There is something I have been wanting to share with you and tonight, I feel like writing about it.
I have been thinking about Connie’s Story and how it evolved. I started to recall the times I had admired someone else and/or their things hi, and wanted to emulate them. You might think I’m psychoanalyzing myself and you could be right, but I doubt I’m the only person who has struggled with finding their own identity. My first memory of admiring someone else’s style was when I was five years old.
I wanted Lois Lillibridge’s shoes.
I borrowed them and I loved them so much I couldn’t bring myself to give them back. I asked her if she wanted the pink canvas shoes I had and she said, “No.” Then an awful thing happened. Her dad died and Lois and her mom and sister were moving away from Murdo.
Do you believe in Angels? There is a saying, “To those who believe, no explanation is necessary. To those who do not believe, no explanation is possible.”
Please know that I’m not trying to persuade anybody to believe one way or the other, but today, Tuesday and Thursday, I would like to share three very heartwarming stories..and they’re all true.
THE GRANDFATHER CLOCK
Back in the 70’s Sherri Miller’s Mom and Dad bought a grandfather clock at an auction in Presho, SD where they lived. As it turned out, the clock belonged to someone who lived just a couple of blocks from them, so they ended up hand carrying it down the street to their house, where it still resides.
The clock soon became Mr. Swinson’s pride and joy and he seldom let anyone else touch it. His beautiful clock had to be wound each week before the weights were…
I picked another topic from Uncle Chuck’s book, Wisdom well said. I ran across …lessons we learn from animals. But first, a little more background.
When he retired, Charles Francis decided to make good use of his library of stories and quotes. He started an Internet business he called ‘The Idea Bank.’ People purchased a membership and could go into the site, pick a subject, and get stories and quotes to add interest to their speech or article. Many speech writers enjoyed the convenience of Uncle Chuck’s well organized, unique, and large volume of information. To say he was well-read is a vast understatement.
The three Francis brothers…from left, Bill, John, and Chuck. Their father died when his sons were 10 (John), 7 (Bill), and 2 (Chuck).
I like this poem about accomplishment, author unknown.
There once was an oyster whose story I’ll tell, Who found that sand got under his shell;
Just one little grain, but it gave him much pain, For oysters have feelings although they’re so plain.
Now, did he berate the working of fate, Which had led him to such a deplorable state?
Did he curse out the government, call for an election? No. As he lay on the shelf, he said to himself,
“If I cannot remove it, I’ll improve it.”So the years rolled by as the years always do,
And he came to the ultimate destiny – stew. But this small grain of sand which had bothered him so,
Was a beautiful pearl, all richly aglow. Now this poem has a moral – for isn’t it grand
What an oyster can do with a morsel of sand. What couldn’t we do if we’d only begin With all of the things that get under our skin.
Teamwork and ego…
The sin (and danger) of excessive pride (or an excessive ego) is admirably demonstrated in this simple fable:
A frog asked two geese to take him south with them. At first they resisted; they couldn’t see how it could be done. Finally, the frog suggested that the two geese hold a stick in their beaks and he would hold onto it with his mouth.
So off the unlikely threesome went, flying southward over the countryside. It was really quite a sight. People looked up and expressed great admiration at this demonstration of creative teamwork.
Someone said, “It’s wonderful! Who was so clever to discover such a fine way to travel?”
Whereupon the frog opened his mouth and said, “It was I,” as he plummeted to the earth.
I’m adding these pictures of two pages of topics. The first one of you to mention a topic in their comment will get some suggestions from the book in the next blog. You can make the photos larger by tapping with your finger.
When we were culling and moving, I came across a great book written by my dad’s brother, Charles Francis. I promise you have never seen a book like this…unless you have seen this one.
Pick a subject…any subject. Do you need ideas, quotes from specific people whose names your readers will recognize? What subject? Funny stories, anecdotes to make your point or what else? Well…you name it and then you can find it in this book.
To demonstrate, I will pick a topic. As you know, I recently embarked on a new adventure. To be successful, I must overcome my fear of failure, and my tendency to panic and talk myself into giving up, etc. I want to feel motivated and I want to use humor. In ten minutes, I had everything I needed to start.
I looked in the table of contents where everything is cross-referenced under different categories. As most of you know. I was raised on humor. Here was Uncle Chuck’s best quote explaining humor…
“Humor endows us with the capacity to clarify the obscure, to simplify the complex, to deflate the pompous, to chastise the arrogant, to point to a moral, and to adorn a tale…”
Who said it? The late US Senator, Sam J. Ervin, Jr. who, at the age of 76, headed the Senate Select Committee investigating the Watergate scandal.
On Panic…
Once upon a time, a young donkey asked his grandpa, “How do I grow up to be just like you?”
“Oh, that’s simple,” the elder donkey said. “All you have to do is to remember to shake it off and step up.”
“What does that mean?” asked the youngster.
The grandfather replied, “Let me tell you a story…”
“Once when I was your age, I was out walking. I wasn’t paying attention and fell deep into an old abandoned well. I started braying and braying. Finally an old farmer came by and saw me. I was scared to death. But then he left. I stayed in that well all night.
“The next morning, he came back with a whole group of people, and they looked down at me. Some of them even laughed. Then the farmer said, “The well’s abandoned and that donkey isn’t worth saving, so let’s get to work.’ And believe it or not, they all started shoveling dirt into the well. I panicked. I was going to be buried alive!
“After the first shovels of dirt came down on me, I realized something. Every time dirt landed on my back, I could use it and step up a little bit higher. They kept shoveling and I kept shaking the dirt off and stepping up. This went on for some time.
“Shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up…’ I kept repeating to myself for encouragement. I fought the panic by shaking it off and stepping up. And it wasn’t long before I stepped out of the well, exhausted but triumphant.
“So no matter how difficult the situation, no matter how bad things get, no matter how much dirt gets dumped on you, just remember – shake it off and step up. You’ll be alright.”
Like almost everyone on both sides of my family, Uncle Chuck graduated from Murdo High School. He also wrote a book called, Murdo Man. It’s different from my stories. He goes more into the history of Murdo and the Francis family.
It seems my “Woe is me because my school didn’t offer Home Economics,” blog brought out some “feelings” for some of you. I should have remembered the reactions I got the one or two (or six) times I have mentioned that in my senior year, I won the “Betty Crocker Homemaker of Tomorrow” award.
Truthfully? Some of the previous winners feared for their lives. It’s amazing to me that forty or fifty, or in some cases, sixty years later, some have not forgotten the experience of losing.
Those who thought they should have won because they were actually proficient in cooking and sewing found it hard to swallow when some of my fellow winners and I, who literally could not boil water, walked up onto the stage on awards night to receive the coveted pin.
It’s not our fault the test was multiple choice, right winners? Who knew that “All of the above,” was actually the correct answer so many times. Could it be you talented homemakers take things too literally or think a little too deeply?
Oh…did I already use this picture?
I’ll never forget my mother running through the door, letter of notification in hand, to tell me I had won. It was a proud moment. I think in some way it validated her decision to let Santa bring me that used sewing machine. You’re welcome, Mom…
Still…I am very proud of the victory. I lost the pin years ago, but I was re-awarded and given a new pin in 2016. A couple of good friends, one a fellow winner and one who claims they didn’t give out the award when she was a senior, gave me a new pin and a collage representing my life thus far. Betty Crocker/Mary Francis played the saxophone for nine years, but sadly, no awards.)
**By the way…If you lost your pin or have never gotten over losing, you can buy a pin on Ebay.
On at least two occassions, jolly old St Nicholas brought used merchandise to my house. I think I know why. He is a wise Santa and he knew the thing I just had to have was only a momentary desire that would pass in a flash…hardly worth the investment of the new version of whatever I had my heart set on.
The funny thing is…I wasn’t embarrassed or offended when I got something used. Once I got a pre-owned sewing machine. It was a real clunker too. I remember setting it up on a big table in the open area of the basement house. I also remember sitting there with my dress pattern, my pink fabric and a zipper, wondering what to do next. Mom had asked me if I wanted some help. I soon regretted my impulsive answer. “I can do it by myself!! There’s nothing to it!”
After sitting there for a while and ripping out several miss-placed rows if stitches, I decided being a seamstress was not my calling. Mom made me stick with it until I finished the pink dress. I never could get one of the sleeves in correctly. I had to hold one arm back like I was about to throw a bowling ball down the lane for it to hang right.
Mom sold the pink bowling dress at a rummage sale.
There is a very good reason why I can’t sew, knit, iron, cook, or clean house. Murdo High School did not offer a home economics class. Believe me…the world is full of challenges if you are one of the unfortunate few like me, who was never availed the opportunity to take home economics.
Thankfully, I was able to teach myself how to make chocolate chip cookies.
I’m not sure about what happened to that used sewing machine. The table it sat on was in the way everywhere you went in the house. Maybe Mom sold it with the bowling dress.
Fifty years ago the lady who gathered the local news for The Murdo Coyote would write something along the lines of, “Mr and Mrs Jones and Mr and Mrs Smith motored to Pierre where they purchased seasonal plants at the Ft Pierre Nursery. Mrs Jones bought several flats of petunias, but since Mrs Smith prefers geraniums, she bought an equal number of geraniums even though they are more costly than in past years. While the ladies were picking plants, the two men enjoyed a cup of coffee and delicious cherry pie at the little cafe inside of Ben Franklin’s. Later that afternoon, all motored back to Murdo. They reported that a good time was had by all.”
Yesterday, being Thanksgiving Day, Mr and Mrs Kip McNinch motored with Mr and Mrs Jerry Davis to Alba, Texas where they were joined by Mr and Mrs Lewis Williams. All six motored on over to Sulphur Springs. The idea was to partake of a delicious dinner prepared by Furr’s Cafeteria, which they did. It was all you can eat, so we ate all we could and then some. You couldn’t beat it with a stick. A sweet young man we’ll call Dillon, ran to get us anything our hearts desired, like cherry cobbler with ice cream, apple dumplings and a big piece of chocolate cake. This was after we had already consumed a fair amount of sweets.
We alarmed poor Dillon when he returned to our table and we were all gone. Apparently some eat all they can and then walk the check. We would never do that, but of course Dillon had no way of knowing that. We just all happened to visit the ladie’s and men’s rooms at the same time. We gave poor distraught Dillon a nice tip and were on our way.
About then, Lewis suggested we go look at the Sulphur Springs town square. It is a beautiful thing to behold. Well, most of it is. Did you know they have elaborate outdoor bathrooms right on Main Street? On the outside, they look like huge mirrors…tall and square. You can’t see through them to the inside.
If you’re on the inside, you CAN see everything, I mean EVERYTHING on the ouside. To prove what I’m telling you, I took pictures. (There’s no way I could have gone to the bathroom while I was on the inside, so I took pictures to document my story.)
This is what I saw from the inside.
After walking around some more and looking at the beautiful courthouse and Veteran’s Memorial, we loaded up in Pat’s car and headed back to Alba to drop Lewis and Dolores off before motoring on back to Eustace.
I forgot to mention it was Dolores and Lewis’ fifty-first anniversary.
Anyway, a good time was had by all. Even though Kip mentioned that he thinks Pat drives like a bat out of hell, we all got home safely and we made good time.
Those 70ish Girls 