Shopping trip for school clothes!

As back-to-school time returns very soon I am thinking about going shopping to help replinesh the kids' wardrobes! My son is pretty much a breeze to buy for. My daughter is a different ballgame! What goes around comes around! When I became a teenager I no longer liked the things my mom picked out for me. And just like she used to say, "Wait until you have kids of your own"! Well, you were right, Mom!

Whenever back-to-school time approaches I am reminded about the fun times I spent with my mom shopping in Columbus for school clothes. We would go to Lazarus Westland. This was a big deal! We were going to the big city! Nevermind that my birthday is right around the time school starts! This shopping trip made it worthwhile! One particular year we decided to take my grandmother, her husband, and my aunt along with us. Mr. Davis was a good man, but he could annoy the heck out of my grandmother at times! We made our way through the store to start our trip. We got to the elevators and waited for one to come along. When the elevator doors opened up we walked inside with great anticipation and some anxiety. As a child I never cared much for the idea of becoming weightless in an elevator. My mom was even less enthusiastic about riding in them probably thinking at any moment we could be trapped in there or sent hurdling to the basement (thinking back on it I believe there were only three floors in Lazarus)! At the worst we would come out of it a couple inches shorter. Now at the Annex store in downtown Columbus which has several floors we would have been gonners!

My aunt decided to make conversation. She said, "I wonder if anyone has ever gotten their arm caught in the elevator doors"? We all smiled and looked around at each other. The elevator wasn't moving as of yet. Mr. Davis grinned and calmly walked over to the elevator doors. He stuck his arm out and allowed the elevator doors to close on it. My mother looked on in horror! She walked over and started to panic but was ready to spring into action. I just stood and watched as the adults went into crisis mode--everyone except my grandmother! I can still see her standing totally still in the corner of that elevator not saying a word but probably calling Mr. Davis every name in the book. Her eyes said it all! She looked very disgusted. Mr. Davis, on the other hand, was still grinning and calm as a cucumber. All I could think of later was what people standing outside must have thought seeing this flayling arm on the other side of the elevator door! To our surprise and relief the elevator still didn't move! And the doors eventually opened freeing Mr. Davis' arm. My mom, my aunt, and I laughed and laughed recalling the whole scene with words of relief and disbelief. All except for my grandmother!

I love you, Granny, wherever you are!

The Gymkana Try-outs!

Hello kids!

Ready for another bedtime story?? Okay, well here goes:

I think about this story because the little brother of one of my classmates passed away a couple weeks ago. I don't remember Sandy's brother, Billy, very well. I will always remember Sandy, though. Sandy was kind of pretty, and she was a blonde which made her beautiful to all the boys I knew even though they may not have felt they stood a chance with her! Sandy carried a comb with her everywhere she went and combed her hair frequently at least whenever I was in her company. My hair was ash blonde and short like Twiggy's! I didn't have to comb mine!

Sandy and our mutual friend, Julie, decided we were going to try out for the Gymkana team. Now this word, "Gymkana" may be foreign to some of you who were born in the 1970's. You are more familiar with the term, "gymnastic". I looked like a stick with decent legs back in high school. Sandy and Julie were much more limber than I, however. We would be judged on two maneuvers: Hand springs and back bends. We practiced for a week in Sandy's front yard doing cartwheels, back-bends, and hand-springs. Hand-stands when done correctly look quite graceful and easily done. It was a matter of bending over forward and quickly, touching your hands to the ground, letting your hands bear your weight, and making your body erect with your feet straight up in the air! Next, you must gracefully right yourself by doing a back-bend. That was Maneuver #1. Now for Maneuver #2+! You could get into a back-bend two different ways. You could do the handspring maneuver and go backwards placing your feet firmly on the ground then righting yourself - or - you could just bend over backwards until your hands touched the ground in back of you. In order to pass this test your back had to be perfectly arched. As hard as I practiced with Sandy and Julie I could never master the hand springs gracefully! I could get upside down in the right position, buy my "righting myself" style needed work. I didn't trust my own hands to find the ground in back of me when I was doing back-bends. Sandy and Julie looked like a garden archway. I knew they would probably gain a place on the team. I didn't know what the outcome would be for me, but I just had to try.

Finally the big day came for the Gymkana try-outs. The girls competed in one half of the gym while the boys were in the other. Gymkana was a co-ed operation. The gym was alive with the sounds of the voices of countless candidates. Ms. Field was the Girl's Gym teacher who would determine which girls would make the cut.

I watched as Sandy and Julie tried out. It was finally my turn. I did the back-bend perfectly for the first and last time!! My back was aching, but what's a little pain in the heat of competition?? Next, I was to do the hand spring while Mrs. Field looked on with her clip-board. I lined up, got my body upside down with my hands on the floor, and my feet high in the air. What happened next is something I'll never forget even though everybody else who was there probably has (at least I hope so)! My back went straight. My feet hit the gym floor with a splat. I had landed like a living room table that gets put down roughly on a wooden floor then the legs fall off leaving the table flat! I closed my eyes. When I opened them Ms. Field and the other girls had formed a circle around me. Next, Ms. Field said, "Are you alright"? I wanted to put my hands over my eyes and make myself disappear! My back hurt for a week after the tryouts.

Julie made the Gymkana team! Sandy and I didn't! Thank God there weren't any camcorders back then. I would be the example of how not to do a hand spring for eternity in the film archives at South High!

You Gotta Have Friends - Part II

This is a continuation of the story I wrote about earlier. Tonight I went to a neigbhorhood Mexican restaurant. Where I was a teenager going to an exotic restaurant meant going to the Panda Chinese restaurant, Cassano's pizza parlor, or Taco Bell! We didn't have Mexican restaurants in my hometown even though we went to school with a small handful of kids whose parents were Mexican-Americans. I enjoy going to this particular restaurant because I can practice speaking my Conversational Spanish there, and all the employees are patient with me. I think they appreciate the fact that I am trying. We had to take Spanish in the 4th grade back home, but I never had anyone to practice speaking it with. When I was in high school I would sit in History class and listened to the Spanish class down the hall singing, (pardon my spelling) "Juan Catamella" then the whole class would clap on cue! I heard them singing that song for months! Ofcourse, today going to a Mexican restaurant is alot more fun for me as an adult because of the Margueritas! My girlfriends from my parish and I shared a pitcher of them tonight. I had a wonderful time, and I'm pretty sure they did, too!

I got to listen to some fascinating conversations coming from these ladies--some of whom I had never met before or was finally getting a chance to get to know better. I thought as I listened to all the ladies tell about their hobbies and careers how far we have come as women! We weren't just talking about raising kids and swapping recipes. One lady belongs to a club that taught her to shoot just like Annie Oakley! She goes to competitions and makes her own costumes! I remember being terrified of guns growing up, but this lady wasn't! My father owned a rifle, but he kept it up in our attic. To this day I don't know what ever happened to it?? One other lady told how she was once in the National Guard. Our kids are all getting older now and less dependent on us. We can explore new avenues and try out new things! We can learn how to do things the right way and excel at things that only appealed to men earlier or were thought to be "manly things to do"--not something to be tried by women! I made some new friends tonight, and I feel very blessed. This was not just another "Girls Night Out" for me! I made some new friends to add to my "You Gotta Have Friends" pool!

I will close with random little story I've been wanting to share for awhile along the lines of the "You Gotta Have Friends" theme. This one is for my friend Debbie (I knew alot of Debbies growing up, but I bet this Debbie I am talking about will read this story, remember, and laugh:

Today we hear about "Amber Alert". In my neighborhood we had something even better to protect young girls from being abducted. There truly is safety in numbers. One summer evening before it got dark my girlfriends and I went across the street from my house and rode bikes and rollerskated on the fresh hardened dry concrete that was part of the flooring of the soon to be completed JVS building. My street shoes were strapped into my rollerskates. Two of our friends came by on their bikes which were equipped with racks that could hold school books or another rider (if you had good balance) over the rear tire! I don't believe this equipment option can no longer be found on bikes today?? More's the pity because it was not only fun and challenging to ride on but saved our lives back in the 1960's on this hot summer evening! A stranger came by in his jeep. He asked my friends and I if we would like to go with him to the Champaign County Fair. We told him, "No". I grabbed onto the back of Patty's bike rack and Debbie grabbed on to the other girl's bike rack. Those girls rode across the streets with only our hands hanging onto their bike racks as our feet skated us to the safety of my driveway! Our skate wheels never moved so fast! Today like back then--you gotta have friends!

Today my friend, Debbie, helps other who need help! She went on to become a social worker!

Good Night, Debbie! And best wishes to your dad who used to call us, "Yardbirds"!

You gotta have friends!

Hello to all!

I remember the words from an old song with the refrain, "You gotta have friends"! I love my "alone time", but there are times when we must get out there and circulate with our "golden friends" and make new ones.

My mom used to say about me, "No matter where you go you always seem to run into someone you know"! She was so right, and I love it (especially when it's someone you don't mind seeing)! You welcome them and they welcome you with open arms and you exchange hugs and laughter! It's a wonderful thing!

Last summer I went to see a women's choral group who sings barbershop quartet songs. They are called the "Sweet Adelaides" and came back to my hometown to perform. It was reported that several Red Hat Society groups were going to be there for this concert as well.

During the intermission my Geography teacher from junior high school appeared out of nowhere. I made the effort to go up to her and reintroduce myself. I don't know if she truly remembered me or not as it has been so many years ago. Perhaps, it was better that she didn't?? I must have frustrated her back then as I stood in front of the entire class (which I considered to be torture) as Mrs. Davis challenged me to find some country on the map. I had to be coached while everyone looked on, and I returned to my desk feeling relieved, annoyed, and embarrassed all at one time! And yet that night at the concert in the park was a gift from God for me. I got to see an old friend and someone who tried very hard to teach me about the world. For you see, when I checked the obituaries with my hometown paper today I found that Mrs. Davis had passed away!

Mrs. Davis, I learned, was very well educated. She never had any children of her own, but we were her kids! She stood probably around 4 feet tall and wore little outfits and little shoes. And yet she didn't seem threatened by any of us. She would sit on the front of her desk in our classroom talking with us and flipping her shoes around until they almost fell off.

So the next time you go somewhere and you see someone from your past make an effort to go up to them and reintroduce yourself because this may be the last time you ever see them again! This is a gift from God to you!

Good night, Mrs. Davis, and thank you!

For the "Changed" Ladies

Hello to All!

This story is for all the ladies who have already gone through or soon will be going through menopause. Some call it the "change of life" while others call it "the change" or "menopause". One of today's new catch phrases in response to a lady who is just upset is "She's menopausal". I think we should break it down to "men o' pause" in fairness to the husbands (or significant others) who go through this right along with their wives! Three cheers for these supportive and caring husbands!

When I was growing up I always used to hear my mom and her friends talking about going through "the change". I never really understood what they meant until 5 years ago when I went through it, myself! A woman definitely goes through some changes on the inside and out as a result, but she doesn't actually change like a magician changing scarf into a bird! Some might say that isn't necessarily so--they may see their wives as changing from a lamb into a roaring lion. Well, some have an easier time adjusting than others.

I have a whole new appreciation now for my gay man friends who feel like they are a woman even though they weren't born one. You'll have to read on to get my point on this.

For health reasons I had to have a hysterectomy. Some of the old equipment was just kaput and had to be removed! I never really understood the "changes" I would go through immediately following the surgery until I actually went through it! A hysterectomy isn't quite like any other operation one can have. A part (or parts) of me is gone forever! There was a short time before the surgery when I wondered to myself, "Will I still feel like a woman afterwards"?? I came to realize that no matter what I look like on the outside or what's no longer on the inside I still feel like a woman because this feeling is a state of mind for me, and I know now that feeling I have can never be surgically removed (short of a lobotomy, ofcouse). The weeks of recovering that followed were an eye opener for me. In addition to exploring more of my inner-self, I became, perhaps, more understanding of others who aren't female at all but believe deep down inside that they are! On the lighter side I have a whole new appreciation for those female members of our animal kingdom whom we (as responsible owners) take to the vet to have spayed. Trust me, I didn't feel like running and jumping around like the dogs and cats do a couple of days after the vet does this procedure to them!

Now the men are saying--"Cindy, what's in this story for us"? Well, shortly after the surgery my husband and children decided it would be fun to take Mom for a drive to get out of the house for awhile. Things were going great until the song, "Landslide" sung by Stevie Nicks started playing over the radio. The words made me cry uncontrollably which started off a chain reaction of events in our little car! My daughter sitting next to me said, "Mom, what's wrong"? My son turned around and said, "Mom, what's wrong"? My husband turned around and said, "What, what, what's wrong"? I was hiding my face and telling everyone I was alright. I just got sentimental. I thought my husband was going to pull off the side of the road. The moment passed! No one except probably my daughter understood my attack of sentimentality and plummeting estrogen level, but that's as close as the men could or were going to get!

Have a safe and wonderful 4th of July!