A  4^TH OF JULY TRIBUTE

On this special day of celebration

We raise our flag in freedom once more

And watch parades with banners flying.

Old soldiers are there too and some are crying.

But we go on with thankful praise,

Because we know the sacrifices made

Some will sing our anthem of old

Then thank our God as the day unfolds.

We love our country so as we look at the stars

On the red, white and blue

And say once again how lucky we are.

To live in this country so beautiful and fair

And we end our day with a special prayer.

We stand as a people diverse in many ways,

But we stand united together under our flag.

Because America embraces all who made

This country so grand and what it is today.

So may America, the land of the free and the brave

Be a symbol of peace to all people of the world

And our flag will stand proudly as the years unfold.

Storms of Deliverance by Larry Higdon

REMEMBERING WORLD WAR II

Originally my dad was a farmer but around 1943, we moved to the city.  This was a hard transition for my dad, especially, and we kids were also not exactly happy to leave the life we had known. Nevertheless, we were enrolled in school, met the neighbor children and settled down to our new home.

The war on and the neighbors and children knew our last name was German.  We were fighting the Germans and somehow the neighbor kids decided that we weren’t good people and thus started the harassment.  My mother would send my brother and I to a little grocery store around the corner. The kids would see us and make a circle around us taunting us with names and trying to keep us from walking to that store.  Well, they didn’t know that my brother and I were fighters and that is what we did so, eventually, we did get to the store for my mom.  We also had the German swastikas drawn on our steps and sidewalk in front of our house.  It took some time and letting the kids know we wouldn’t back down for them to finally stop the harassment.  We all grew to accept one another and played all kinds of games with them.

This episode in our lives did not stay with us as a form of hatred but taught us that what is really important is to keep love and tolerance in this world.  I look back now and realize what a learning experience that was.

Joan

TRAINS

There is something mysterious about hearing a train,

Its lonesome whistle in the middle of the night.

You wonder if it is full of passengers traveling

To places unknown to you.

Though the train is traveling quickly,

The sound of the wheels on those tracks in the night,

Seem to lull you into a sense of yearning.

Sometimes, you wish you were on that train on a journey

Taking you to adventures so exciting.

Exploring places about which you only have dreamed

You will ride through mountain passes and forests so grand

As well as the flat prairies of the mid –west where

The horizons stretch endlessly into the distance.

Listening to the sound of that train brings visions

Of exotic places too beautiful to describe.

Your longing increases and you run to your window,

Its lonesome and mysterious whistle is quickly fading.

The night is suddenly over and the bright

Rising of the sun wakes you to another day.

STORMS

Suddenly it seems so quiet.  The birds have stopped chirping,

No longer do you hear the rustling breeze through the trees.

Now we notice the sun is slowly fading and quickly

Darkness enfolds us in its eerie and encompassing determination.

Everyone is wondering when suddenly a thunderous boom is heard and

Streaks of bright light emanating from them are whip lashing in

Jagged forms across the sky.

The wind has become a gale and the rain falls in a cadence of dance,

Pouring itself out in a rhythm of its own.

You watch at your window at this splendid display of nature’s fury.

It seems dangerous but still you are frozen in place.

Nature, in all its magnificence is putting on a display long remembered

All is quiet now and the sunshine brings forth

Beauty in the sparkling raindrops on trees.

Children laughing and splashing in puddles they see

A spirit of peace dwells within us and we know

That, once again, Nature will cause us to stop and wonder.  

DREAMS
I feel myself floating high above and I see everything below so small
It is like a bird winging its way by me on a journey only he knows
There is beauty and peace to enjoy with not a sound to distract me
I float with a freedom that is unknown to me on earth
My dream takes me over oceans with their constant waving and moving
Their tides ever changing and baring soft sand and pretty shells
I float by over mountains so lush with forests grand and the scent of pine
Reaches me as I pass by
Sunsets are more brilliant and alive with their fiery glow and as the sun appears
In early morn, it has a gentle and slow rising with such beauty all its own
I awake but the dreams stay a part of me and my day begins with peace

Continue reading →

LIBRARIES

When I was a child, the only library to which I was exposed was in my school.  I don’t think I really understood the value it represented at that time.  By the time high school arrived, it seemed we were in that library a great deal of the time.  Eventually, after graduation, I wound up working in our main central library and it was a Civil Service position.  I remember being quite nervous about taking that exam but, thankfully, I passed it.

I started work there and was given a tour of the library.  There were 3 floors plus a basement and a sub-basement.  It was all quite confusing at first.  In fact, the sub-basement was a little scary and I thought I never want to go down there.  There were so many departments to learn about.  My first job was inspecting the new books as they arrived, processing the information and entering the pertinent facts regarding that book on file cards.  All cards, from time to time, were taken down to the catalogs on the first floor and filed properly in drawers.  It was interesting but I hoped for a promotion eventually.  It finally happened after a year or less after I was hired.  There was an opening in the public relations department and I was transferred to that office.  I worked for a very nice woman who taught me the parts of that job for which I was responsible.  It really was fun as well as work because I had the opportunity to take spot announcements to the downtown radio and TV stations and meet some of the staff in those offices.  Learning and experiencing the behind the scenes work at a library gave me also an opportunity to participate in some of the events held at that library. There, quite often, it may seem that a library is a boring place to be.  But the opposite is what is true.  A library is alive with stories of the past, the history of so many different cultures, scientific discoveries, our galazy and so much more.  There are also phones ringing with people seeking help or being directed to the proper department, students sitting at tables pouring over books to find much needed answers to their projects or papers and many people coming in to the library to have personal conversations with the librarians.  There are multiple floors to explore, art to be seen, children listening intensely to a librarian reading a story book to them and enjoying the beautiful architecture of so many of the libraries.

My experience in that library prepared me for other jobs in the future.  It taught me the “stick to it and you can get the job done” as well as good interactions with people and maturing in the way to think and work.