Throwback Thursday

Jeanna GLeave a comment

It’s amazing how what I thought was history, is still a current event. Storytelling is how history is preserved, whether spoken aloud, written, or recorded through visual arts. What surprises me though, is when my daughter does something I used to do as a kid, but it’s not anything I ever shared with her. (This is a good reminder of how much our kids are learning from other sources!)

For example, she came into my room this morning and started singing, “Miss Susie had a steamboat, the steamboat had a bell, Miss Susie went to heaven, and the steamboat went to hell-o operator…”

Hello is right! Now I probably should’ve shook my finger at her and told her that rhyme wasn’t polite, but I went right on singing every word as if I’d just sang it yesterday.

Later on, she was making up some silly rhyme and asked what rhymes with twelve. “Elves!” she shouted in response to her own question. Then she knelt down into her Crocs and says, “Look momma! I’m an elf!” We used to do the same thing!

Then that prompted me to think of how we used to lie on our backs and hang our heads off the sides of the bed, cover our faces from nose to hair with a bandana, draw a face on our chins, and then put on a silly skit like that. Maybe I’ll show her that trick next Throwback Thursday.

I guess even those who do know history are destined to repeat it.

Dandy Lion Wishes

Jeanna G3 Comments

Blow away the seeds of a dandelion and wish that a dream come true returns to you. How many dandelions can you find, and how many wishes can you make? What would you wish for? To see someone again? To gain something new? To have more of something you already have? To get back something you lost? Would you make a wish for someone else?

As a child, every so often, my dad would quietly wake me up early on a Saturday morning and tell me to get dressed and meet him at the car. We’d take the old, green Oldsmobile to breakfast at the Dandy Lion diner, just me and him. I probably ordered pancakes. I don’t actually remember. I don’t remember the conversations either. And I don’t remember much about what the place looked like, or even what town it was in. What I do remember is being there with my dad. Just me and him.

Early this past Saturday morning, my daughter and I were able to drive down to scoop up my dad on his 84th birthday and take him to a local diner for breakfast.

My Dandy Lion wishes came true.

Spring Fling

Jeanna G5 Comments

My daughter had her first school dance this past Friday evening. She’s in 5th grade, but you’d think it was the high school prom, considering her preparations. An hour before we were to arrive, she tells me she needs a solid color dress in teal. Thanks for all the notice! Magically, we find what we need…on clearance! We go, she dances and has fun, I meet another cool mom. Success!

I pray all of her future dances are just as simple and fun. Oh, and that all of her dresses are on clearance.

I remember my first dance, and the many more that followed. All fun, but I never really danced… except to the slow songs with my crush du jour.

My first dance was in 6th grade. It was immediately following dismissal. We changed in the bathroom, usually swapping clothes with friends who had cooler stuff than our own. We did the “Electric Slide,” we screamed and ran around, or we sat on the bleachers with our backs to the wall. Finally, we moseyed up to our crushes in time to sway along to “Stairway to Heaven,” while thanking heaven that it was such a long song.

How great are the times when there’s nothing else to think about than what you’re doing and who you’re with.