Here we are on the last Friday of June, 2022 as it is the 24th

 TERRY

Terry was awake at 7:00 looking at her phone and now she is reading the paper.  It looks like a day like most days with her doing OK but in bed.  One day at a time and we will see.

I think it will be a good day.  Here I am sitting at the computer with a large cup of FP coffee so it is off to a good start!  I have tennis at 9:00 and then I promise myself that I will get some work done.  What work? Not sure but I will get it done

Every once in a while I sit back and remember.  This morning my thoughts are with Ronald, Janet and Dave.  I think I loved all of my siblings but yet the one that I spend so so much time with was Dave.  He was 2 1/2 years older than I and 3 school grades ahead of me but we did so so much together.  Work and play often was rolled into one!  While picking rocks we could make fun in that.  Now I would say when you CAN make fun out of picking rocks that is amazing.  The fall plowing was fun too and I can not even figure out how we made fun out of that.  AND then in our free time we made wooden guns and playing cops and robbers or maybe it was cowboys and Indians!  AND yes there was the corncrib for a back ground as we played baseball and at times we could get Ricky to play with us as he lived half a mile north by the lake.  

Then there was the awful summer of 1960 I think.  Dave kind of had it with Dad.  I say that but yet he did more things for Dad in his adult life than I ever thought about.  BUT with Ronald and I think John was still in Kulm too he got an offer to work for a farmer west.  He jumped at the chance to earn money and to be honest get away from Dad as well.  So my ping pong guy, my hay stacking guy, my rock picking guy, my play baseball guy and much more flew the coop so to speak and left for the summer.  There would be no more choke cherry eating in the truck as we waited for Dad to get the combine full so we could unload it.  Of course I did not blame him in any way but my workmate and my playmate was gone for the summer.  Oh, I found things to do when not working on the farm but it was not the same.  I spent time cleaning up the old garage that had fallen to the weather.  I spent time cleaning up the old hog foundation that had been an eye sore for so many years.  And yes, I spent more time on the roof of the barn dreaming of days ahead when I felt I could travel the world and see more!!!  But it was a good lesson.  It taught me that life moves on and there is no promise that next week will be the same as this week. 

Today I will recall the LAST day of school at Wood Lake.  We knew that it was the end of a time.  Next year we would be loaded into a bus and for the next 9 years I would spend hours and hours in a bus going and coming home from school.  I figured out that if you counted a work week as 40 hours over the next 9 years I would spend about 50 work weeks in that yellow school bus!!!  Yes, it was not all bad but that is a lot of time sitting and sitting waiting to get to a place and going home again.  Anyway here I was going to my last day of county school.  

It was May 27th and the last day of school.  Our teacher said we would not do any work on the last day.  What we did do was WALK to Lake Tewauken and have a game of ball and then have a picnic.  We would make a ball field on the SE corner of the grounds and have a great time.  We then had a picnic and that was it for the day.  The lake was only a half mile from our farm so when it was finished we just walked home.  It was really a fun but really a sad day for us.  No more walking to school. I admit that some of the time we would have liked a ride but those times were few and far between.  It was walk the half mile south to the road and then head east for a mile to the school.  Often we would see Aunt Bertie in her kitchen window as we walked past her house.  Country school was comfortable and safe. It seemed like our own little place were we could learn, enjoy recess and noon lunches with peaches etc. from the government.  Often we would hope the teacher would allow us to have an extra 5 minutes to play ball or play in the snow.  I admit that in the fall it did not take long for us to feel at home in Cayuga but going from 12 kids in 8 grades to 24 kinds in grades 3 & 4 was kind of a shock.  

So school was a learning situation in more ways than one.  I found out in Cayuga that some of the kids were not all that nice.  I really found out that the school hot lunch was OK but I really liked the lunches Mom made better!  In high school I got into sports and that was wonderful.  I must say I did get interested in the opposite sex as well and that was OK but IF I were to do it over I may do things differently.  

So what I did find out was life is ever changing.  AND one does not always have choices as often things happen and you have no control so roll with the punches and make the most of it.  Well here it is time to get ready for tennis and see if I can hit any winning shots on the courts today.