Here we are, it is Wednesday and it is downhill for the week!

 TERRY

Terry had a busy day at rehab yesterday.  She was in the gym for the first hour and then in the pool for the second hour.  She was tired when we arrived home and snuggled into bed with the TV on and stayed there for the remainder of the day.  As I write she is reading the paper.

We have a cloudy day here with a temp of 81 by mid afternoon.  I have tennis at 10:30 today so will be kind of a sweat ball when I get home at noon.  

Nothing planned today.  Sonia is coming to be here from 9:00-11:00.  She will make a meal from the ones we get in the mail and then as usual there may be a load of clothes to do.  I have left a few dirty dishes in the kitchen so I will do my normal thing and say, "I tried to leave the kitchen a mess just so you have something to do."  She will then laugh, turn music on her phone and get to work!

IT ALL STARTED ON SEPTEMBER 4TH, 1956

    It all started on that day.  Wood Lake School had closed in May.  According to Mom and Dad it was progress!!!  To me it was frighting as this was putting me into a whole new world.  No longer would Joan, Dave and I be walking the mile and a half to school but instead there would be a big yellow bus stopping at our mailbox.  Then it would be a long ride to Cayuga where we would disembark and go to school.  Last year we had 12 students in our 8 grades and I thought that was fine.  It was enough that we could have a good ball game during recess and I did have a classmate so why the BIG change???  Anyway as September 4th approached I started to feel anxious and sad.  I did not want to go to a school in town.  I was happy and comfortable in our tiny Wood Lake school but as of the 4th, no more.  

    So it all started.  Mom called Joan, Dave, Helen and me at about 6:15 to get out of bed and get dressed as the bus would be here in less than an hour.  I think it may have been harder on Dave and I than Joan and Helen.  Joan was going into high school so she would not have been at Wood Lake that year and Helen was in first grade so she had never gone to Wood Lake.  Anyway the morning seemed to fly by and soon it was time to walk out to the mailbox and wait.  I was sure we would be able to see the bus coming from the north as it would pick up Peggy and then Ricky before stopping at our place.  Sure enough at about 7:10 a big yellow bus appeared with a cloud of dust behind it and life would change forever.  

    As we got in to a big "hello" from the bus driver and sat down I wanted to cry but I knew I couldn't.  We then picked up Horst, Linda, Orville etc as we seemed to stop every few minutes.  Soon the bus was almost full and we were headed straight to Cayuga.  

    As we arrived at the school Ray, the bus driver, explained that he would see use at 3:30 again.  I thought to myself, "I can hardly wait"!  As we entered the huge building there were teachers there to tell us where to go.  I was told that 3rd and 4th grade were to go to the right, down the stairs and our room was there.  I think we must have arrived about the time school was to start as everyone was in the room and in their desks as I entered.  I stared as there were 23 kids looking at me as I entered the room.  I mean that was about twice the entire size of Wood Lake School and we had 8 grades there and here it was only 3rd and 4th grade.  The teacher, Mrs. Askerruth, greeted me and there started an entire new kind of education for me.  The next year I would go up a level to the 5th and 6th grade classroom where the teacher was Mrs. Fox.  Then the next year Cayuga closed the high school as Sargent Central was born and as a 7th grader we went UP to the top floor where Mrs. Odenbrett was the teacher.  

    Of course the closing of Wood Lake School and the birth of Sargent Central were necessary and good but for a young boy on the farm who was shy and bashful the beginning was painful.  In fact I became a stutterer and remember as a 5th grader getting up in front of the class and being unable to utter a word while finally Mrs. Fox asked me to have a seat.  

     That first year my eyes were opened to different kinds of students.  In Wood Lake I often got in trouble for talking and then would have to write my name 1000 times or do multiple pages of math facts so by the time I got to Cayuga I could done a page of 100 basic math facts almost with my eyes closed.  I was astonished when I finished my 100 math facts and Joe was still on the second row.  I thought what is wrong with some of those kids?  At that age I did not understand that some kids had a hard time in school.  I thought everyone would do nice work in school.  Then I found out that 3 of the kids in our class were 1 or 2 years older as they had to repeat grades.  Still I did not have an appreciation for being able to do well in school.  

    The best part was recess as we always played ball and being perhaps the biggest in my class I always did well.  It was not such a good day when my long fly ball hit the window of the second level of the school and shattered glass all over!  Another great advantage of Cayuga was they actually had indoor bathrooms!  Much much better than the "girls" and the "boys" out-houses at Wood Lake.  

    So on September 4th of 1956 my education changes forever and it also was the beginning of 1000's of miles on the yellow buses.  A conservative estimate of miles on the bus over my nine years of schooling would be 75,000 miles with bus rides to and from school and then bus rides to and form sports.  I think on the days that we played Klum in sports from the farm it was about 100 miles one way.  The only thing that made those long rides OK were the times that I had a nice companion to sit with on the way back to school after a game!!!  

    Enough for this morning.  I am on my second and last cup of FP.  Only two cups this morning as I am using the extra large cup with Liam's drawing of his dad on it!