School Days
(This section will be a series of stories. Keep checking back even if you have already read the first ones.)
First Grade
August 6, 2026
I still remember starting First Grade. (Kindergarten was available at that time, but my parents chose not to have me start school until I was six years old.) The picture above was taken on the morning of my very first day of school. I had turned six years old just a few days earlier. Do you see the arm band I'm wearing? It had my name and which class I would be in. I think it also had my address so the teachers would know which bus I should be on to come home. Below is a picture of me getting off the bus after my second day.
The attendance at that school was outgrowing the current buildings, so Kindergarten and first grade classes were held in church basements around town. At lunchtime a bus would pick up my class and take us to the elementary school. We would eat lunch in the cafeteria there and then ride the bus back to the correct place for our afternoon studies. I was a very slow eater at that time, and probably spent too much time looking around at everything that was going on. On one of my very first days at school, the afternoon bus back to my class left without me. My teacher was worried when I didn't arrive, of course, and I was scared and lost when I realized what had happened. I was put on a bus with a different class and they dropped me off at the correct church. Believe me! I paid attention after that!
I Need Glasses
August 9, 2026
My first grade teacher very quickly realized that I needed glasses. I simply couldn't see what she was writing on the chalkboard. Above are my pictures from the first and second grades. They show the difference it made in my appearance. I remember how different everything looked when I came out of the eye doctor's office with my new glasses on! For the first time I became aware that you could actually see individual leaves on a tree instead of just a green blob at the top of the tree trunk. I realized that you could actually see individual hairs on a person's head instead of just a different color. Once I could see clearly, I learned the basics quite quickly.
Helicopters
August 12, 2026
One of the tiny memories that I have from first grade was playing with maple seeds like the ones you see in the picture above. Because our classroom was located in the basement of a church, we didn't have access to the big playground at the main school building. We only had jump ropes, red rubber balls, the back yard of the church, and our own imaginations. When the nearby maple trees produced seeds in the spring, we found piles of them laying in little drifts along the edge of the concrete steps that went into the back of the church. We certainly made use of them! There were plenty for each of us to have some. It was great fun to toss them as high as we could and watch them come twirling back to the ground. It makes me wonder if the Most High had children in mind when He created maple trees. He certainly knew what fun we could have with them! Think about it. What an interesting way to help trees replant their offspring!
My Favorite Teacher
August 23, 2026
It's really interesting to think about it now. The first time that I was headed to Mrs. O'Diam's room I got so scared that I stopped at the school nurse's office with a stomach ache. I was in third grade at that time. Mrs. O'Diam was not my homeroom teacher but, for some reason, she taught our math class that year. I had heard several other students say that she was a very mean teacher and I was scared! Below is a picture of me when I was in third grade.
This picture doesn't show what a timid, little thing I could be. I was really, really scared of that terrible thing called meanness. Not knowing why I said I was sick, the school nurse called my mother to come get me. I did not have a fever, but it was possible that I might have something contagious. Once I got home, I started happily playing with my toys. My mother soon realized that I wasn't really sick. She asked me several questions and figured out what the problem really was. I didn't exactly get in big trouble but she made me understand that I would definitely NOT get away with pulling that trick again! The next day I had to swallow my fear and go to Math class like an obedient little girl. I suspect that Mrs. O'Diam was told about what had happened and she made sure to show me plainly that she wasn't going to be mean to me. The next year Mrs. O'Diam was my homeroom teacher. Even though I was a bit uncomfortable with the idea at first, she soon became my very favorite teacher. She wasn't mean at all! She simply expected everyone to behave themselves and do their work quietly. Below is a picture of me when I was in fourth grade.
By the end of fourth grade, I cried when I realized that she could not be my teacher again the next year. I would love to show you a picture of her, but she is no longer living and I hesitate to post her picture when I can't get her approval to do so. A while back, I was talking to my best friend from that stage of my life. She told me that Mrs. O'Diam was her favorite teacher also! My friend had broken her arm that year. To make it easier on my friend, Mrs. O'Diam had taken the time to cut out a bunch of little pieces for her to use in a project that our class was doing. She was such a kind and caring teacher!
Hospitality
July 31, 2026
As far back as I can remember, this little plate hung on a wall in the house where I grew up. I'm pretty sure that my mother had it before I was born. If you look at the picture below, you can see it hanging on the kitchen wall above my head. (I was 12 years old at the time this picture was taken.)
Now that same plate hangs in my living room. It reminds me of learning the value of hospitality from my mother. Friends and family members were always welcome in our house. Usually the visit involved a meal and sometimes the visitors even stayed overnight. Company was always viewed as a special treat, even when we children had to move to a floor bed so the guests would have a place to sleep. There are important lessons to learn about hospitality. Perhaps, one of these days, I will add some to this story. I would love to hear what you think. With your parents permission, you can send me a message from the Contacts page.
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Heartwarming Honor
July 19, 2026
I still remember two little girls bringing their special gifts to me on Mother's Day. They were young enough back then to need help from their "Daddy" in choosing and delivering those gifts. How precious it was to see their eyes shine and feel the love they had for me. I have these animal bouquets displayed near many of my other precious items. They remind me that love is timeless. Those two little girls are all grown up now, with lives and children of their own. My oldest grandchild brought me the bouquet that you see below on my last birthday. She had picked and arranged it herself! Over the years I have received many gifts and cards from my children and grandchildren. Most have been homemade. I have quite a stack of cards and drawings, each one special to me.
We are instructed in TANAKH to honor our parents. While gifts and hugs are good ways to show honor to our parents, an even more important way is to live a life that is worthy of honor. We can learn how to do just that by reading and obeying the commands of the Most High. (If you go to the Lessons page you can find a story entitled Honor Your Parents that I wrote a couple years ago.)
Precious, Precious Memories
July 7, 2026
I wonder if you recognize the young people in this old photo. I'll give you a clue. If you have read the lesson Hold Fast to My Covenant (located near the middle of the Lessons page) you have seen these folks before. That's right! It's Grandpa and Grandma, way back before we were even parents. This is our engagement picture. It isn't very big. The frame isn't even quite six inches square, but this little item is very precious to me. It currently hangs on the wall in our living room.
Above are a couple more very precious items. The first one, of course, is my wedding ring. It is a sign to anyone who sees it that I belong to my husband, your Grandpa. The other item is the very first necklace that your Grandpa gave me after we were married. Once again, it is small, but it has great importance to me. Next, you will see one of the first gifts that I gave to him.
This is a honey dish. The bear's head is the lid. We both enjoy the flavor of honey on homemade biscuits, and "Honey" is a pet name that we still occasionally call each other. We have found out that it's much easier to use a squeeze bottle to serve honey, but this little bear still sits right where we can look at it any time we want. What a sweet memory!
Tribute to My Mother
June 30, 2026
It wasn't until I became a mother myself that I fully realized how truly talented and capable my own mother was. I do know that, as a child, I just took her for granted. I never questioned whether there would be a meal on the table when it was dinnertime. That's just what mothers were for. Of course, as I grew older, I became aware of what a good cook she was, and she taught me well. But it wasn't just meals. My mother always grew a very large garden. During the growing season, many of the vegetables on our table came from that garden. I don't remember that she ever bought sweet corn or green beans from the grocery store. By the time I was paying attention to such things she was canning at least 100 quarts of green beans every year. We would also spend multiple days cutting the kernels from the piles and piles of ears of sweet corn and storing all of that in the freezer. I don't remember ever running out of those vegetables before the next growing season. Back then, I know that I complained about the hours we children spent picking and snapping beans, weeding the garden, etc. But I realize now how important it was for us to learn that strong work ethic.
Our birthdays were always treated as a very special time. My mother didn't just bake a cake. She took the time to cut it into special shapes and turned it into a work of art.
4th Birthday
6th Birthday
10th Birthday
Another thing that I took for granted at the time was the fact that she sewed nearly all of the dresses that she, I, and my sisters wore. Below are a couple pictures of some of my new ones. She was an excellent seamstress. She did teach me to sew, but I never really enjoyed it like she did.
Age 3
Age 10
Besides all this, of course, she did all the normal things that nearly every mother does; cleaning house, doing laundry, getting us ready and off to school on time, etc. As we became old enough to handle it, she taught each one of us to do our part. Below is a picture of me sweeping the floor when I was around 10 years old. To this day, I still make use of the things my mother taught me. I'm thankful that she willingly took the time to help me grow.
A Tribute to "My Daddy"
June 28, 2026
The overriding memory that I have of my father is how much he loved his children. He always wanted us to call him 'Daddy'. He poured himself into us. For instance, He would spend an hour or more, with all of us gathered closely around him, reading books to us. It wasn't always just simple, little children's' books either. As we got old enough to understand, he would read chapter books like Black Beauty and Heidi. He was so good at putting expression into whatever he read. Each character in the story would have a 'voice' of its own. We children would beg him to keep reading until he had to stop because he was getting hoarse. Daddy loved nature and science. He would take us to the local nature preserve and walk with us down the paths and along the river, showing us individual plants and the beauty of the trees going through their seasonal changes. Below are a few pictures that I took there as a teenager.
He would also encourage us to listen to the birds. He taught us to identify some of them by their calls. I remember learning the gentle "coo" of the Mourning Dove, the "oh-kah-lee" of the Redwing Blackbird, and the Barred Owl asking "Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all?" Daddy had a set of books that came with recordings of many of the different birds' calls. Sometimes, when his voice was too tired to keep reading to us, he would play those recordings on the old record player that we had back then. Occasionally, when he could afford the trip, he would take the family to special places that were more than an hour from where we lived. We visited the Cincinnati Zoo, Hocking Hills, and the Ohio Caverns. I was a child at the time, so I don't have any pictures but I do have lots of good memories. Here is a little turtle, carved from rock, that my Daddy bought for me as a souvenir from the Ohio Caverns.
Daddy had a job in town. He did his best to provide for the family, but whenever he was not at work he was home with us. I do remember one time when he was gone for a while. He had traveled to California (where he was raised) for a funeral. The rest of our family wasn't able to go at that time. When he came home, he had a gift for each one of us. Mine was a glass paperweight made to resemble the California Poppy, which is the state flower of California. I always had the certainty that, even when he was not at home, we were in his mind.
When I had become a woman and had a family of my own, my parents came to the state where we lived at the time. They took our family to the Fantastic Caverns. The pictures that you see below are from that time.
Mommy's China Set
June 23, 2026
As far back as I can remember, I thought that my mother's set of china was just about the most beautiful thing in the world. She had a complete set of plates, soup bowls, serving dishes, etc. They had been given to her as a wedding present from her parents. Whenever our family had guests visiting us, she would use this china to set the table.
At first I wasn't allowed to touch it because it was very fragile. My parents bought me a teeny, tiny set of my own. It was also real china, but much thicker so it wouldn't break so easily. In spite of that, I still managed to break the coffee pot that came in the set. I displayed this tiny set on the dresser in my bedroom for many years. I now have it displayed in a corner cabinet in the dining room so I can look at it whenever I walk past.
As I grew older, I was allowed (even expected) to help Mommy set the table for our guests. What a privilege! I continued to value the beautiful china. When I was in my early twenties, I made the tablecloth that is pictured with the china. It would cover the entire length of the table that she used when we had company. That table would stretch long enough to fit a dozen people around it. If there were more people than that, some of us children would sit at a card table in the other room.
My mother is no longer living. After she died, I inherited her complete china set. I still value it to this day!
Pets
June 16, 2026
As a child, I really wanted a kitten. My parents had a picture of me holding a kitten, named Midnight, when I was almost two years old, but I don't remember that.
By the time I was old enough to ask for a kitten, it really did not suit them to get a live one. Instead, they got me a ceramic kitten that would nod when you touched it on the head. I loved that little kitten and named it Tabby.
When I was approaching 4 years old, someone gave us a little, tiny chick. I, of course, thought that was wonderful! He was so cute! We named him, Roscoe. I would carry him around with me, pretending that he was my baby.
For some reason, as Roscoe became an adult, he decided that he didn't want to be my pet. He wanted to be a rooster, and believe me, he let me know! When I would try to pick him up he would peck at me. Then, because I didn't give up right away, he ran at me, pecking and flopping! Of course, that scared little old me. I started running and screaming, and the chase was on! I was so scared that I ran right past the door several times before my mother came out and rescued me. We kept Roscoe for a little while longer, but then he started attacking other people, too. My grandmother lived just down the road from us. When she would walk down to see us, she would have to stand on the road and holler for my mother to come chase Roscoe away so she could get into the house. My parents decided they couldn't put up with that, so Roscoe went bye-bye. As God's people, we are to be kind to animals. In Proverbs 12:10 it says that "A righteous man knows the needs of his beast..." But animals are expected to be nice too. God commands that an ox be put to death if it attacks a person. (Exodus 21:28) Yes, I cried about Roscoe but I did learn a very valuable lesson. Our emotions do not cancel the Law of the Most High.
My New Dolly
June 8, 2026
Sally has been my baby ever since I received her as a gift from my parents on my 4th birthday! One day, a year or two later, I couldn't find Sally. I searched and searched, but I just couldn't find her anywhere. Of course, I was sad and worried, but the next morning I got a wonderful surprise. That day was my birthday, and there, in my present, was Sally in a brand new dress! The dress she was wearing was made of the same fabric as a new dress that my mother had made for me. Sally still wears that matching dress today! Of course mine wore out long ago. It wouldn't fit me now anyway.
