a box of Cheer detergent one summer afternoon when I was staying at my grandmother's house. 

as I sit here this morning

From the other side of the big hill, the western side of the Continental Divide, "good morning" everyone out there.  It's Thursday in the early hours of the day.  The clock on my cell phone says that it's not quite 5 in the a.m. here in Montrose County.  Most folks around these parts are still fast asleep.  I usually am not one of them and try as I might, staying in bed past about 4:15 is usually a "Mission Impossible".  I get sleep at night, maybe not a lot, but obviously I guess enough :)  Seems like in my mind as I climb into bed and begin to drift off, a thousand things are always floating around in there just waiting to stir me up and awaken my slumber at precisely the "wrong" moment in the over night hours.  Ever have it happen to you?

The month of January is now half over and I am sitting here this morning thinking once again, "Where in the heck did all of the time go?"  Every school day passes by at rapid speed and when the day is done I wonder what all I have accomplished, what difference have I made in the lives of the "18"?  Did I do what I set out to?  Sometimes I don't have all the answers.  No wait, I gotta rephrase that.  MANY times I don't have all the answers but that does not dissuade me because every morning I get up and head out the door to start the day once again. 

We are down to precious few weeks of school before the state testing of students in Colorado begins.  All of us are feeling the crunch, students and teachers alike.  Every day the time must be spent wisely, as if we were not already doing that.  Trying hard as we might, there most days is just simply not enough time to accomplish the "to do" list set before us.  Yet, we keep plugging away, refusing to surrender to the fact that some days you just can't do it all. 

One of the things that we are working diligently on is our writing ability. I have used this blog many times to show my students that the process of putting out your thoughts, feelings and big ideas on paper can actually be pretty fun, if you let it.  I read my stories to them and I talk to them about how many times I have to go back and edit what I have written.  I explain to them that sometimes I miss finding a mistake and as I reread a blog post online, I cringe when I see my errors.  I also tell them how important it is for me to be sure that what I publish is not something I would be embarrassed for anyone to read, especially my students.  I have a student who is now a faithful reader of this blog and thus I want to be sure that she and any other young person would only see things that would be uplifting in nature.  That is a most important part of writing to me.  Having said that though I would add here that I generally don't try to hide my feelings as I write, because that is a healing part of the whole writing process for me.  My "18" know that life, mine included, can sometimes be very sad, lonely and discouraging.  Yet that same life can also be very happy, fulfilling and blessed.  They read my words in print and they hear me speak them each day as I stand before them as the person they call "teacher". 

The time has come to get ready to head out the door for the day.  We've got a lot to take care of in our classroom at Olathe Elementary this morning and writing is just a small part of it.  I'm grateful for those students, each and everyone of them.  They saved me from myself, now nearly 6 months ago.  Single handedly and as one big group of kids, they gave this lonely and homesick school teacher from Kansas 18 reasons to get up and get out of bed each morning.  I love those kids and they all have a special place within my heart.  

Have a great day out there everyone and for crying out loud, don't forget to take some time for yourself today.  You are most certainly worth that :)

One of my favorite quotes from Edward Everett Hale~
"I am only one but I am one.  I cannot do everything but I can do something; and what I can do and should do, by the grace of God I will do."

It was a long journey from this~

 
To this~
But I made it!

 

upon reaching a year of a life

It was a year ago today, right before leaving with a friend to go to Wichita to visit the Spice Merchant and buy a new stash of tea, that I noticed it on my Facebook page.  There it was, a "friend request" from someone whose name rang a quiet bell in the back of my 57-year old brain.  Someone, a guy named Mike Renfro, had sent me a request to become friends on the site that many of us, me included, visit numerous times each and every day.

"Mike Renfro?", I asked myself.  "Geesch, from Haven High School Mike Renfro?",  I questioned myself further.  Don't have to tell you that I clicked on the "accept" button and here I am now, well over 600 miles from Hutchinson and even further from Wichita, living life along the Western Slopes of the state of Colorado.  Modern technology brought two people together decades far removed from the time they were both teenagers roaming the halls of a wonderful high school back in south central Kansas.  Two things for certain as I type these words~time flies when you are living life and modern technology is something I am glad I do not have to live without.

Mike and I the day after we were married in Kansas as we visited our old alma mater together for the first time since.  Once a "Haven Wildcat", well you always are.

Modern technology changed my life 1,000-fold with the touch of the computer key that Saturday morning in 2013 and although it sometimes doesn't get the best of reviews by folks, the social medium Facebook has been like a lifeline to me as I live here in my new home along the Rocky Mountains.  I can keep up with not only what is going on back home in Kansas but with people all over this world of ours.  Just the other day for example, I was having a great conversation online with my dear teaching friend Collette as she was readying herself for a night's rest in the Phillipines.  All I have to do is check out any of the pages of my former teaching colleagues back in Reno County, Kansas and I can see how things are going for the students/staff of my old schools of Lincoln and Avenue A Elementaries.  I keep in touch with former students of mine who are now grown up, see photos and hear stories about what is happening in the lives of my family members all over the place, and even see how things are going for friends that I haven't met in person yet but feel like I've known them all of my life.  I admit my addiction to it and would hate to see the day come when I no longer used it.  As far as things go along those lines, there are probably at least a dozen other things that would not be so good for me to "use".  I guess that's all I have to say about that :)

One of the original bucket list goals that I have had for well over 3 years now has been to "reconnect with my Facebook friends, buy them something to drink, and sit to visit about life for a while".  Try as hard as I might, it hasn't been an easy thing to do and that particular item will always  be an ongoing one for me.  Each time that I've been able to meet with someone on my list, and there have been 79 of them so far, we've taken a photo together at the end of our time together.  I keep those photos in a special scrapbook with a brief note about how I met them or our connection with one another.  Someday when I am old and living in a care home somewhere, I can take the book out and look at all of the pictures inside.  Shoot, I may not remember everyone by that time but I will know by the smiles on our faces that we must have been the best of friends at one time or another. 

I will be returning to Kansas for a visit on January 23rd and will get to stay until returning on the 26th to life here in Colorado.  "Old lefty" is going in for its 1,000,000 mile checkup over at the Kansas Orthopaedic Center in Wichita and while I'm home, it's time to get things ready to either sell or lease my house in Hutchinson by this summer.  It will be a very busy time for me but I hope to see as many friends and family that I can while I am there.  Unless something changes, it will be my last visit home until school is out in May.  After we were married and I moved here to live in late May last year, I was able to return back to Kansas for visits in June August, October, November and December.  This will be an interesting 5-month long stretch for this once "homesick and lonely" school teacher from the flatlands.  Thankfully I have made much progress in the "I am homesick and I just want to go HOME to Kansas" part of my life. Besides that, I'm going to have a grandchild to hold in just a few months more.  I'm blessed and I know it.

I hope that wherever you are this day that you are well, safe and at peace in life.  I think of you, each of you, every day.  I wish that we lived much closer and that heck, once in a while we could sit down on the porch and talk about nothing in particular.  I really believe that some of the best times in our lives, some of the most rewarding of experiences come at little cost to us except the gifts of our time.  So until we see one another again, you will always be kept close in my heart.  Nothing can or ever will change that part.  Have a great Sunday dear ones~the 12th day of January in 2014.  It's a great day to be alive in :)

Just a few of the Facebook friends that I have caught up with in life whose photos now occupy the pages of my scrapbook of life. 

                                              What happens when you say "yes"~

The power of the human touch re-revisited

A good Thursday morning everyone out there and greetings from a place that is pretty much far away from anyone who might be reading this.  It's the very early morning hours here along the Western Slopes and I just peeked outside to see if the predicted snowfall arrived yet and the verdict is in, it has not.  The sky is mostly clear and our temperature is hovering at 21 degrees.  It used to be that would seem too cold, but given the extraordinarily freezing temperatures most of the rest of the nation endured last week, I'm going to call our weather "ok" for now.  WINTER~

Today will mark the third day back at school for us this week after our over 2 weeks worth of Christmas vacation.  How nice it has been to be back among the "18" and all of the rest of the kids at school.  I am blessed, very blessed to be able to be a teacher at Olathe Elementary.  I will say over and over again until my last breath in this life, that teaching is a most honorable profession.  My life in education, well over 36 years now, has enabled me to be a part of the lives of hundreds of students all the way from my initial days of teaching back in Haven, Kansas to here in Olathe, Colorado.  When I started out I had no idea that I would stick with it this long but here I am today still at it.  I'm pretty sure there are worse things that I could have chosen.  Yep, I'm pretty sure about that.

I was rereading one of the posts that I made last January about this time and it made me smile in my heart to remember the reason that I wrote it.  It was about what I like to refer to as the "power of the human touch" and how it affected me in 2011 when I lived for about 9 months with one of the worst busted up arms that I could have ever imagined.  I was touched, literally one day by a tiny little girl at school who ended up becoming my dear friend for that year.  I'm reposting it below if you would care so to read.  She is a special little one in my life.

Friends, I hope today that you have the chance to provide the power of the human touch to those around you.  It might be your smile, a wave of the hand, a hug or a kind word to someone.  And hey, it surely doesn't have to be someone you know.  Actually giving that "human touch" to total strangers is pretty dang rewarding.  I pray that all of you are well wherever you might be this morning.  Many of you have suffered through some harsh winter weather.  Do not give up hope!  My good friend Dennis Ulrey, back in the Flint Hills of Manhattan, KS, has turned ahead his calendar one month in order to help facilitate the swifter arrival of the season we all love around these parts~SPRING.  He's just that kind of guy, always thinking of the other person :)

Take care all, be safe and well, always at peace with life.  Love you friends and family, all.

Monday, January 7, 2013

The need for the "human touch" revisited~

So very many times as I have written in this blog, nearly 500 postings in all now, I have mentioned this thing called the power of the "human touch".  I have felt it quite often when I needed it the very most in life or upon those days when things seemed to be at their lowest point.  The "human touch" was what happened when the little girl, shown below with me, reached her little four-year old fingers up and massaged "old lefty's" bruised, swollen and battered fingers just a few weeks after my accident in 2011.  Her warm soft skin against my crippled fingers was the most soothing balm I can ever imagine and she was there at a time that I really needed someone, heck ANYONE, to affirm "old lefty's" worth in being touched once more.  The beautiful thing was that little girl didn't even know what she was doing for me.  It was done in heartfelt innocence and I dare to say that she saved me from myself on that warm, late summer day.

                                                  My dear friend, little Aaniyah~

Today was the first day back at school for our district here in Hutchinson.  How wonderful it was to see all those smiling faces come through the doorways to the gym as they ate their breakfast together and met up with their friends for the first time in two weeks.  You know, I knew that I had missed them, but I never really realized just how much.  Well that is, at least until this day.  Perhaps that is because I had grown used to them being around all the time and just like most all else in this life of ours, the things that are close to us...well, we just take them for granted.  It's only during a time of separation, or just plain doing without, that we really see just how much they mean to us.  And friends, really I gotta say...those kids, all more than 230+ of them, mean the world to me.  Not sure what I would do without them.

All things considered, this first day back was pretty good.  I didn't sleep so well last night and as I tossed and turned from about midnight to 3 a.m., I had plenty of time to think of those kids and the rest of life while I was at it.  By the time my alarm clock went off at 4:30, I knew that I was in big trouble with only 4 1/2 hours of sleep "under my belt" and a very full day waiting for me at school.  As a teacher, it's the kind of night's rest that can turn into a real nightmare during the course of the school day.    I was pleasantly surprised at how the day turned out, in spite of  how little sleep I ended up getting.

People all around me, from little kindergarten kids right on up to adults showered me with the "power of the human touch".  Steve, our school's custodian, helped me take down the Christmas tree in the front lobby and made "short order" out of  a job that would have taken me forever to do on my own.  My friend Brenda always gives me the most beautiful smile every morning as we work together in the gym to make sure the kids get their breakfast at 7:15 each morning.  Today was no exception.  Her smile helped to get my day off on the right track.  My friend Diana helped me set up the hole punch to fit my papers that go in the student record books of each of the nearly 50 4H members from our school.  I had worked for several hours over the week end just trying to set it up right and sadly came up short every single time.  Wow-it's that "power of the human touch" thing.  I was greeted warmly by my colleagues who each seemed happy to return to school as well.  Their friendly voices and kind gestures throughout the day, helped me to realize that I'd more than likely make it, even if I did look like a "walking zombie", what ever THAT should look like.

And then, well then there's the kids~the very reason why I came out of retirement 3 years ago to return to the classroom once more.  I don't know what it is about kids but they have this uncanny knack of doing just the right thing at just the right time in my day and once again, how innocently it is done.  At breakfast duty I felt a little person come up behind me and put their little arms around my waist in a "I'm sure glad to see you again, Mrs. Miller" kind of hug. I turned around to find a little kindergarten boy proudly showing me that he could STILL read the name on his breakfast card even though he had been out of school for over 2 weeks.  My dear tiny friend from the second grade, Jasmine wandered up to see me before getting her breakfast.  When I asked her if she had "half of a hug" she could spare "old Mrs. Miller", she obliged by giving me not just a half of one but rather, a full fledged "I love you teacher" kind of one.  All day long their outpourings of the "human touch" were witnessed to me...a smile when we crossed paths in the hallways, a cute little "hello" as they stood in line outside my door waiting to go to recess, a return visit to my door way at the end of the day by a third-grader just wanting to see if I was doing ok.  Heck, I cannot wait until tomorrow to go back for a whole lot more :)

The darkness has arrived now in our part of the world, south central Kansas.  I'm on the way to Haven in just a bit to take care of some things I need to do there.  By the time I get back home, bedtime will soon arrive.  As tired and sleepy as I am as I write this blog, I'm hoping there will be absolutely no need to lie awake in bed for 3 hours tonight.  Kinda glad that I got the extra sleep over break because it looks like had to dip into "that" reservoir in the wee early morning hours myself.  I hope and pray you are all well.  May you be the recipients of the "power of the human touch " as well each day my friends and remember "blessed be those who give as well as those who receive it."  Good night everyone-pleasant dreams and sleep for you all.

She didn't see a person whose arm was all crippled and busted up.  Rather, she saw a person who looked like she could use a little bit of love.  God's blessings to you little Aaniya January.  Mrs. Miller, "teacher", loves you.

Do Monkeys Sit Backwards?

We have reached the halfway point now, the "18" and I, and we begin our second semester together come early tomorrow morning.  Ok, for real, it only seems like such a short time ago that they walked into the classroom on that first day of school back in mid-August. Now here we are over 90 days into their fourth grade year and a sober realization is looking us square in the eyes.  We have precious little time left together until they must be ready to leave the confines of this classroom and enter the world of "fifth graders", ready or not.  I hope I can get them there.  Time will tell.

Teachers from the Montrose-Olathe Public School system spent this day within our schools as we readied our plans for the kids' first day back tomorrow.   The day was busy as we all knew upfront that it would be.  It seemed like we had been gone a month instead of a couple of weeks and walking back in to see our rooms as we had left them that day before vacation back in December was kind of strange.  Didn't take long for the building to heat back up again and after a morning filled with meetings, everyone "rolled up their shirtsleeves" and got to work.  It seemed that "time was a wastin" and in spite of how hard everyone worked to get things prepared for tomorrow, the time ran out before our work was completely done. 

I have much on my mind as I prepare for class this week.  Earlier this afternoon as I found myself knee-deep in papers, books, bulletin board materials and a thousand other school related things, I had to stop a moment and wonder how my old fourth grade teacher, Bette Harris, ever did it.  I mean for crying out loud, she had a roomful of 18 fourth-grade kids there back in that little school in Haven, Kansas and Mrs. Harris took care of all of us single-handedly.  Except for an occasional visit from our remedial reading teacher, Ethelyn Van Buren, it was Mrs. Harris who would be in charge of our educational progress.  She did it without a computer or smart board, with no teacher aide or extra planning periods.  Her students were taught reading, arithmetic, science, social studies, spelling, language arts, handwriting and anything else that needed to be learned.  And this is the weird thing, the thing that I wish I could understand how she did it....Mrs. Harris taught all of that EVERY single day.  Even more strange is that I remember we actually had time to squeeze in a 20-minute recess in the afternoons.  I wish I knew what her secret had been, just how she figured out how to be such a manager of our time that we could cover so very much in a school day that really is no different in length than the one I now teach in. 

In today's classroom, teachers struggle each and every day to get in everything that must be taught.  There is not a moment wasted by anyone I work with at Olathe Elementary and I am sure that the same could be said of any teacher out there.  There seems to be more and more each year that we are required to have our students learn and at times, it seems to be overwhelmingly frustrating as we come up short at the day's end.  Yet each day we return, still full of hope that we can make a difference for the children in our care.  We remember always that some days you get finished, some days you do not.  Most teachers I know of subscribe to the same philosophy about this all and the idea is this~If we do not succeed, we will at the very least, die trying. 

During Christmas break, Mike and I travelled to Altus, Oklahoma after we left Reno County, Kansas.  While in Altus, I got to visit with my sister, Sherry St. Clair.  Sherry has been a teacher for over 4 decades and many of those years were spent with fourth grade students at Roosevelt Elementary in Altus.  My sister has always been my teaching mentor and I've asked her numerous questions about things over the years.  She's given me some excellent ideas to try and many of them worked out great for students in my classroom.  While I was there, I told Sherry that I'd been having trouble getting long division across to some of my students and I asked her if she had any "tricks of the trade" to share with me. 

Without hesitation, she replied "Have you ever taught them Do Monkeys Sit Backwards?"

Since that phrase didn't ring any kind of bell with me, I had to admit that I had not.  Sherry proceeded to explain what it meant. "D is for divide, M is for multiply, S is for subtract, and B is for bring down" she told me.  The more she explained it, the more I realized that it was just what my students need to help them understand the steps that one must take to do a long division problem.  I am anxious to give it a try tomorrow morning during our math time.

  The cool thing about that little mental reminder is that you can use it without plugging in a piece of technology.  All a kid has to do is store it in the greatest computer ever made, their brain.  It reminded me of something dear Mrs. Harris might have said to us and shoot, perhaps she had and I'd forgotten it all along.  I'm beholden to my sister for all of the times that she took me under her wing and showed me the way of how to do things.  This was not the first time nor will it be the last.

Night has fallen and the day has come to a close.  I'm heading to bed early tonight in order to be rested and refreshed for the first day back tomorrow.  I hope that all of you are beginning to make your way to your nice warm beds as well wherever on this earth you may be.  To my friends and family suffering through this winter's bitter cold, I am thinking of you.  Take care, stay well and warm and do not give up hope.  Winter cannot last forever, it only thinks that it can.  Good night and much love to you all :)

My sister and I the first time around for retirement.  I laugh every time I see this photo.

OK, Sherry St. Clair, I am going to give your method a try tomorrow.  Figure it just might do the trick and help my students finally figure out this long division kind of stuff.

The kids from Bette Harris' fourth grade classroom during the 1964-65 school year at Haven Grade School.  I am the little girl in the blue dress standing next to my dear and sweet teacher.  What a kind and loving woman she was to all of us kids.