Vintage Views & Vision

Blogging’s sweet – I’ve missed it!

Since last blogged so much has happened !   ! ! ! !

Moved ahead on my book – that was good. Drove 8,000 miles this summer.  That was good too.

But also this summer two dismal horsemen, in the shape of 2  cancers, came crashing in on my sweet mom.

Though so ill she never lost of a drop of her optimism, hope, or her strength.  She was my mom through and through, each day, each moment.

Three weeks ago those invaders did overtake her.  But all they could grab hold of was her physical, earthly body.

As she passed from this life we saw joy in her eyes and her face.  I’ll never forget it. What those two horsemen called cancer meant for evil, she did not experience.   Death really was not a sting – not for her.  The day she slipped away from them, she ran joyfully into the arms of God, the arms of our Lord Jesus, and of those who’d gone before.  That’s exactly what happened.

From now on I’ll never be afraid to die.  Even better, I’m not afraid to live.

Life is good and it doesn’t end!

The other day something made me think about the time close to 30 years ago now when our family was intact and we used to go to a lake near Eau Claire, Wisconsin during the summer.

The whole family assembled there as it had routinely for generations with all the cousins (three generations of cousins sometimes), as well as aunts, uncles, and grand-parents. The main daily event was to swim in the lake, paddle out to Dill Pickle Island, go to the antique mall nearby, and spend leisurely evenings together with no interruptions – prior to cell phones we really were free from interruptions when we were away from home. and play never ending cribbage tournaments. (That’s when I learned not to stand in the water when menstruating because fish nibbled at my legs when I was in that condition.)

 All of the fiercely entrepreneurial young cousins were being homeschooled.. The older ones (I mean the ones older than about made crafts during the year to "sell" to the family at the lake.

No, not for money!!!!

And not for a fixed price, either!

The kids sold their products at the annual family auction for M & Ms. The grown-ups were each issued a certain number of M & Ms – everyone received the same amount of each color too. Then we bid on the various goodies in M & Ms – the seller pocketing and or swallowing the highest bid. Red M & Ms were worth the most, if I remember it correctly

Yes, we could elect to eat our chocolate but then we would not have enough currency to buy any of the good stuff.  Some married couples pooled their assets while others bid heartily against each other.

Good fun and great memories of a time long gone are among our lasting treasures.

It has been 11 years since I have taught a home school class – all my children are grown or in college – I even just received my second grand-child, Morgan, a red-headed little girl like so many of Virginia and my mutual red headed nieces and nephews. Morgan was born on Sunday morning and it won’t be until next Sunday that I’ll get to see her and snuggle the newborn soft red head. I digress. But today, at the Museum, we held the first session of our French Colonial Missouri History class for home schooled high school students. We had a great time, laughed a lot, and everyone went home with an assignment for next week. Not one of us knows exactly what grist is as in a grist mill – that’s my homework. Their homework will help us build a hands-on interactive room for children to explore French colonial life in the 1700s. Home schoolers do have a confidence that many kids the same age have yet to develop. I knew it was a good idea to create reasons for home schoolers to participate at the Museum.

If anyone asks me how to parent well (most people think I have), I usually say that there are only two things any good parent needs to know:

1. You must know who are the grown-ups
2. You must believe that your sinful children default to sin

If anyone asks what rules govern my house, there are two:

1. Everyone must be respected
2. Everyone has to be safe

If anyone asks what my philosophy of education is, there are two objectives:

1. Require excellence in the areas of giftedness
2. Strive for competence in the areas of weakness

If anyone asks me about leadership:

1. Everyone is due respect and honor
2. Everyone makes mistakes and there is no shame in owning a mistake because everyone else will help fix the mistakes

I wonder why I seem to boil down important ideas into two pieces but I do and perhaps setting them out here will be useful to someone else. Thanks for taking the time to look.

It is the beginning of birthday season in our family – or more accurately, it is nearly my birthday – which I no longer actually celebrate. I have had enough birthdays so a few years ago I yielded mine to my nephew, Timmy, who attempted some 22 years ago to usurp it.

We had some interesting birthdays during our home school era. We gave our children birthday parties ONLY when they turned 4, 10, and 16. On the other years the birthday kid chose the supper menu and decided what kind of birthday cake I would make.

No, that did not mean chocolate or yellow or spice cake.

It meant a dinosaur cake, a fire truck, a tree cake, or a bubble gum cake – leaving me to interpret the instructions.

Virginia’s and my mutual sister-in-law appeared at my front door on Audrey’s third birthday when I was quite pregnant with Colin to find me in tears because the blue bubble gum cake had collapsed under the weight of all the gum balls. It was genius on Audrey’s part to request bubble gum for her cake because in general the rule was that you couldn’t chew gum until you were four. Our sister-in-law just laughed at my misery and we drowned it in a cup of tea.

Audrey’s fifth birthday was another near fiasco. Of course it was not a party year but that did not stop Audrey from writing party invitations – the home school room had all the card making supplies any five year old could ever hope to need. Not being a party year, Audrey knew better than to ask me for envelopes and stamps but she did sucker her dad into giving them to her and even addressing the envelopes and walking her to the mailbox. Nobody said anything to me….until the same mutual sister-in-law called. "Audrey did a really good job writing the party invitations but she left off the time for the kids to arrive."

How many invitations had been sent? Who else needed to know what time a party started? Party! That presupposed games, favors, food, a cake….a clean house……yes, Audrey managed to get an extra birthday party.

Home schooled children show more initiative than others, don’t they?

Perhaps another blog time I’ll talk about some of the other birthdays. Usually they were adventuresome.