Along the Road to Home

~from Kay County, Oklahoma on the last day of May 2019~ I've been helping out with summer school the past few days here in Ponca City as I filled in for teachers who weren't able to attend sessions this week.  It's been a good experience and one that allows me to meet some of the kids and staff from the district before school begins in August.  It's always been fun to work with kids in the summer and to get the chance to do so here has been quite rewarding to me.  Off and on throughout June and July, I'll be assisting with various sessions as teachers help students continue to grow and be prepared for the first day of the 2019-2020 school year. While at summer school earlier this week, I came upon a most pleasant sight to see on one of the playgrounds.  It was something I had surely heard of before but had never really seen put into practice.  It was bright red orange in color with the words "BUDDY BENCH" on the back of it.  Just seeing it made m...

It has been a full week now since I got back home to stay for good .  This past Monday I looked at Mike with a smile on my face as I realized there was no need to pack a suitcase for the trip back to southwestern Oklahoma.  For well over 2 months that suitcase was always readied with what I needed to survive during the school week.  Now it is thankfully emptied of its contents and tucked neatly into the corner of the closet where it will remain for the time being.   Even a suitcase deserves a break. I've spent most of this first week of summer vacation getting accustomed to a place that I only felt I was visiting since mid-March.  It took a day or two but I have finally gotten used to where everything is now, both at home and here in Newkirk as well.  The feeling of being home  is one that is hard to describe.  You have to feel it yourself to really understand.   I have found myself thinking of the 11 children that I spent the...

The journey home ended Thursday evening just a few minutes shy of 8:00.  247 miles after it began as I pulled away from school for the final time, I found myself sitting in the driveway of our home in Newkirk.  By the time the car was unloaded of most of the things I still had left in my 2nd grade classroom, it was nearly 8:30.  Then  I just came in and sat down, looking around at a place that I had really only felt like I'd been visiting for the past two months. It felt good to be home . There is much to be done here even though Mike and I have already been working hard every chance we could get since moving to Newkirk in mid-March.  The walls of the kitchen are saying "paint me next!" every time I walk by them.  I will need to go through my boxes of school things as I sort through them and decide what to take with me for next year.  There are flowers to plant, closets to organize, and precious time to be spent with Mike and of course our Gus....

The last week of school has finally arrived, and these final days will be filled with things aplenty to do.  Record keeping must be finished, my classroom cleaned up, and the final load of things to be stowed away in the back of my car.  I'm sure glad that I have been taking things back to Newkirk little by little for the past 6 weeks.  If not, a small moving truck might have been in order.   There are so many people that I've tried to see and be in contact with during these final few days in southwestern Oklahoma.  I'm afraid I won't be able to see them all personally to tell them good-bye.  I wish that I could have but time constraints won't let me.  It seems strange to say it, but there is actually an entire town that I would have liked to have seen one more time.  It's one that is filled with good and kind people, several of whom I have grown to know, respect, and feel great admiration for. Altus, Oklahoma~ My late sister and brothe...

I've been keeping a close eye on the peonies in the yard here at home in Newkirk.  There are probably a dozen bushes filled with buds that day by day let go of their grip upon the beautiful flowers waiting inside.  For now I can see a variety of colors that range from deep red to pink and white.  Mike and I had no idea they were there until about a month ago when they started to arise from their winter's slumber.  Now we wait for them to put on their show, one that is filled with a colorful display of petals and aromatic scents. As a young child growing up on the south central Kansas prairie, now such a very long time ago it would seem, peonies were the flower of choice for taking to the cemeteries on Decoration Day in May.  My Grandmother Brown grew several different kinds of them in her backyard on Locust Street in Halstead, Kansas.  She would watch her peonies, just like I am doing to mine now, and then cut them when she felt the time was right.  ...