2nd Wind, February 2002
"Some people, no matter what their age, never lose their beauty. It merely moves from their faces to their hearts."
"We are living in a world today where lemonade is made from artificial flavors and furniture polish is made from real lemons"
Do you remember THE talk when someone told you where babies come from? I'm not sure how old I was, but we moved from that house when I was seven. My parents were formally seated in the little family room. They called me in, and I knew something special was up....what did I do, now? My father (yes, my father) gave me a very abbreviated account of the baby "in the Mama's tummy" bit, and my only interest was in how it got out. I didn't ask, but I soon figured it out. It was the answer to another mystery...why do we have belly buttons? However, it seemed to me if God had been on the ball he would have put in a drawstring.
A year or so later, I was watching the "fat" lady across the street trying to chase her little boy. My mother commented that the lady's baby must be due any time. I said, "How do you know she's going to have a baby?" And my Mother replied, "I can tell just by looking at her." Wow, was I impressed! That was a new side of my mother. She was loving, comforting and all that, but supernatural, too?
When I was five, I met my best friend for life, Elizabeth. She had three brothers, two older and a baby. Her father had built play equipment in their back yard...very much ahead of his time for l9l9. There were swings and a suspended ladder to cross, swinging by your hands. However, Elizabeth and I were both warned we must not play when the boys were playing, because we were not to let the boys see our panties. One day I noticed we were both wearing outfits made by our moms.... dresses and panties made of the same material. I pointed out to Elizabeth that if the boys could see our dresses, why couldn't they see our panties? They were made of the same stuff. It made sense to her, so we happily swung on the bars with the boys. From then on, those were our favorite outfits. I wonder how many talks about possible molestation, kidnapping etc, miss the mark as far as that did.
My great nephew, David, is a teacher and is a single father of a teen age son, Chad. I knew David was flying to Brazil for his Christmas vacation, and usually Chad goes with him. However a note from Chad said, "While Dad is in Brazil, I'm going to be at the Vet's with the dogs." (Actually, that's not a direct quote as it was an E-mail message and I pushed the wrong thing-a-ma-bob and erased most of my inbox!) Now, that is a new angle on child rearing. Did Chad get a cage or an indoor-outdoor run? I wonder how he enjoyed the cuisine. In reality, the Vet was a friend, and Chad was spending the time with him.
I have recently re-connected with Jeanette, whom I had known before she learned to walk. However, we've been out of touch for almost fifty years. She visited a mutual friend, saw 2nd Wind, and we now are E-mail buddies. I looked up an earlier written recollection involving her mother, Mayme, wondering if Jeanette would remember it. Then I decided to share it with all of you.
"A recent visit with a friend we knew before we were married stirred up memories of the small town Methodist church we all attended. There was an active Sunday School and special occasions called for a Sunday School program. One of the small singers in the Christmas program had been Loydene, daughter of my husband's cousin. Loydene was about four years old at the time and I can safely say Loydene was no shrinking violet. She was absent when rehearsals were held for the Easter program, but came on Easter Sunday. When it was time for the littlest angels (?) to perform, Loydene marched up onto the platform with the others, and when they sang out, she, not knowing the Easter song, loudly proceeded with the one she'd perfected for the previous Christmas. Since the Easter selection was shorter than the Christmas one, she had the enviable solo spot for a few bars. When the others filed down from the platform, Loydene, now in top voice, and having sampled the sweet taste of applause, remained onstage. She was launching into the rest of her repertoire when I, as master of ceremonies (or was I a mistress?) signaled for her to come down. No Way! Another mother, Mayme, and I walked up to lead her off, but she ran into the choir loft and ducked under the chairs with Mayme and me in futile pursuit. You can imagine the audience response...definitely the most successful religious program I ever produced."
Our church hosted a wonderful celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday. We invited people of other colors and other faiths to participate, including a reading from the scriptures, by a Jewish rabbi, in both Hebrew and English, and a reading from the Koran in both Arabic and English. A "black " choir and ours sang together. Children gave quotes from King's speeches. Our minister grew up in a segregated southern town and poignantly told of her awareness, at age 8, that something wasn't right. The lady who led the other choir said to me, "Jesus told us to love one another. If you can't love your brother, you can't love Jesus, and you ain't goin' nowhere."
That said it all.
Blessings, Darlys
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When the girlfriend opened her box of Valentine chocolates, she found the box was empty. Instead of the candy, she found a note. "This 2 lb. box of chocolates has been eaten in your name."
A young boy with his new driver's license in hand, asked his father, who was a rabbi, if they could discuss his use of the family car. His father took him into the study and said, "I'll make a deal with you. You bring your grades up, study your Talmud more, get your hair cut and we'll talk about it." After a month, the boy came back and again asked his father if they could discuss his use of the car. Once more, they went into the study where the rabbi said, "Son, I've been very proud of you. You're grades are up, you've studied the Talmud diligently, but you didn't get your hair cut." The young man waited a moment and then replied, "Dad, I've been thinking about that. You know, Samson had long hair, Noah had long hair, and even Moses had long hair."
The rabbi replied, "Yes, and everywhere they went, they walked."
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