Lights On

My daughter-in-law and I were sitting on her front steps. It was a pleasant summer evening.

We were just talking about day-to-day nothings as we watched the kids playing.  My sons were all working on a car belonging to one of them.

Suddenly all three of my boys stopped what they were doing. They closed the hood of the car and put all their tools away. They looked almost like zombies as they made their way up the steps and into the house.

My daughter-in-law and I watched as they silently walked past us and into the house. We knew the car was not yet fixed. What on earth?

Then I began to laugh. The streetlights had just turned on. I taught my children when they were small that they were to come inside when the streetlights came on. It was a habit that stayed with them.

A Little Off The Side

I used to take my boys to the barber college to get their hair cut. The students who cut the hair were similar to a resident in the hospital. They had completed their studies and needed experience. There were experienced barbers on the floor with them in case of problems.

One time my youngest son was sitting politely in his chair. Suddenly he yelled. His barber clipped a little chunk out of his ear! 

His haircut was free that day.

By the time he was due for another cut he was willing to try again. He sat quietly in his chair again. And once more he was injured. 

This time there were no pieces of his ear missing. He did have a small scraping type of cut. Another free haircut.

My son was really angry at the two men who had cut him. He said he would never go back.

The fact was that another haircut day came.

As we walked into the barber college my son declared that he wanted a woman barber. Since the injuries came from men barbers he thought a woman might be more careful.

He was right. No injuries that day. He insisted on a woman every time after that.

Memorize

My second-grade teacher recognized that I had a good memory. She encouraged me to develop my memory by giving me things to memorize.

Several times during the school year there was a program presented to the parents and anyone else who wished to attend. It was not a large school and every class was expected to have an offering. It might be a song, or dance, or short play,

As I said it was a small town. For some reason there were more boys than girls attending classes. If one classroom needed girls to fill in for their portion of the program girls were recruited from another room. We had so much fun.

Another fun thing was that I was always given poems to recite. I memorized poems like The Song of Hiawatha, Paul Revere's Ride, The Owl and the Pussycat, The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat, and Little Orphant Annie. Mom also had me memorize The Raven. She was a big fan of alliteration. All of these are fun poems for many reasons. 

Imagine my delight when I learned that my oldest niece was learning Little Ophant Annie in school. 

These are all great poems to read to children. Although you may want to consider the age of your child for Little Orphant Annie. It is just a bit scary.