Good morning, Mom,
Remember when we used to argue about candidates and issues around the dinner table…even before I was old enough to vote? Sometimes I think Dad and I just had fun arguing. You would mostly listen, smile, shake your head, and ask who wanted more vegetables.
I read something today that would make you really shake your head. Tomorrow 44 people will be on the New Hampshire ballot, including one candidate called Ver Supreme. He is campaigning to give free ponies to all Americans (as a kid I would have LOVED that–too bad kids can’t vote!) His other issues include mandatory tooth brushing (for people, I think, or maybe it could be ponies…), and zombie preparedness.
Hmmm, what do you think of that, Mom?
When I was going through boxes of pictures, I found one of you as a kindergarten teacher in Kansas City before David and I were born. I remember the stories you used to tell, especially about one little boy who was intent on learning to tie his shoes. He worked and worked, but his success came at an awkward time. One afternoon as the children sat in their little chairs while you read them a story, the school fire alarm went off. Immediately your young students lined up to march out the door, the way they’d practiced. All except one. The little guy who’d tied his shoe–in a knot–around the leg of his chair, couldn’t stand up. Since you couldn’t untie the knot, you carried the chair, with the boy in it, out the door and down the stairs.
When you told me that story, I asked if after that you made a rule that students couldn’t tie their shoes to chairs. You smiled and said you didn’t make a lot of rules, but tried to guide your students by showing them the right way to live and treat others. The main rule you lived by was The Golden Rule.
You guided us the same way, Mom.
I never got the pony I wanted while I was growing up, but I had everything I really needed.
Thank you.
Love, Marylin
(teacher Mary Elizabeth Shepherd is third from left in the back row)
Things I Want To Tell My Mother 