Who do I admire and who would I want to thank?

I believe the first person I ever admired was my first-grade teacher, Mrs. Esther Lowman.  Mrs. Lowman seemed ancient to me in first grade but in my Senior year of high school I assisted her in her Kindergarten classroom and she really seemed ancient then.  Mrs. Lowman had built a life-sized pony out of paper mache and it was on wheels.  If you were very good, you got to ride on the pony.  Being the naughty little girl that I was, I decided one day that I would ride Daisy, the pony.  I put my left foot in the stirrup and as I flung my right leg upward onto the pony, I accidentally kicked Mrs. Lowman in the behind.  And not just in the behind but right in her butthole.  I believe I stood in the corner for most of that day.  She must have forgiven me for the goosing since I got to be her helper some eleven years later.

I had a friend who truly inspired me.  Her name was Kay Kulikowski Watkins.  She was lovely, talented, soft natured, and introduced me to organic gardening and herbs.  She had the softest southern accent.  After I had my first daughter, Kay came to visit and sat with Addi on her lap and sang softly to her.  I believe it was the inspiration for Kay to have a baby.  Like myself, Kay had two daughters.

Another person who I admire is my good friend, Laurie Timmerman.  She can do anything.  She roofed her house, she laid the wood flooring in my bathroom.  She is just so unstoppable.  And in the last few months she has become happy and it shows.

The other admiration in my life was the hubster’s grandmother, Marge Faerber.  She was a tiny little thing, but oh my, what a fabulous human being.  She took care of her husband who had had a stroke and was incapacitated.  She raised two wonderful sons.  She gardened all of her life and grew the most delicious red raspberries.  She also made a kick ass apricot pie.

These admirations are because of patience, overcoming any obstacle, and love of life.  These are qualities that I strive for but fail miserably.

Two of the people that I want to thank for helping mold me into who I have become are Mr. Vic Cummins and Mr. Nicholas, my junior high math and science teacher.  I have managed to thank both of them.

Mr. Cummins hired me as his junior executive secretary when I was twenty-four.  He changed my life for the better.  I had been temping as a secretary and this was my big opportunity.  I had worked in a factory, in a restaurant and other dead-end jobs.  The Mead Corporation was a fabulous opportunity for this small-town country hick girl.  The corporation gave us new secretaries classes in make-up, dress, courtesy.  We worked in beautiful offices and were respected.  I sent Mr. Cummins a birthday card every year on September 2.  He passed away a few years ago.  I will always remember him with fondness.

Mr. Nicholas, I forgot his first name, was so patient.  And patience with seventh and eight grade children is not an easy task.  I found my love of math in his classroom.  I attended a wedding of a classmate years after I had graduated from high school and Mr. Nicholas was there.  I went up to him and shook his hand and told him who I was.  And I thanked him for his math classes. ( We were in his class when they announced that President Kennedy had been killed.)  I think I also apologized for being such a butt cheese in his classes.

The person that I would really like to thank but probably never will is Mrs. Vivian Kruse.  I had her for Sophomore English class.  She told me that I was a good writer and that I should continue writing.  And now how many years later, I am still writing.

I haven’t written much in the past while because I have been in a funk from feeling really lousy.  It all started in May when I got a sinus infection and pneumonia.  Six weeks later I broke my little toe.  Two weeks after that my lower back went out and I am just now recovering.  My left shoulder has a big lump in it and aches almost all the time.  And I had to put out another six hundred bucks on my truck. 

Sage has been burned daily and I am finally starting to feel like a human being again.  Today is the third day in a row that I haven’t had to take pain meds.

Peace be with you.