Along the Road to Home

A year has come and gone now this day that my brother-in-law Wes died after a sudden illness.  Only 7 months after my sister Sherry passed away, we said our "good-byes" to him as well.  In a million years I would have never imagined that it would go as it did.  Losing Wes brought to mind one very important lesson to remember. At its very best , life is fleeting. Wes died on the day that would have marked my father's 95th birthday.  I thought of the irony of it all when I realized that now those two men would continue their "father-son" visits in Heaven for eternity.  I like to imagine that and my heart is happy at the thought of the family reunions that take place for us all once our time on earth is through.   During our time here along the Red River, we got the chance to see Wes and Sherry at least two or three times a month.  I was glad that Wes and Mike could get the opportunity to know one another and do things together that were of int...

Slowly but surely the house is emptying out.   Boxes that are filled with our belongings are beginning to line the walls of the rooms here on Vaughn Street, a testament to the fact that we are leaving here and soon.  Each night Mike and I have worked on sorting through a different part of the house, deciding what we want to take and giving away or selling that which we do not.  We've been married nearly 6 years now, and it's amazing just how much stuff people can accumulate in even that short of a time.  It actually feels good to pare down the excess.   Traveling light is a very freeing feeling most times. Gus, our little 8-month old mini-Aussie, can sense something is up.  We have tried to keep it as normal as possible, but there is only so much "normal" that can come from leaving one place and heading to another.  The weeks that lie ahead until school dismisses in May will be a change in routine for Gus as well as for us.  We pra...

I was just a little 5 1/2 year old kindergarten kid when my home state of Kansas celebrated the 100th birthday of its statehood back in January of 1961.  My memories of having a child's size portion of a piece of birthday cake are still vivid, and I can just about taste that sweet and creamy frosting that was layered upon it even today.  Some things are burned into the memory I guess, and that particular birthday party is one of them. As a teacher, I have always tried to make a big deal of January 29th each year.  It was important to me to be able to teach my students some things about their state and hopefully instill pride in them as they called themselves "Kansans" to the rest of the world.  Some years I did only a little, while other years I did quite a lot.  One of my favorite celebrations revolved around the practice of turning my classroom into one of Kansas in the days of long ago.  We would dress up in pioneer clothing, turn off the lights in t...

Sometimes I wish I had all the quarters that I wasted by plugging them into the slot of the jukebox at my folks' cafe back home in Haven, Kansas.  3 songs for 25 cents was great entertainment back in the day and I kept Ulysses S. Grant's McPherson, Kansas business out of the red all on my own.  By the way, yes that was his real name.  I always thought that was strange as a teenager to see his invoice tickets signed that way. My memories of growing up in that restaurant and service station that used to be situated along the old highway that ran adjacent to the folks' business are still pretty fresh in mind.  It was where I learned my early work ethic from parents who believed in starting their brood of children out very young in the world of serving patrons good food.  I was 11 the day the doors opened for the first time and my little sister only 9.  It didn't matter how young we were at the time, our mother put an apron on us and told us to get to work....

Our house here along the Red River will soon begin to empty out as room by room the packing has begun.  If all goes as planned,  3 weeks from today the keys will be handed over to new owners.  It's been a long journey, one that began on an early September evening with a feeling that it was time to go back home.  The well over 4 months' worth of time that have passed since then have been filled with a gazillion things to do in order to find ourselves even where we are today.  Mike and I have worked hard, sticking together through some very challenging moments. Happily I say this. We made it this far! The other day I began reading "Little House on the Prairie" to my second grade students.  It tells of the journey Laura Ingalls Wilder made with her family when they left the big woods of Wisconsin for a new life on the Kansas prairie.  One of my favorite parts is in that very first chapter as Laura describes how her Pa closed the shutters on their cab...

A couple of weeks back I was in the spare bedroom putting up the last of the things before our home officially went on the market.  I wanted everything to look just right for anyone who might walk through the house.  I was taking a few last minute pictures when suddenly I heard a crash and the sound of a gazillion pieces of broken glass shards hitting the hardwood floor behind me.  It was a sickening feeling because I knew that one of the two things that landed on the floor was one of the very last gifts that my mother gave to me before she passed away in 2007. I turned around to see the pieces everywhere, tiny shards that looked like they could slice a finger right off of your hand and not feel bad about it.  My heart sunk because I knew that my sweet little glass box with a butterfly on the top was gone.  I could remember seeing my mom's smiling face that October day as she handed me the tiny package and explained to me what it was. "It's not much," she ...

I had to own a feeling the other day, one that was just waiting for me to acknowledge it. It wasn't all that fun of a sentiment and as a matter of fact, it kind of hurt a bit. The truth is that the time has come to find some closure in this part of my life. The moment really has arrived to begin the process of moving on. We came here, now nearly 4 years ago, to a place where neither Mike or I had ever imagined we would live.  I had most certainly heard of the Red River and the Wichita Falls area, but I didn't picture myself ever living here.  Our journey brought us to the border town of Burkburnett because of 3 special family members who themselves resided in communities very near by.  Mike's Aunt Margaret lived in Olney, Texas and was getting up in years with health that was fragile at best.  My sister Sherry and her husband Wes lived in Altus, Oklahoma. Both of them had health issues with Sherry's seemingly the worst.  Although we didn't realize it would ...

When Mike and I first came to this part of the world back in May of 2015, our original destination was a home we had picked out in Wichita Falls.  When we arrived in the evening hours that day now so long ago, to our surprise the house wasn't even ready for us to move into nor would it be in the foreseeable future.  With a moving truck full of our belongings, a tired old dog and a skittish cat in tow, as well as the apparent loss of our first month's rent and deposit, neither Mike or I had any idea of what to do.  Luckily we could find a motel nearby that was pet friendly and so for that very first night, we made our beds there. Upon waking up in the morning, it was obvious that living in Wichita Falls wasn't going to be in the plan after all.  I remember as we sat in the car contemplating which way to go as we looked for a new house, Mike had asked me where I wanted to try to find a place.  I had applied for a teaching position in two nearby communities and s...

A powerful winter storm came through yesterday and left the land of Texoma blanketed in white stuff that is normally not seen in such quantities in this neck of the woods.  The impact was sufficient to call off school for the two days it was scheduled this week.  Today instead of seeing the smiling faces of the kids at school, I'll be thinking about them and planning for our week upcoming.   Gus, the mini Aussie who lives here with us, wasn't sure about it in the beginning.  With great hesitation he went out for his first official bathroom break of the day in the early morning 4 a.m. hours.  He did his business and hurried right back in, not wanting to play in the darkness of Thursday morning.  Later on, Gus went out with Mike as soon as daylight tried to arrive and that was all it took.  He became enamored with snow and all the fun that running in it provides a nearly 8-month old puppy.   As a kid growing up on the farm back in sout...

The quiet of the very early morning hours are some of my favorite times of the day.  It's been my practice to get up at 4 in the morning now for a very long time, a throwback actually to my days of growing up on the farm. When Mike and I first got married, I tried my best to push back my getting up time to a more respectable 5:30.  That lasted about a week.   This morning it is still in the house, save for Gus chewing on his red toy and the soft whisper of the water heating up for my first cup of coffee of the day.  Soon enough, this place will awaken and once again we will be busy.  But for now, I'm afforded the time to think about the day ahead. I like it this way. The kids will be heading back to school in these parts on Friday.  I have missed them in the two weeks that we have been apart from one another.  We get used to being together, through good days and bad days, you know?  Those 10 second graders and I have become a family...