To my knowledge, my mother never told any of us girls about the facts of life or mentioned “the birds and the bees.” I wasn’t even given warning about a once-a-month visitor – well, at least from my mother – or my big sister. It’s a good thing I had big brothers!
One day my other sister, just two years older than me, asked mama, “How do babies get here?” Mama answered, “The same way little pigs do. Now go do your chores.”
I took my sister aside and told her where babies come from. She didn’t believe me. Now I know it did seem a bit far-fetched, but that’s what my brothers told me. And you know what? I think that’s the only thing they ever told me that was actually true!
I’m glad they didn’t tell Mama. She didn’t find out until her sixth baby. I guess that’s a good thing!
We moved the summer of my junior year of high school. It wasn’t always easy changing schools. One just doesn’t go to a new school and break through the cliques and infiltrate friendships that are already established – but that’s another story. It really didn’t make much difference to me anyway. I only just tolerated school at best.
To me, moving was an adventure. I thought of new friends and relationships that I wouldn’t have otherwise and didn’t want to miss out on that. Just within a week or two, I was invited to the Planetarium/Science Center to rappel off the building. That certainly piqued my interest!
When I pulled up to the building, I was greeted like an old friend. That’s where I met Mr. Smith, who at that time was Coordinator for Curriculum for the county schools, as well as the founding director of the planetarium which opened in 1967, and his wife who was a school counselor. Mr. Smith and I had an immediate connection – we were both PKs. That was the beginning of a relationship that has lasted for years.
I climbed the stairs to the top of the building that was also the observatory for star gazing. I got rigged up, hooked up the carabiners to my seat, and jumped off the side of the building. Of course, someone tied my seat and showed me what to do while they explained the safety precautions. That day and every time after when we rappelled, Mrs. Smith ALWAYS said, “Check your break bars.” That’s a warning I carried with me from then on. When I left that day, I had a standing invitation to join them anytime.
The relationship forged that day grew to something greater. Not only did I gain good friends, I also gained a teacher and great mentors. And, I was offered a job. In order to take the position, I was required to take the Vocational Office Training Class offered at school. One purpose of VOT was to place students into office positions to gain work experience in that field. Though I had already acquired the office skills needed, I complied so I could become Mr. Smith’s secretary. For two years I typed, mailed correspondence from Mr. Smith to teachers in the school system, helped conduct planetarium programs, built lockers, made dolls and other props to put behind the dome for special showings, answered the phone, made reservations, and greeted school groups, among other things.
But there was a bonus. I was a secretary – with benefits.
Those benefits included hiking, backpacking, rappelling, learning proper rappelling rigging and knot tying, camping, caving, fossil hunting, good food, use of a Nikon camera, darkroom access to process black and white film and develop my own photos, alternative education for part of the school year, pine needle tea and other survival tips, learning to operate the Goto projector, watching meteor showers and comets, bonfires, field trips to unique places, mine exploring, and much more. My job also provided funds for the summer trip my sister and I took across the country, and for my very first pair of real jeans.
Along a hiking trail
I’m very thankful for the kindness that was extended to me, the new kid on the block. It has been a lasting friendship with the fondest of memories and continuing education of which I am still reaping the benefits.
One day, I decided a girls’ day trip was in order and I knew just the place to go. I set the date and time, told the girls what to wear and when to be ready.
When I give them specifics for clothing or type of shoes, they get a bit nervous. Red and the Judge have learned to just go with it, but Spike said, “Where are we going?” My reply was the same as always, “I can’t tell you. It’s a secret!”
Red and Spike are redheaded cousins. Judge is their cousin, too. The limbs of their family tree go every which way with a few twisted, very twisted, branches. The song, “I’m My Own Grandpa,” might give you some idea of what their tree looks like. Those three gals were my companions for the day.
We loaded up and headed north. Our first stop was one of the best burger joints around. The burgers are yummy, scrumptious, and the menu has almost every kind of burger you can imagine. We had just enough time for our relaxing meal and some laughter before heading to our new adventure.
We parked downtown and walked up the street. I opened the door that read, “Civil Axe Throwing,” walked up the stairs and looked back. The girls came through the door and looked mean at me. They threw virtual axes at me and their eyes said, “We’re doing what?”
After getting our instructions, we tried our hand at axe throwing. Now, I’ll just tell you, I’m not great at throwing axes. The Judge is pretty good at it, even though that’s not her weapon of choice.
Now the redheaded girls? You’d better stay out of their way. Don’t mess with redheads! They can turn on a dime and slash you with super speed daggers with just one flash of their eyes. Before you know it, you can be brought down with secret ninja moves that appear from nowhere. When redheaded girls are perturbed (a nice word for mad), keep a wide berth.
It was no time at all before those gals were hitting the bullseye. By the time our scores were tallied, I admit that I was not in the running for the top three positions. To my defense, I do plan the BEST adventures!
BTW – I did get a couple of bullseyes. (However, if I would have had a two-headed axe, I would have had twice as many chances.)
A couple of things you might need to know about redheads: 1) redheaded bear bait can run faster than you think 2) don’t bet against a redheaded gal at an axe throwing contest
My mother loved to hear us girls sing together. We did not always oblige, but when we did, she would beam with pride – well – most of the time.
For some reason, she didn’t like allof our vocal selections, especially when we were on a road trip. We tuned up our voices and started the first verse in unison, “Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall.”
After the first verse, the game was on! No two verses were alike, but Mama was not impressed with our skills of creating ninety-nine variations. We could switch parts mid-stream without a glitch. While one took the lead, “Ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall…”, the other added background vocals in harmony, “Ninety-eight bottles, ninety-eight bottles, ninety-eight bottles…” And so on and so forth!
By the time we got to “Eighty-nine bottles of beer on the wall,” Mama was already tired of our performance. She voiced her objection, “Buck, will you make the girls quit singing that song?” I thought she liked to hear us sing!
After prompting Daddy several times to do something, he finally said, “You’re driving your mother crazy!”
The soldier stood guard over a detail of German prisoners as they repaired a drain field. It was getting close to lunch time when the German liaison officer hurried across the field calling to his fellow soldiers. Smiles broke out on their faces. Caps flew into the air and cheers erupted like fireworks. They didn’t cheer because it was time for lunch, they celebrated because the war was over! Soldiers on every side would go home to their families.
For years after, the soldier had flashbacks of his time in the war, especially on December 2nd, the anniversary of the day he was hit with shrapnel that he carried for the rest of his life. He returned from war, married and had a family.
One day we talked, and I asked if he had any bitterness toward those against whom he fought. He confessed that he discovered some prejudices he didn’t realize he harbored. One way he helped face those feelings was to study the language and the culture. He kept German books and his German bible close at hand.
He recounted the story of an event that made a great impact in his life. After he went into the ministry, he was called upon to serve as hospital chaplain. One day he got a call requesting him to visit a German lady in the hospital. Others had gone to see her, but they could not get past the language barrier. When he saw her and heard her German accent with her broken English, a wave of emotion and prejudice rose up in him. He stepped into the room and spoke to her in her own language. Immediately she was calmed and smiled as she heard words of hope in a language she understood.
In the process of ministering to her, he was the one who was healed of his prejudices. Had he not been through those experiences of war, he would not have been able to minister to the German woman. Had he not been in the position to minister to her he may not have come face to face with that which imprisoned him.
