Class Exercise #5

CLASS EXERCISES #5

Have you ever?

Have you ever watched a life unravel?

You notice it first around the edges as details slip between the threads.

      The checkbook no longer balances.

      Accidents happen and there are no explanations.

      Appointments are forgotten and recipes fail.

       Familiar faces and their stories become strange.

       Your loved one slowly fades away.

       Connections are broken.

        Hugs are exchanged without warmth.

        Conversation is like weaving without a loom.

        Mind and hands, once busy with plans and projects, now fidget with a string.

Have you ever watched a life unravel?  I have.  Alzheimer's is a ruthless ripper, tearing great holes in the fabric of life.

Dear Parent

Dear Mother,

I've often wondered how you really felt about sending your 7 year old off to boarding school.  I was so homesick.  Were you Helensick?  The only thing I remember you saying was that you couldn't understand Carol because I had been talking for her.

Looking back, you always repressed emotions that you thought might cause a negative emotional reaction from others.   This tendency came between us in several stages of my growing up.  And, I hated it when you would say, “Don't feel that way.”

But, I found myself withdrawing from negative emotional encounters with my children.  I wish we could have talked about it.  But, we would have cried and in our lives, tears were reserved for happiness, pride or sentimental stories.

It's too late to talk but I'm beginning to understand.  I love you and I know you loved me and that going off to boarding school was the best way for me to get a good education.

Advice

“Not all the learning is in the books.”

Strange advice for a father to give his oldest daughter about to go off to college in the city.

Daddy had invited me to accompany him to Colorado to get a horse just a few days before I was to leave for college.  Daddy was both very proud that I was going to college and terrified at the idea of my going.  I think he thought six or seven hours together in the truck would help us say good-bye .

“Not all the learning is in the books.”

I was senior valedictorian at St. Agnes but I was very shy and had been quite sheltered boarding at St. Agnes and living on a ranch.  What was this strange advice?

I joined the “M” club, a social activity club with a emphasis on sports.  When they organized an outing to a hockey game, I went.  When they formed bowing teams for a league, I joined.

“Not all the learning is in the books.”

When a Jewish family signed up for the babysitting service at the Catholic college dorm, I went.  There was one Black girl in the Biology class.  We were lab partners.

“Not all the learning is in the books.”

My student teaching assignment was on the edge of the ghetto and I had to navigate the city bus system to get there..

“Not all the learning is in the books.”

Throughout my life, I've encountered change and new experiences and “not all the learning is in the books.”

Thank you, Daddy.

Cinquain

The hills

are lush and green,

dotted with wild flowers.

Cows and calves graze contentedly.

The ranch!

The Cat Next Door

(Talk of the times – choose the slang of an era and write something using as many words and phrases as possible.)

Cast an eyeball at that actor.
He thinks he is so cool

just because he's traded his

jellyroll for a flat top.

In his new threads, he thinks

he has it made in the shade.

But, when the sun comes up

he's been shot down again.

He thinks life is such a wet rag.

I wish he would notice me here

behind these peepers.

New Birth

December 19. 1990

In a hospital in Omaha, a tiny baby was born                           
He had black hair and his eyes were brown.
He opened his eyes and blinked at the bright world ready to be discovered.
He felt his Mother’s eager welcome as her soft arms cradled him.
He heard his father’s gentle voice.

At the same moment, nearly 500 miles across the state,
In a rented trailer, a grandmother was born.
Her hair was already grey and her eyes were weary.
She opened her eyes, surprised to see hope washing over her world.
She felt her burdens lifting as the grandpa wrapped his arms around her.
She heard the echo of Carl Sandburg stating,

“A baby is God’s opinion that the world should go on.”