First year teaching - the OOPS, the exhaustion, and the fun.

Part 2, John and start our new life in our little house on the dirt road. It did have a name, which I do not recall, we were not in the city limits. John and Lori Boone, on left. Don & I at the prom. My Big Brother.

Things to get done before first day of school in our new town included a hair cut for John. Off to the barbershop we went. There was one rule when we left the house, have a book in your hand. We settled in at the barbershop to wait our turn. We opened our books to read. Actually, look at pictures for John, mostly. I did not noticed when John switched reading material. My reading was interrupted by a sweet innocent child’s voice , Mommy, this lady looks just like you ! He was holding up the centerfold of Playboy magazine. The words were loud enough for every one to hear. Oh, how I wished the floor would open up and swallow me, as the men in the shop were chuckling. John was a master of creating embarrassing moments for me. It was not the first, and it certainly would not be the last.
John, a boy full of personality, fun loving, and absolutely no fear. Never knew what he would do or say next. I had to stifle a lot of laughs over the years. If ever there was a mother who had fun raising a boy and enjoying every moment of it, it was me. I felt so blessed to have this beautiful, healthy child to raise. The embarrassing moments were all part of the package God had entrusted to me.
I am so happy that we got to travel without seat belts back then. The sights John would have missed out on had he not got to ride in the car on his knees looking out the back window. Mom would have missed out on the workings of a child’s mind. Our first trip to Arkansas City. He was looking out the back window, then very casually said. Mom, Jesus is following us. Looking in the rear view mirror, sure enough. It was a young man with hair down to his shoulders. It just did not seem odd to him that Jesus would be driving a car.
Our house on the dirt road had windows in the upstairs bedroom that you could sit in. I think they are called dormer windows. Every morning we would sit in the window and I would read John a book. It was such a relaxing way to start a day. We were getting our new morning routines all mapped out before school began. Starting a day rushed, is not good. I love Reading time, breakfast time, and getting dressed time, all done without hurrying.

Our Big day finally arrived. It was my son’s first day of Kindergarten and my first day of teaching. My girlhood mentor had 5 sons. The first day of school, over the years, Louise had her boys dressed in black slacks and white shirts. How scrubbed and shinny they looked. So I followed suit.
I stood in front of the High School, on the highest spot I could find to watch my child in his new white shirt and black slacks, bravely walk to school alone. That was his wish, he never wanted to appear as a Mommy’s boy ever since he was 3. Independent he was, or at least tried to be. He was so anxious to start school. Mom tried her best to be brave, too. I was standing there as students were going into the school, fighting back my tears. I just could not start my first day with a tear streaked face. A boy appeared beside John. They stood there talking, then John pointed to me. The boy, clearly several years older, turned to me and yelled across the highway, "I’ll take your little boy to school, lady". The preciousness of the moment was only observed by me. This young man clearly had Native American blood in him, and his black hair in sharp contrast to my little blonde guy with the corn silk hair. What a darling picture to carry in my heart for all these years. John had a new friend, one that would be a visitor to our home many times, later on . I asked one of the students his name, Ricky Cable. I loved that kid from that moment on, even though I there would be times, through the years, when I would have to send him home. I would see Ricky as an adult, years later, and he would remind me. He was such a cute kid.
John was out of my sight now, I took a deep breath, and walked to the Home Economics classroom. Had to switch from Mommy to Teacher. The first hour students were coming in and taking their seats at the long tables. They soon would be placing pattern pieces on their newly purchased material, on those tables, excited to make their first garments. That would come later, but for today, I had lots of names to learn, and faces to put with those names. That terrified me. So simple, yet so terrifying at the same time. And this was only the first hour, by the end of the day, it was just plain over whelming. I studied the names that evening at home, and tried to recall the face that went with it. The test would be the next morning. Yikes. Oh, to be back in college cramming for one of those dreaded Economics exams ! !
Here I was, standing in front of my first class. I had been so busy with school, studying, and fixing meals that I had not really thought of this first moment. I recall looking at all those students, thinking off all this information I had crammed into my mind. Now it was time to take that information and present it to them. One problem, even though we had been in the lab school, and then did student teaching, no one ever taught us HOW to teach. They told us what we had to have prepared for the next day. YANKEE ingenuity, that will be what I use, and a lot of prayers for guidance, that is what I will need.
There was a draw back to this career. On nice days you had to be inside. This was not working, not for this tree climbing, ‘sneaking off’ to the river, running girl who could pogo stick a city block and back and ride her bike with 2 brothers on it. I had to do something. I spied that stone wall out at the corner of the property. That will be my salvation, just need to get permission, I bet. To my surprise, it was okay!! So the classes that was mostly discussion, to the wall we would go. One day, Mr Cox would come by. He introduced himself to me and told us that is what his class use to do. Heck, I was continuing a tradition. Mr Cox and I would meet again, under different circumstances.
There are a lot of extra curricular activities involved in teaching. I learned that in no time. (Again, something they did not tell us in school)
Cheerleader sponsor, translates into: Go to every game, in town and out of town, ride school bus, hold sleeping child in arms for hours, be cold, get caught in snow storms on way home, very little sleep for the next day.
Junior class sponsor, translates to: raise money, work in concession stand at games, money raising projects, Prom, decorate gym, Banquet. In other words, if you are not an organized person, it’s all over for you, mentally.
Future Homemakers of America, FHA, incredible amount of forms, following rules, getting the right forms into the mail at the right time. Then there are the trips. Mrs Potter, my Home Ec teacher in Jr High and High School, did all this with such calmness. How, did she do that??
Homecoming game, translates into: fine time to make an OOPS.
Homecoming, to me - people of the community and the students in the classes who were voted class queen and king to ride on the back of convertibles. I learned after I had it all lined up, that it had never been done before, we (meaning the people of CedarVale) did not do it that way. Oops. Well, I enjoyed parts of it. One was that John was selected to be the crown Barer. After all, the students all knew him, as he attended everyone of those games with me.
The Prom, I do not even want to remember all the work that was. My big brother visited me, at this time, and he was there the night of the dance. What a treat, to have my big brother as my date.
Me, I have absolutely no sense of direction. Cedar Vale proved to be my big challenge. The first time John and I went to Pittsburg for the weekend, we got back into CedarVale after dark. The minute I came over the bridge I knew I was in trouble, but I was not going to wake up my sleeping child. But when I found my self down by the rodeo grounds, I had no choice. I woke my 5 year old, he rubbed his eyes, looked around, and knew immediately the situation. Mom, you are lost. And so started another new adventure together, help Mommy find where we live. He was born with the same instincts as my Dad and brothers, and I was so thankful. He just some how knew which way to go, and he would always guide me there. I got a wonderful laugh when my big brother came to town. He got lost in Cedar Vale!! He said it was the first and only time he had ever been lost.
We had some type of social gathering in the Home Economics room, probably a lesson in Planning a social function. There was the most beautiful young man I had ever seen, had not seen him before. I asked who he was, Perry Fulsom. He was going to be a part of my life, later on. I have not ever seen him as an adult, but he certainly was one of the finest young men one could know.
I always asked the students what they wanted to learn, no disappointments allowed in my classrooms. That is really ‘living on the edge’, to do that. Of all things, they wanted to know how to cut up a chicken. WHAT? I had never cut up a chicken in my life (we do not learn that in college, you know). But, I had seen Jock do it at Smith’s Grocery Store. So I asked him if he would, he did. I was saved, or was it, I managed to saved face.
Of course, there is the duty of going to the grocery store to get the supplies needed for cooking classes, and staying within a budget. Budget ? ! - again, did I miss that class in college?
Another, Oops. I was called into the office, another session with Mr Treadway, and reminded that I had to divide my time MORE between Call’s and Smith’s. But, I liked the 1st class, AAA service I got at Smith’s. Do not know why I got such great service (Ha).
One day Jock asked me if I liked Mexican Food. I had it only once, at the Seattle World’s Fair. That was my "graduation from high school" gift. My big brother lived in Seattle then, so I got to visit him and see the fair. I grew up in an Italian town, Mexican was not something we ever saw there, at that time. Jock introduced me to the wonderful world of the Green Door. I loved the place. Sitting at a table with people you had not known 2 minutes before, eating great food. And to top it off, he had an 8-track in his Mustang. Wow, I had never experienced an 8-track before. Bobby Gentry and her ode to Billy Joe, all the way to Arkansas City, or was it Winfield? I have to admit, it took 3 dates to remember his last name. I am a visual learner, if I do not see it written, I have a hard time remembering.
I made a big boo boo, as a mother. It probably was not my first or last. I forgot to tell John about the Tooth Fairy time of his life. I picked him up at Doris Boone’s home one day. Doris had given me the heads up of the days’ happenings. He ran to me. Mommy, I am falling apart, big tears running down his face. He was so worried and I just could not laugh in front of him. John an Laurie were good friends, and would share center stage the coming summer. They would be King and Queen, and ride in a parade. But now, he was one scared child, he just knew he was falling apart. He was not buying that Tooth Fairy thing.
Thanksgiving. I had a plan. Instead of going home for my Dad’s wonderful oyster dressing, I wanted John and I to have our own Thanksgiving. We were going to build a fire in our yard and have hotdogs and marshmallows. I was excited about it. Then Jock said his mother had invited us to their home for Thanksgiving. I was torn. It was kind of her, and I did not want to appear rude, so of course I accepted. I was immediately taken with her books. I love to read. John loved to be read to, so we were quite happy to have books around us.
We were also introduced to Sinbad. He was their Hugh Siamese cat. Sinbad had a funny habit, he brought kittens to Nellie. I would learn over the years to come, that Nellie’s porch would always have kittens on it. This made John happy. He loved cats and dogs. What Sinbad did not know, was that someday he would have to share the neighbor hood with another big cat, Sugar. They never did become friends, they snarled a lot at each other.
Well, Christmas time came along. That means lots of baking. I had been teaching the students a lot of the principles of cooking and the chemistry behind the ingredients. And yes, kids, you can make pudding from scratch. The world had pudding long before Jell-O came along. But now we were going to have fun. What did they want to make, Bourbon Balls of course !! I knew they were ‘testing’ me. But every day of life is a test, there was nothing they could come up with that life had not given me already. Bourbon was not in the school budget, so I would get that on my own. I went to Mr Treadway to get his permission to make the Bourbon Balls and bring the amount we would need into the school. I really tried to play by the rules, really. He said it was ok, after all, I had already proven myself to be responsible. I had not let any student escape the wall teaching and run off to town (like there was so much to do there). I had held it all together during the Homecoming, except for the Cars episode. Mr Treadway was a very fair man, I felt he was looking out after me at times. I was rather like the "Poor little Lamb who had lost its way". I may have grown up in a town of 2 thousand, but it was Italian, and much different. Only town in Kansas to close down a state road for a yearly dance and beer drinking. Oh, it was different. And Cedar Vale did not have stip pits either. I was in a new world, and he knew it. Mr Treadway told me I should have Jock go to the liquor store for me. I popped up and said, I already got it. He had that, oh no, look. He slowly asked me, where did you buy it. Down at that liquor store on the corner I replied. Now he had that very sick look. You mean YOU went into a liquor store? Yes, sir, I am 25 and that is the only place one can get Bourbon. Made perfect sense to me. I left a very sick looking man in his office. Another Oops under my belt.
Spring came. John would go out to Jolenne Sanders after school each day to play with her boys. What a great place it was for growing boys. I would drive my Galaxy 500 carefully down the dirt road and pick him up. One day, just as I was approaching the house, I stopped to laugh. A Walt Disney movie was being played out right before my eyes. There were Doug and John leading the parade of the smaller boys and the biggest, shaggiest dog I had ever seen, right on the behind of the littlest guy. When I finally pulled up and parked, I asked Jolenne where that dog came from. He had been showing up lately to be with the boys, and his paws showed that he had walked a long distance to be there. I told her, I would take that dog if he did not have a home. Any dog who would go to such extremes to be with kids, was a dog to be respected. So Jolenne had her assignment. She found out who he belonged too, that his owner was moving to Coffeyville and would not be able to take him, and that the dog was an Airedale. The man would bring the dog to me, he wanted to make sure I would give him a good home. So now, we had Greta, the toy spitz from Wichita Humane, Sugar Cat, a cat John had to have from Jolenne’s house, and Mud, the Airedale. John’s cup was over flowing. The man brought me Muds Chain, collar, and the thing you put in the ground. We were set. All the animals would learn to like each other, eventually, I was sure. And I had the Big dog I wanted. Later in life, there would be more Airedales in our life, and then when my children were grown I would have St Bernards. Yes, I love big Dogs.
Mud was a people dog, he wanted to be with a human, heck with that little Spitz dog and that cat. I have no idea how Mud knew where I was during the day. But he knew. One day I heard screaming out in the hallway and kids in a group looking out the front door. The I heard a voice, Mr Treadway’s voice. Whose dog is this? The students turned and looked at me. They knew I had adopted Mud. Mud was so happy to see me. But I had to take him home. Then another day, I was called into the office to take a phone call, it was the town sheriff. Mud was at the town’s beer tavern, I don’t remember if it was called Dolly’s then. Mud, I learned the hard way, liked beer. He advised me I would get a ticket the next time this happened. I saw humor in it, guess he didn’t. I was conducting class, when a man walks in, handed me a ticket with a monetary amount on it that I owed to the City of Cedar Vale. My dog had gotten thirsty for beer, again. Well, there was a second time Mud came to school, but it was during class time, and no one saw him in the hall but me. I took him out side and told him to go home. He was one smart dog. But that leash and chain and thing in the ground meant nothing to him. He was strong. I went down to Pay the find. There was Mr Cox, he was so wonderful. He apologized for the fact that I was given the ticket. I could only see the humor in it, I had a beer drinkin’ dog. Now I needed a pickup and a pair of jeans. I was starting to feel like a country girl, in mini skirts. Little did I know, the pickup, and jeans were just around the corner.
Daddy came to visit John and I. Dad was in the car with me while John and Mud were walking in front of us. We had to go get the run-a-way dog after he got loose when I went to pick up Daddy at the bus stop. John had his arm over Muds shoulders, as they walked along the dirt road that led to our house. Dad, said if he died that moment, he would be happy, just to have lived to see his grandson and his big old dog. Daddy, was so happy I had been willing to live in a small town for John. He had grown up in Fredonia and Benedict, KS.
Children’s lives expand so much when they start school. One of the things John now started noticing was that other kids had brothers and sisters, and that he did not. So he asked me to get him a brother. I had a simple answer. We have to have a daddy, that is the way God planned it. He bought that simple explanation. Can’t argue with God. I heard nothing more about enlarging our family, relief!! But I knew he had a steel trap memory, he was going to hit me up again.
The school year was coming to a close. It had been quite a year, for me anyway. John had made friends. I had survived the Child Development lab that the students conducted. People think of Cooking and Sewing when it comes to Home Economics, when it actually has 9 areas to teach. The amount of prepartion for each class makes you wish you had studied to teach English, or History. The next year, I would be teaching at Dexter. They offered more money, 1 less class a day, and less extra curricular activities. I would be there for 3 years.
Through the years I learned what made Cedar Vale special. It was the type of people there.
I did not realize at the time, after all I had not been to many places in the world at age 25. One of the things I found later on in Denver, Florida, and now here in Southern Georgia (2 miles from the Florida line), people can treat you as though you are invisible. Just yesterday, I stopped at a diner that has been in business here since the mid 40's. The waitress never looked at me, even when I spoke to her. But Cedar Vale, that was different. People enjoyed knowing each other. And they did not mind accepting a ‘stranger’ in town. They were friendly. There was only one incident were I was pretty much ‘not accepted’. No big deal.
John and I were happy to be a part of a wonderful community. I knew when my boy was out of my sight he would be safe. He did not have to know fear, he could be free to be himself.
The days of just being the two of us were coming to an end. I would cherish those days forever. There was a specialness to it that I find hard to describe. Our family was going to change, step one of getting a sibling, was going to take place. The guy sitting at a bar at the Hill Top, requested our presence as his family.
Who did I have to thank for this wonderful opportunity to be a teacher? My parents. They impressed up on their children the importance of a college education. Mother would take us on walks to the campus at Lawrence, Ks. She would point out students walking across the campus and imprint on us that that would be us someday. We each got our education, without financial help from our parents. If it had not been for them, John and I would have not had this wonderful life of living here. My Daddy would have lost out on seeing his Grandson walking down a dirt road with his arm around a big shaggy dog. All the sleeping and partying I had missed out on over the years had been well worth it.