An Old Family Friend

In the course of my life, my family has been friends with many other families scattered here and there. One family, though, we have consistently kept in contact with. Maybe it is because our families are so parallel. Mom and dad, good marriage, love their kids; three kids, the oldest is a son who is right about John's age, the middle is a daughter who's my age, and the youngest is a daughter, but she's quite a bit younger than Bekah. John and Michael got married around the same time. Elizabeth and I have done everything together. We grew up together being picked on by our brothers and annoyed by our sisters, but loving them anyway and later becoming friends with them. We moved away from home the same year for college, survived college, kept in contact with high school friends, got our first jobs at the same time, struggled with being single. This weekend Elizabeth got married, so she's ahead of me there. Mom and Elly both owned a small business at the same time. Bekah and April had a tendency to nurse hurt animals back to health. It's been a lot of fun having that family as our friends. Sadly, though, as friendships sometimes do, this one has run its course. We must say goodbye. Tomorrow I won't know where Elizabeth and Anthony go on their honeymoon. I won't know how long Grandpa Jim stays in the hospital. I won't know how big a hit Michael's next book is. It has been a good friendship and a long one. But now, I must say...Farewell, Patterson Family. I will miss you.

Freeze Tag

I have been tagged twice...once by Chelley, once by Catrina. Apparently, I need to do this. However, since everyone I know has either already been tagged or wouldn't do this even if I did tag them, the buck stops here. I won't be tagging anyone else. Which, come to think of it, is pretty typical for me when I play tag.

Six things you may or may not have known about me:

One
I was Laurie (Cast A) in our 4th grade production of "Oklahoma!" I actually tried out for two other parts: Ado Annie and Aunt Eller. But they needed someone to read the part of Laurie during someone else's Ado Annie audition, and they asked me. I reluctantly read. The next day, they came around to all the classes to announce who got what part. I was devastated when I heard I was Laurie! (I know...Who is upset when they surprisingly get the lead role?!?) I think I got it because we had just moved there from Coalgate and I still had a real big Okie accent, which maybe they though Laurie needed. Or maybe I was just that good. Ha. I still know the opening lines. (Sining) "Oh, what a beautiful mornin', oh what a beautiful day..." (Notices Curly. Speaking.) "I thought you was somebody." (Ignores Curly, shakes out dish towel. Singing.) "...I've got a beautiful feelin'. Ev'rything's goin' my way." (Speaking to Aunt Eller [who was played by my best friend].) "Is this all that's come a-callin', and it's already 9:00 in the mornin'?"

Two
In 9th and 10th grades, I was in Mock Trial. I loved it! My role was to be a witness...don't remember which side I was on...I think defense. One time this lawyer on the other team asked me a question about how far away so-and-so was when I saw him. I had no idea. The guy rips out a tape measure and starts measuring the courtroom. Hilarious. We made so much fun of him for that.
Three
My first 2-3 months of college were absolutely miserable, starting before I even arrived on campus. I was soooo nervous!! I was literally sick with nerves the first two or three weeks...couldn't eat, it was awful. After I got over that, I couldn't seem to find people who I could really be friends with. Casual friends, sure, but not kindred spirits. Finally I found my nitch second semester and from then on I was unstoppable.

Four
My 2nd grade teacher spanked me on the last day of school. Only school spanking I ever got. Here's the story...and to this day I still think it was unfair. It was the last day of school, so we were cleaning out the classroom, getting it ready for summer. The room was really big, and at the back there was a deep room divider that was almost the full length and height of the room. On the classroom side were chalkboards and bulletin boards. On the back side was access to lots of storage. So this day, Mrs. Jackson chose two students to help her clean out the storage. I was not chosen, which probably hurt my teacher's-pet-feelings. The only people who were allowed behind the divider that afternoon were those two students. However. Lots of kids kept running back there. Mrs. Jackson would say, "I told you not to go back there!" or something along those lines. Occasional reprimands, but nothing severe. I decided that if she really wasn't going to enforce the rule, I might as well take a quick walk back there, too. After all, if none of them were getting in trouble, fairness said I had one free breakage of the rule. Something must have snapped, because Mrs. Jackson caught Sarina, a girl who was always in trouble, and me, who was never in trouble. She reprimanded us, then, to my surprise, took us across the hall for Mrs. Harris (or Farris...there were both and I never could keep them straight) to witness swats. This was back in the days when it was OK for teachers to give swats. So Sarina and I both got three swats. Sarina cried. I did not. I am very proud of that. Our house-rule was that if you got in trouble at school, you got in trouble at home, so I swore to myself that I wouldn't tell mom and dad about my spankings. My plan was to tell them when I was 20, I think, because by then I would be too old to spank. I didn't hold out quite that long. I think I was around 13 when I finally told them.

Five
In college, Lindsay, Denise, and I used to go to the C-Store on weekends to use our meal points. The best thing to get was ice cream. We would each get a pint and take it back to the dorm. Then we'd sit and watch a movie while eating those pints of ice cream. We had to eat the whole thing...No freezer. Personal favorite: Blue Bell Cookies 'N Cream. Mmmm...

Six
I wore headgear. For a long time, I had dents in my upper lip where the wires came out my mouth to hook onto the part that went around my head. I kept the headgear for years, thinking I would give it as a gag gift sometime. Haha! Wouldn't that be a terrible thing to get from someone?!? (Lucky for all of you, I never had the courage to do that, and I got rid of it a few years ago.)

Tip of the Day

Directly from an email from the OK Dept of Health, regarding an E.Coli outbreak, and passed along to the campus today:

Bradley also emphasized the importance of washing hands before, during and after meal preparation. "Persons with diarrhea should not prepare meals," she said.

Sounds great to me.

Prison Meat

I'd like to pass along an email we all received at work last week:

"The 2003 legislative session made it possible for the Agri-Services Division of the OK Department of Corrections to make products produced at our meat processing center available as a benefit to state, county and city government employees, retirees and public school staff at all levels of education.

"On THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 2008 the meat truck (white tractor-trailer) will be at the Expo Center from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. to sell meat products.

"Due to the short time frame and the time of day that some of the sales are being held, it is acceptable to send one or two people from a location with several orders and checks for those individual orders. All we ask is that you put your driver’s license number and date of birth on the checks and leave the amount blank (it is not possible to know the amount of the order prior to purchase) and the person picking up your order can finish filling out your check and we will give them a detailed receipt for the amount.

"Attached is a sale flyer/price sheet that can be broadcast e-mailed and distributed to your employees and co-workers and posted throughout your office/school/agency.

Thank you!

Agri-Services Division
Oklahoma Dept. of Corrections

While the thought of buying prison meat out of the back of a traveling white tractor-trailer meat truck is undeniably intriguing, I must say thank you, but no.

The most interesting part of this email, however, is that we are told to send a blank check containing our driver's license numbers and birthdates with someone else to pick up the meat. Really?!? This is a suggestion from the Department of Corrections? Oh, the irony.

One World One Dream

Skill. Heart. Athleticism. Patriotism. Suspense. Perfection. Honor. Competition. Sweat. Humanity. Olympics.

Every four years, I watch in awe of what the human race is capable of. Not of the art of persuasion, the grime of politics, or the struggle for power and attention, but rather of the sheer physical ability of the human race. In our rawest form, in our most primal state, what we humans can do is remarkable. It somehow raises our eyes above the daily grind of life. It causes something inside to say, "I can be better. I can push the limits of what I think I am capable of. I don't have to be mediocre; I can be great."

President Bush has been pushed by some to boycott the Olympics. I'm glad he refused. I'm glad that he chose to honor and support our athletes. I'm glad that, no matter what political issues surface as a result of the games being held in China, he made the choice to attend. He made the silent, yet very loud, statement that policy is not the end-all. It's all really just about people.

The opening ceremony tonight was absolutely phenomenal. The Chinese are precise, and it showed. The show included 15,000 performers, and all 15,000 performed with near perfection. The man who choreographed the show is brilliant. The colors, lights, dances, symbolism...everything was fantastic.

While I was watching the ceremony, though, I couldn't help but be so very sad. The performance was in two parts, ancient and modern, and basically showed bits of Chinese history. The theme was quite obviously (at least the announcers kept alluding to this) that China's best days have been the ones when they were "open" and that they want to be "open" again. All the while, the very essence of the show was Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. In so many ways, the Chinese could be one of the most amazing groups of people in history. They are innovative and smart, have a good work ethic, and know how to create quality. But as long as they remain spiritually deceived, they will never become what they could. While this is true for everyone, tonight I was hit by the fact that, for hundreds of years, China in particular has been deceived. And now it's just who they are; it's their very culture. That made me sad for them.

Usually when the parade of nations starts, I get bored really fast. But tonight was a bit different. Because China doesn't have an alphabet, the countries couldn't enter in alphabetical order. (I had never thought about this! My question is: How do they file paperwork?? I sent an email to my cousin who lives there...I'll let you know what the answer to this important question is when I find out.) So tonight the nations entered according to the number of strokes in the Chinese version of the names.

Two thoughts struck me as I watched the delegates enter. One was that people are beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. God really did a good job when he created people. The other though was that there really is a large spectrum in freedom across the world. Iraq entered, and the flag bearer was a woman. (This, I believe, was a very proud moment not only for Iraq, but also for the United States. I thought to myself how proud President Bush must have felt at that moment, watching the delegates from Iraq walk past him.) The next country to enter was Iran. Ironically, their flag bearer was also a woman, but she had her head covered in the traditional wrap. One country entered and, in addition to their flag, they carried a banner with the picture of a man I assumed to be their country's leader. Israel entered, and the announcers said that the president was staying in a hotel very close to the stadium because he couldn't break Sabbath by being driven back to the hotel, so he would have to walk. African countries entered and most of them never dreamed they could be there.

The United States entered and it seemed different than most of the others. In the United States, women are honored every day. In the United States, we can love or hate the President. In the United States, we dream. Tonight, the United States walked in free. Our flag bearer was a refugee.

"[Lopez] Lomong was one of the Sudanese "Lost Boys," stolen from his family at gunpoint at 6, raised for 10 years in a Kenyan refugee camp, adopted by an American family as a teenager. Lomong, now 23, became a U.S. citizen last year, an Olympian last month and the country's flag bearer at these Games on Thursday.

"To represent my country and raise that flag," he said Friday morning, "I don't even have a word for it.""

When I first heard his name, I thought, "You've got to be kidding." But in the next breath, I realized I was wrong to think that. He represents everything America is. We aren't a nation of "you have to be born here." Rather, we are a nation of,

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, the tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

The Olympics always make me emotional. But putting tears aside, I say...

Game on.

Meanwhile...

Since my last post I have

• turned one year older,
• played(ish) pool for the first time in a very long time,
• weeded my flowerbed,
  
• woken up an hour early b/c somehow my clock got bumped up an hour (I didn't stay up),
• received a stand for my keyboard, so I can use my table as a table again,
  
• gotten music books for practice, and
• done all the usual stuff.

Tonight I ate sauerkraut. Tonight the can boasted, "Fancy Sauerkraut. Farm Fresh." Er? By it's very definition, nay, by its very name! sauerkraut is not fresh.

I also ate okra and a tomato tonight. Those really were farm fresh.

Too bad my camera is on the fritz.