Happy May Day!

When I was in third grade I remember May day. We put on a play welcoming spring and made a maypole out in the playground. We strung ribbons or colored string on the flagpole and then would do a dance where the we would weave them round and round and then unwind them. Can't remember the whole thing, but that was a high light of the year. It meant that school would be out soon and summer vacation.


We also made little May baskets with paper flowers we made in class and then take them home to our parents, maybe hang them on the door and then pretend to find them. It was a tradition to say that spring was here.

Election Day

In my area it is Municipal election day this upcoming Tuesday. That means cities elect mayors and school boards are elected.


It is not a very well-known election time, seemingly. Perhaps I should say it is a low key time for voters but for  those involved  it is important. School boards are the people who overlook the education of our children and this is the time we get to have a say in who these people are. We should take advantage of this freedom. It is a freedom that we should participate in and take pride in.
There are places that don't have that option.


This is getting a little heavier than the rest of my A to Z posts, so will lighten it up by saying that the election could be like the small town of Dorset, Minnesota where they elect their mayor every year for Dorset Days by selling votes for a dollar a piece.  Two years they  elected a three years old and boy. I think he is going to try again in August when they hold Dorset Days. Sounds like a real bargain at a dollar a vote. The voter has to pay the buck.


Come to think of it, that may not be a whole different from the real thing.

Ageing

Ageing is not something you think about.


 It just happens.






Wrinkles also just happen. Some of us think of our aging as something to brag about. Or at least to talk about.




When you are young you don't think of getting older as ageing. You think of it as getting to do...
walk to school by yourself, staying up till ten, getting to drive.




Then when you are older still, you  go to college, have your first alcoholic drink, and move out on your own.


After a time, you pass all the important ages like 16, 21 and 30.
 Thirty is a big one, because lots of younger ones think you have gone over the hill.




Suddenly, it is forty, fifty, sixty, and seventy.




Where did the time go?




A better question is what did we do with it?




We played ball.



We studied for tests.
 And passed them.




We went out with boys to find the right one to marry.




We married the right one. Some of us only thought he was the right one, and went on to others until we found the right one, or decided that we didn't need the right one to be happy.




We had children.




Some of us lost them.




We were happy, and we were sad.




 We celebrated and enjoyed.




So, here we sit at whatever age are and decide that it was worth it and let's get to the next birthday.

Thank You God for Poop

When my kids were younger, grade school, I was the superintendent for our church's VBS. For those of you who may not know it is Vacation Bible School.


We were new to the area and the church, so we didn't know all the kids and their backgrounds.


Everyone knew Paul. He was ornery and cute as a button. He lived to shock. He was in  first grade and the teachers for that class were high school girls. One was the teacher and the other was her assistant.


 Vacation Bible School is chaotic with children meeting friends they hadn't seen in a month since the end of school. Making new friends from children outside the church and community, invited by friends and relatives to take part.


It was the third day of a five day course.


The schedule was that the children met en masse to do music, then divided into groups that went to crafts, treats, games or to story time. The teachers were to do crafts and story time. There were others in charge of treats and out side time.


His teachers had all ready had his group for  crafts and had a break while they were in treats. They came together to do the story time and finished the story time with prayers.


Each child was asked what they were grateful for, and most of the ten children had said moms, dads, dogs, Jesus, and the teachers. Paul, however, said he was grateful for poop.


It brought the room down to hysterics. The boys thought it funny. The girls thought it was gross. Paul grinned.


The teacher said amen.




When the kids were gone and we were all discussing the day, Paul's teacher said we had something interesting happen. And then they told the story.


It brought the room down. The Pastor was not happy. The superintendent thought it was funny.


They didn't ask me to reprise my job.


As I grow older, I fully appreciate Paul's thankfulness for poop.