1921-2008 Rest in Peace ,Doc.

On August 22, 2008 Doc passed away. This is the third anniversary of his death. We always mark on grave markers and pictures and other places the year of the birth and the year of the death with a dash in between.. The 'dash' represents the life in between birth and death. Doc's 'dash' lasted for 87 years

The Registry from Rattermans and the cards off of flowers and the sympathy cards and letters of condolence that I received were all saved in a box in my closet. I had put them all away and knew that one day I would take them all out and read them again. Today was the day. .

The first days after his passing were all so busy. I had to adjust to a whole new way of living. I had spent sixty-six years as part of a 'couple'. After all that many years, your thoughts and actions concern 'we'. If it affected me it would affect him and his actions affected me as well as him. We were a pair! 'for better or for worse'. We had a lot of hard times together and a lot of great times together. But the 'we' became 'I' with his last breath.

The days and weeks following a death are filled with filing papers, signing papers, making hard decisions, evaluating your assets and your status. Sort of starting over, so to speak.

Today, I opened the box and sat for the greater part of the day and read all of the cards and letters and looked at the registry and felt the urge to let people know that their words, prayers and thoughts had consoled me and meant so much to me at the time but mean even more to me today, three years away from the sorrowful days that I received them. I can still recall the soothing words of some of the callers, some of the visitors, I felt all over again the sincerity of the feelings of sympathy and love. I vowed to express my sympathy to the people I care for and help them heal in their losses. It doesn't have to be elaborate or costly, it just has to be heartfelt. It is surprising how just knowing that someone took the time to let you know that they care can lift your spirits.

I put all of the things back in the box to perhaps, read another day. Three years seems like a long time, in some ways, but seems like yesterday in others. The memories linger on. The third anniversary seemed like a good time to take my memories out and look at them.I'm glad I did. Ciao.

Another strong storm hit Louisville a couple of nights ago. This one had straight line winds that were between 65 and 70 miles an hour. Fortunately it only lasted for a few minutes. Well, maybe five or ten minutes. I live in fear of my oak tree crashing in on my home but I escaped again. However the roof and yard were a total mess. There were some small branches and twigs and leaves and just plain clutter all over my yard and windows. I did drive to church the next morning and saw a few large branches down but overall the area did not look too bad. My power flicked off a few times but came right back on. I had to reset the clocks twice. Abrahams lost their power but their yard was about in the same condition as mine. Last time my umbrella on the deck was blown over onto their roof. Not so this time!
Brian called and said he would come and help me clean up the mess. When he got here he was amazed at how good things looked here. He had seen trees that had been uprooted and were on top of cars or houses, wires down, telephone poles pulled from the ground, large signs blown against building and such havoc that he felt I should count my blessings. He did get the blower and cleaned it all up but made me feel thankful for being spared and guilty for whining about my minor mess. That's the story of life.

Things are never so bad that you can't look around and see someone worse off than you. My Grandmother taught me that lesson when I was a young child. I have found so often in life that she was right. So often when I begin to have a pity party for myself I have to look around and see that I am the lucky one.

Does this mean that I don't whine and complain about my plight once in awhile? No,on many occasions I have to adjust my attitude but I try to eventually come around to seeing the good things in my life and let the less than good things go. However, I am still mad at the squirrel or raccoon or whatever it was that ate my tomato plants! I see a few of my neighbors and some members of my family and some of the people at achool that have bumper crops of tomatoes and I ask where did I go wrong? Is there a 'tomato ref' around that I can complain to? Surely, the little beast that ate the plants deserved to have a foul called on him. It just doesn't seem fair. I love tomatoes! Why me,Lord?

Oh well, my oak tree is still standing!!!Ciao.

School Days

Today, all of the teachers are going back to school. How I wish that I could be there,too. I love school! When I was growing up I could hardly wait for Labor Day to come because schools opened the next day,the next week day. I lived in Ohio and we didn't start in August. Many states still follow that pattern. School begins after Labor Day! Kentucky started opening in August because of the possibility of snow causing "snow days"in the winter. In Ohio, when I was growing up, if it snowed you put your boots on and went to school. There was no such thing as a "snow day". Not only did you go to school but you walked there. I loved that too. We would walk to school and the walk was so quiet. The blanket of snow absorbed the usual noises.

For forty years, I went back to school on this day to get ready for the year to come. We always gathered together to enjoy the "Opening donuts". The teachers shared all of their summer experiences and renewed friendships and exuded excitement to be back, they checked out the new faculty members and made their acquaintances. The synergy in the room was almost palpable

I scrutinized all of the class rosters and wondered which kid was out there waiting to see if he could challenge me, see if he could make me wish I had taken up some other career; I wondered which kid was out there waiting for one of us to change his life for the better. Which kid was going to find a friend that would enrich his life forever, which kid would learn how to be more enthused about learning and more enthused to be thinking and recognizing his/her talents.

There are usually workshops presented to keep all teachers up on the latest techniques and new methods of grading, clarification of school rules, dress code infractions, banned articles and so on.

I liked getting the classroom in order, assembling the name tags and making a seating arrangement, posting the "Class Rules" in a prominant place, displaying books suitable for reading, making sure that there are games available for rainy day recesses, charts or posters that refer to subject matters that we will be working on. Of course the alphabet and number line must be visible to them for reference. Class schedules posted for easy access lest they forget what's next.

Lesson plans for the early days were made. A planned recitation of class structure and likes and dislikes. A 'getting to know each other' session. It is always good to establish just what your expectations are. I always thought it was wise to let them know just what you would tolerate. I informed them that I personally had only one rule and as long as they did not break my rule, we would get along just fine! RULE: Do as I say!

I hate it that I am not there today! I feel that a part of my being has been excised. I love school in general. I like volunteering to do some of the mailings and any thing else that I can do. I like the atmosphere of school, the 'smell' of school. I must say that part of the ambiance of schools was tossed out when they switched from 'black boards and chalk' to 'white boards and markers' I know that the thinking is that so many children were allergic to chalk dust but what about the marker odors? Can they be good for you? I inhaled chalk dust from the time I was five years old and so did millions of others and we survived. For tactile learners I think the feel, sound and odor of chalk on a black slate is theraputic and inspiring. Oh, well!

I could hardly wait till Monday when I was a student. I had almost perfect attendance, most illnesses that we have immunization for now, were dealt with by the Health department by quarantining the whole family. My sister got the measles, so I, and the rest of the family were quarantined. I had to miss many days of school. I didn't get the measles but in case my brothers would get it, my aunt took me to stay at her house until the danger was over. I absolutely did not want to miss any more school!

As for going to school to teach for forty years, I made every effort to not miss days. I never woke up in the morning and thought, "I don't want to go today." I always woke up and went to school if I could, no matter what. I loved school and always will.

I wish I were there as I write! Ciao

PS Have a great year, teachers and count your blessings. Go forth and change someone's life for the better.

Adventure Number ????

I read a quotation that said,"Man is born to live not to prepare for life." I really don't see how you could prepare for life when you don't know what's coming next! Life is just one adventure after another. I seem to have more than my share but that's Ok. I think life would be mighty dull if there were no adventures.

My latest adventure really livened up an otherwize mundane Friday evening. I was planning to watch "Blue Bloods" at 10 PM and so I prepared for bed so that I could just watch the show, and then read my current book until I fell asleep. I had turned all the lights off downstairs and locked all of the doors and planned to watch from my bed.

I had not yet completed my nightly rituals when I noticed the Police helicopter circling the neighborhood. That routinely happens every month or so. I soon became aware that the circles had become smaller and smaller and seemed to be concentrated on or near my property. The spot light on the plane was shining down on my area. Now, that is not routine so I started to become alarmed. More and more lights were being focused on my house. The living room and kitchen were targeted and as I looked out through the slats in the shades I could see many police with their flash lights in my yard, driveway, Tabb's driveway, the ditch and all the surrounding yards. Many patrol cars were gathered on the streets.

I was very, very frightened! I tried to call the Abrahams and they were not home. I left them a message and hung up and then decided I would call 911. I didn't think about what I was going to say when the dispatcher answered so when she asked the ,"Do you need fire, police or ambulance?" I said I just want information! I'm sure my panic came through in my voice and she, the dispatcher, said,"Tell me what you need to know." I said I wanted to know what all the police and police vehicles and the helicopter were doing. She quickly asked where I was, what my name was, and if I was alone in the house.

She said, "Do not go out of your house!!" She went on to say that the police were chasing someone and then she went on to assure me that I would be safe. She said not to hang up, she said,"I know how scared you are so I am going to ask one of the officers to come to your door, do not hang up! The officers will have flashlights and will identify themselves." At that point I heard them come to the porch and in my nervous state, was trying to get the door unlocked and I dropped the phone and it hung itself up. She immeciately called again and said I could open the door because it definitely was the police. Then she hung up.

I had heard what sounded like a gun shot and I had also heard a 'thump' on the deck. I told the officers about that and they went out back and checked the deck and shined their lights all over the area. They said there had been officers with dogs up and down the ditch and around the yards.I had seen four to six police cruisers on my street and on Sunder. They encouraged me to 'be not afraid'.

About 5 minutes later the Abrahams came home and they were surprised to
see their lights in the front and back yards, and to see an officer walking away from their yard to get in his patrol car. They have sensor lights. They walked back to Chatham Rd. before going into their house. The neighbor back there said he had thought he heard someone shooting off a firework and had come out in time to see all the patrol cars leaving. He was in his basement.

Of course when the Abrahams entered their house they heard my message to them and called to get the details. One neighbor said he heard that the police were chasing an escaped convict. No report on the news nor in the paper today!
Mystery,Nu nee,nu,nee! I hope we find out someday what it was all about.(Probable not about the Hokey Pokey).

P.S.

It did say in the paper that Karen Sypher has already filed papers to get a retrial if and when she gets out of prison in six years or so. She never got to tell her story! (she says).

Stay tuned for the next adventure. Ciao