Old Stories

Today, for some reason, the next few items came to mind. When Diane was about 3 years old,

we had spent the day with some friends who had abnormally aggressive and smart mouthed

children. When I put her to bed that night, I told Diane how pleased I was that she was so

well behaved, especially in front of friends. I praised her several times and she looked at me

with such a question mark on her face that I asked, "Did you want to ask me something?"

I thought she would ask a question about what I had been talking about, but instead she asked,

"Why don't underpants have pockets?"

When Sally was about 4 years old, she was happy whenever one of Diane's school friends came

over and the older girls accepted her from the start. One of Diane's friends was going to have

a sleepover and Sally asked if she could go too. I explained to her that when the girls came over

here for a sleepover, she could take part in that, but no she couldn't go to Jenny's house that

night. She begged, she argued, she cried, but I stood firm. (Something that was hard for me

to do with either girl.) All the time we were getting Diane's stuff together, right up to the

minute we left to take her to Jenny's house, Sally gave it no rest, she argued until the end.

Finally, she blurted out, "Okay, I won't go. But they won't have any fun without me!"

Basketball

Ezra just finished his first season of playing basketball in elementary school. He is only in First Grade, but actually seems to know what he is doing. When he made his first basket in a real game, he looked at Sally and gave her a big smile, then in the next heart beat, he was running down the length of the court.

Ezra is on the small side and really moves in between and around the bigger kids. I told him,

"You're going to be just like Bob Cousy." He looked at me as if I was from another world.

But, then again, that happens quite a bit.

Watching Ezra reminded me of Epiphany's awesome basketball teams. I think there was such an interest in the team that only 7th and 8th graders were allowed to play. I think I can actually remember most of the starters: John Kilo, James Gummersbach, Thomas Hunter, and James Heman. I know John Kilo is an attorney, but have no idea what happened to the others.

It is sad to think that Epiphany will be closing this year. There were so many activities for

grade-schoolers and then in high school there were even more. In our parish here in

Blue Springs there is nothing to compare with what we had in the 60's: Summer swim parties, Teen Town, Bowling, Coronation, just to mention the one's that come readily to mind.

I was recently made aware that Bob Kuban is writing a series of nostalgic articles about CYC's and other "old stuff." It is published on theglobedemocratonline.com.

April Fools

Today's entry is from the not-too-far past. Actually, it happened just a few weeks ago, on

April 1. My 87 year-old mother called my sister and told her they were turning her nursing

home into a rehab facility, which actually happened at the home she lived in before. Before

Diane could ask any questions, my mother told Diane there was nothing she could do, except

to move in with her and her husband. My sister's mind was moving so fast she couldn't catch

her breath, or give my mom one good reason this could not happen. Of course, she's thinking

of hundreds of reasons but she can't form the words to make any of them come out straight.

While my sister is picturing feeding her, bathing her and everything she would have to do on

any given day, my mother springs up with: "April Fools."

This was not the only practical joke mom played on an unsuspecting person. When I asked

her if she got any body really good on April 1st, she told me that when the aide came in to

check her vitals she played dead! Evidently, she was holding her breath for a good while but

eventually started laughing and gave up the joke.

At 1 p.m., on any given day, my mother cannot remember what she had for lunch an hour

before. She can pull out information from decades ago, but usually nothing from the

most recent past. So, we were not only amazed she played the jokes, but also remembered a few days later that she did it!