Boredom

It's been a pretty quiet day here – no one so far has tried to take money from us that they haven't earned, so that's a plus. The weather is overcast and in the 40's, so it's not really stellar spring weather. The auction of our house and belongings is Sunday, so we're hoping the forecast of warmer weather holds true.

Our week has been a little busy, which probably increases how quiet today seems. I finished this morning contacting all the businesses that needed to know we moved. I can toss that reminder sheet and put my notebook away. And now we truly settle down to finding our new normal.

Mom taught elementary school in a one-room schoolhouse for two terms before she and dad got married. I always thought she should have gone on for her bachelor's degree and been a full time school teacher. She obviously would have been good at it – she still enjoys teaching Sunday School. But like so many of her generation, she taught until she got married and then settled into being a farm wife. I think raising me kept Mom's "teacher spirit" alive and active.

I was evidently a very curious child – some might even say I was high maintenance. From what I heard over the years, I got into trouble frequently whenever I got bored. One of my kids is like that, so I understand what my folks went through!

I wasn't very old when, as the story goes, the Robert Q. Lewis Show came on the TV. I looked at the TV, looked down at my blocks, then picked up the block with the “Q” on it and matched it to the TV. And so I started learning the alphabet. Mom still had some elementary reading books, and I could read through at least one of them before I started first grade.

Dad was good at math, and he taught me some basic math skills. I'm not sure but what I had also learned a bit of cursive writing before I started school – I know I could write my name in cursive before we ever learned it in school. Later in elementary school, Mom encouraged me to learn a lot of the things she'd had to memorize in school. Using a puzzle of the United States, I learned all the states and their capitals.......Mom would hold up a puzzle piece with its back to me and I had to recognize the state by its shape, name it, and name its capital. I got really good at it – except for Colorado and Wyoming, which were the same size and shape.

I was still in elementary school when Mom encouraged me to learn the Presidents of the United States, in order. Yes, there were a lot fewer then – for all the snickering cynics out there – but there were still quite a few to remember. I think it was a technique Mom had used, but she had me learn them in groups of 3: Washington, Adams, Jefferson..... Madison, Monroe, John Quincy Adams.....you get the idea. I usually got tripped up around Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, etc.

Over the years I've sat down once in awhile with pen and paper and tried to write down the Presidents, or all 50 states and their capitals, just to see if I could still do it. Come to think of it, it's been a number of years since I've tested my memory. I may not want to do that now.

Our neighbor Mrs. O'Neal was my first grade teacher. She taught first and second grades, and I guess she had quite a time trying to keep me contained while she taught the second grade classes. She finally asked Mom one day for any suggestions......Mom told her the best thing she could do was keep me busy so I didn't have time to get bored. I think we were all glad that worked, including other neighbors. One of our more quiet neighbors stopped by early in the school year and, thinking it would be a joke, asked me if I'd stood in the corner yet. I don't think he knew what to say when I told him that I had indeed been in the corner.......several times!