Lake Manatee State Park, Bradenton, Florida
And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into this palace…and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants and camels. ~ Genesis 12:15-16 So, basically, Pharaoh paid Abram for his wife. Good grief! And some women think they have it bad now . . .
Following our harrowing experience from yesterday, our bodies and minds and psyches could use a day of R and R. I’m not sure what we did all day, but I’m certain it involved some food, some blogging and some research. Since I don’t seem to have anything to share, I’m going to move some of tomorrow’s thoughts to today. Tomorrow, I have other things to talk about. Plus, this way, if you don’t want to read about my school days, you can skip today!
Blaine and I got to reminiscing about school this morning. Do you remember your teachers? I remembered many of mine, or at least something that happened in most of the grades, and since this post also serves as a journal, I’ve decided to take the time to share. You can skip it unless you’re really interested. 😊
1st – we were living in Tennessee. My dad was in the Army. I had skipped Kindergarten because back then they didn’t teach much and my mom had already taught me the rudiments like colors and shoe tying. In first grade, we had to take a nap every afternoon. We laid our plastic mats down on the floor and off we went to dreamland. I remember my mat. It was green on one side and white/beige on the other.
2nd – still in Tennessee. We started to learn to read, and I remember the teacher held up flashcards with words on them. She was impressed because once, she accidently held up one that was upside down and I could still read it.
3rd – Mrs. Hartwell. I still carry a fondness for her, and can still remember what she looked like, but I don’t remember her teaching. I DO however, remember a project. We had to make a scrapbook for one of the States. My was on Delaware. We had some relative who lived there, so my mom wrote to them and asked for materials, which were promptly sent. I got an A+ on the project, but the brainiac in class, Dana Speuller got a lower grade than me and he cried. Sobbed actually. We were in Uniontown, Ohio now, living by my mom’s family, because my Army dad was overseas.
4th – The worst year ever! We were now living in Virginia where my dad was stationed. Mrs. Leisure was horrible. Even my mom didn’t like her and Mom was always the teachers’ advocate. This was the year I got sent to the principal’s office for something I didn’t do. She passed out tests to the person in front of each row, then left the room. I sat in the last seat in my row and by the time it got to me, there were no tests left. She was gone the entire time we were testing and when she returned she caught me talking (imagine that! 😊) and determined I was cheating. How can you cheat when you don’t even have a test? Anyway, she sent me to the principal who asked me a few questions, determined I knew the answers and asked if I wanted disciplined at home or at school. I chose home. Back then, schools still paddled, and I really wasn’t up for that. In addition, this woman taught two years of 4th grade and then 1 year of 5th, and whomever she had that second 4th grade year, went into her 5th grade class. Mom said “Absolutely not!” But it ended up not mattering, because we moved back to Uniontown.
5th – I went from the worst teacher to my favorite! Mrs. Edge. I don’t know why she was my favorite, she just always was. It was also the year I received my first Valentine. From David Wells. The other girls were jealous.
6th – Another favorite, Mr. Ledford. He reminded me of Abraham Lincoln, because he was tall and skinny like him. Mr. Ledford was my math teacher that year. He was so kind, and he would sit at the desk (sharing your seat) and offer personal tutoring if you were struggling with a concept.
7th – nothing.
8th – Mrs. Obney. I don’t remember what class she taught, maybe history? But I remember her as being very kind, especially to the girls. She was thin, with short dark hair and wore black horn-rimmed glasses. There was also Mr. Popa. He taught science, and every girl in the school had a crush on him.
9th -12th – I have several teachers I remember from my high school years, but I can’t remember what year they all were. 1. Mr. Tessmer. He was a small man who taught science. Mr. Tessmer decided it would be fun one day to pull my chair out from under me when I went to sit down. My tailbone hit the edge of the wooden chair. It was only the second time my mother intervened with a teacher. 2. Mr. Hoffman. He was my English teacher and I loved his class! 3. Mr. Crawford. He was my algebra teacher. My high school only required one year of math to graduate. I was fortunate enough to be placed in Mr. Crawford’s classroom, because I hate math and I have a great deal of trouble understanding it. He was also the coach of the football team and wanted his guys to play, which meant they had to pass his class, so his rule for the entire year was – “I’m writing everything on the board. You copy everything into your notebook and at the end of each grading period, I’ll collect the books. If you have everything in there and I can read it, you get a “C”. It doesn’t matter what grades you get on tests and quizzes.” I had the neatest notebook you’ve ever seen, but I learned absolutely nothing. 4. Mrs. ??? I can’t remember her name, but she was my Latin teacher. Back then, you had to have Latin in order to go to nursing school. I wanted to be a nurse, so I took Latin. That year, I discovered I had absolutely zero aptitude for learning foreign languages. Any foreign language. But I did so much extra credit, she passed me with a “D”. 5. Lastly, there was Mr. DeMass. He also ranked up there as a favorite also! He was my high school choir and ensemble teacher. I enjoyed his classes soooo much! And he was always looking out for his students. We had a great time performing!
And that’s more than you probably ever wanted to know! 😊