THE SECOND GRADE REBELLION

Mrs. Higgins second grade class, at Greenbriar Elementary School, was not a happy group this mid-November morning.  I remember a lot of slamming of locker doors as we stomped around creating the most disgruntled group of unhappy rebels who wanted to create some sort of revolution that morning.  How could we be treated so unfairly?  As the stark reality of the situation sunk in, we just wanted to be as difficult a group of seven year olds that we could possibly be.  We were being treated unjustly and we were not going to just behave accordingly as we normally would.  

What had happened?  Why were we so angry?  We had just learned that we, the entire group of secondgraders at this Fort Worth school would not be attending the parade to be held downtown later in the morning.  Of course, the classes older than us, were boarding buses and going to see President John F. Kennedy and his wife, first lady, Jackie Kennedy as they left their hotel and proceded on to the airport for the rest of their Texas journey.  My sister, Kathy, a fourth grader, was going to get to see him.  My parents planned on finding a spot on the parade route and seeing him and Jackie as well.  I believed my teen sister, Pam would also be there.  

All of this seemed so unbelieveably unfair!  I loved President Kennedy and Jackie so much.  I don't even remember having a president until him.  I had wished to be part of their family.  They were perfect.  Their children were perfect.  They had the perfect life and because of them, we had the perfect country.  I wanted to see them so much!  When I found out the rest of the school was going to go see him, I was furious.  I don't remember if I actually led the civil disobedience of slamming lockers and stomping feet, but, I was sure making my disapproval of this situation known.

I think Mrs. Higgins, who seemed to be a very sweet, kind and gentle white haired teacher eventually got her little band of bad kids under control and cooled the heated rebellion as we went on with our day.  

I only remember that eventually, we were told that we were dismissing early. As I met my mom at the car out front of my school building she told me that our handsome, perfect president was dead.  I was devastated.  The next four days were spent in front of the TV mourning this larger than life man.  I had never lost any one before.  This was really hard to take.  The unbearable grief just seemed to go on and on.  Life as I had known it was over.

I remember going with my family, over to Dallas, to tour Dealy Plaza and see all the flowers that had been placed in his memory.  I also remember eventually going to see where Lee Harvey Oswald was buried.  I remember being sad for a long time.  My perfect world was shattered.

Today, fifty years later, I have learned that John F. Kennedy was not perfect.  His family was not perfect, neither was our country at that time.  I've watched and continue to be saddened whenever a new Kennedy death occurs.  I don't know how they can carry on in a family that sees so much death and loss as the years unfold.

As Thanksgiving rolls around again, I am so thankful for my family and the many ways God has blessed us through the years.  I just wanted to share my little story of my memories from fifty years ago.  I hope you have a wonderful day.  Stay safe.  luv, Susan   

HAPPY BELATED VETERANS DAY !!

After rereading my last blog posting, I realized that I made several mistakes, so I'll probably try to correct them when I figure out how to do that.  I just want to clarify the most glaring of those mistakes.....my parents had previously had four grandsons before Christina was born.  Those grandsons  included Darren, Shawn, Dustin and Evan.  What was I thinking?  In addition to their one granddaughter, they eventually got their fifth grandson, Ryan. Yes, believe it or not, my mom and dad, Roy D. and Betty Six have six grandchildren, how appropriate!  So, now that I have cleared that up, I will continue.

Yesterday was a pretty typical Monday for me.  I routinely go to the Amen House to help with the sorting and distribution at our multi-church and community supported food and clothing bank.  I really enjoy this volunteer job and work with some of the most awesome people I've ever met.  I usually do some grocery shopping, but decided to skip that because Mark is on vacation this week due to hunting season.  When I arrived home, he was beside himself as he pointed out the large buck hanging from the rafters in our garage.  I'm thankful to have the prospect of meat in the freezer for the winter, but I don't share in the enthusiasm regarding the kill.  We actually have some very different views concerning this, but I won't go into that now.

I usually meet with some of my high school former classmates and lifelong friends the first Monday of each month, but we didn't meet the actual first Monday of the month due to a well known health screening I had scheduled for the first Tuesday of the month.  I'll not go into that either. Anyway, we were going to meet for our monthly get together, but first, we had plans to check out a facility for our upcoming 40th year class reunion for our PHS Class of 1974.  It was fun to check out the Barr House in Paris for this upcoming special event.  The Barr family had three sons and lived in an exquisite mansion not far from downtown Paris.  The youngest, Robbie, is a couple years older than my classmates and I.  He actually graduated from high school with my older sister, Kathy.  Because we are from a small town and an even smaller school, I knew this family pretty well.

We met Robbie at his now beautifully restored house, which his mom did begin catering and entertaining in some years ago.  The tour and discussion went well and we'll probably be having our reunion there.  Afterwards, my friends, Marti, Janice and I met up at Perico's for our monthly meeting.  We always have a great time getting together and getting caught up on what's been going on the past month in our lives.  In addition to that, we are now firming up the plans for the reunion. I usually get some sort of Mexican seafood dish, but decided to try something different when I read about a particular dish that contained oranges with a marinated pork loin.  It wasn't exactly what I expected, but I enjoyed it, none the less.

Everything was fine, til I got home and decided to finish up some of the ice cream that I had bought for Christina's birthday.  I should have known better, because I've already had two episodes that my doctor thinks may be esophageal spasms, from eating something fatty followed by something really cold.  Long story, short, I had one of those extremely painful spasms and I now know that I have to be more careful about my eating habits, and it's also time to resume my walking.  I got the message.

I also want to try to blog more often as there are some issues that I want to discuss.  One of them concerns my church, the United Methodist Church.  They are needing to make some decisions concerning gay marriage and I know it is going to really shake up my local congregation, as well as the entire Methodist membership.  I have very strong views on this subject, as I know many in my congregation have the complete opposite view. I pray that God protects our love and respect for one another during what might be a difficult period of time ahead. But, for now, I want to wish my Dad and Dad-in-law a belated Happy Veterans Day yesterday.  I love you both! 

 Take care and stay safe.  luv, Susan