Saturday, January 29, 2011

A Dark Day

I am always an early riser. 6:00 a.m. rolls around and I am out of bed and down the street to our neighbors house wondering if the boys can play.

The days were my own. And I filled them with everything possible. Kickball, digging, singing, building, singing again, dancing, acrobatic feats, sliding down the stairs, hanging off the stairs, etc.

Most of this was completed, and completed well, by lunch.

And then, one day…it happened. The worst of all things imaginable. The horror of horrors. The darkest day known to mankind.

Kindergarten.

I had to wear nice clothes. I had to brush my hair and keep it neat. I had to listen and get in line and sit down and walk, NOT RUN, and be quiet and behave and…oh forget it! The list is too long!

Even more excruciating than this was the learning and the producing of the learning.

“Look, Kara, if you do these math problems, you can color the picture.” (A sing songy tone accompanies this statement.)

I colored the picture and did not do the problems.

“Look, Kara, if you stay in line, you can have this sticker.” (Another sing songy statement.)

No skipping, no hopping, no jumping in line…and all I get for my great control is a sticker that looks like a rainbow?

My mama didn’t raise no fool!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Cinderella Slopped Her Dripper (As my dad always says.)

There’s this hymn we sing in church called, “Were You There?”. As an adult it brings tears to my eyes. As a child, well…you’ll see.

Grace has a middle son and if you valued your pride, you probably didn’t want to sit next to him in church, or you might pee on yourself from laughing so hard.

I don’t know where he came up with some of the stuff he said, but it was hilarious. And for some reason, he was even funnier in church. Maybe it’s because we were supposed to be praying and being very holy.

Topping his sense of humor is a very, very charming personality. And at a very early age he had the presence of mind to be courteous and considerate toward females. Not many men have this instinct.

As a result, plenty of girls had crushes on him. And he showed care, concern, and consideration for all of them.

So, I have always thought of him as a real-life Prince Charming. My favorite prince is Phillip from Sleeping Beauty. He’s the only prince that actually has to save the princess. (It’s so romantic! Sigh…)

It wasn’t too long before Phillip started taking care of Wendy. I think he was about 5 and she 4.

When we went on day trips and had to walk, he would carry her on his back when she got tired. If she was thirsty, he got her a drink. If she wanted to go down the slide, he would go down with her. For protection.

Wendy might have been the first girl he paid particular attention to, but she wouldn’t be the last. We are all enchanted by him. We are all special to him. We are all important in his eyes.

And, so, this is our Phillip. Humor, charm, and chivalry all wrapped up one in one guy.

But beware of Sundays…

“Were you there when they nailed him to a tree? Were you there when they nailed him to a tree? Oh, oh, oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, (“What?”, says Phillip in your ear.), tremble, (“Excuse me?”, asks Phillip.), tremble.” (“Oh,” he finishes. And now you have wet your pants because you are trying so hard not to laugh, but you can’t help it and there is your mother glaring at you from her seat in the choir.)