Jack’s Winning Words 6/25/08
“In the heart of each of us, there is a voice of knowing—a song or a story that can remind us of what we most value and long for, what we have known since we were a child.” (Jack Kornfield) Today, with some of the time saved by using computers, cell phones and the like—look back and recall a song or a story or an experience from your childhood—something that you treasure as an adult. I remember reading RLS’s, The Land of Counterpane. As a child, I remember sitting on the porch swing and saying to my dad, “Tell me some more stories about the experiences you’ve had.” ;-) Jack

FROM J.L. IN MI: When my parents were first put on Hospice...my mom for nine months, my dad a year later for 2 1/2 years, one of the things I did was to buy a good tape recorder. I sat and listened to story after story about my ancestors. Because my dad had lost his voice years prevously, and he had to whisper, it took me a long time to get his stories. And I didn't get them all. But what a gift! I pray everyone takes time to tell their children and grandchildren stories of their grandparents, parents, and childhood.
We lived by a county ditch. County ditches were filled with water when it rained hard but when we had a dry spell, what wonders we beheld! Snakes, raccoons, pheasants, foxes, smelly skunks (we could have done without the skunks), box turtles, painted turtles and cattails which reached far over our heads. When the cattails dried, we parted them and made "rooms" in the ditch. Ah, I could take days and weeks, probably months, to tell you my stories!

FROM D.S. IN MI: The question is “Will the children of today ask their fathers that same question?” Life and conversation has changed. Today’s children won’t know what they’ve missed but we do. Sometimes it makes me sad.

FROM SON DAVID IN MN: “Dad….tell me some stories about the experiences your dad had.”

FROM C.S. IN RICE LAKE: I can remember my mother reading us "Just So Stories" about "the great, gray, green, greasy Limpopo River and how the elephant got his trunk, etc. My sister and I were old enough to have been reading these stories for ourselves, but it was more fun to have her read to us at bedtime.
We have recently made contact with a very shirt tale cousin in Norway looking for information about my grandfather (my mom's father). My grandfather wrote to his aunt in Norway in 1949 telling her about his life in the US and his family. His aunt was this shirt tale cousin's great grandmother. The family kept his letter all these years. Now a lot of reminiscing is being shared. Yeah! for computers and the Internet!

FROM F.M. IN WI: One of my favorite memories from my youth was going out on the river in a canoe. Sometimes I went with my mother or my father and many times I canoed by myself. It was so peaceful, so quiet, that when I became an adult, it became one of my favorite things to do. I have owned two canoes - I sold my second one after physical problems made it impossible to get into the canoe - but I still covet the peace, the quietness and the sense of God's presence on the water.

FROM B.S. NEAR ORLANDO: No.1, Sundays, just chores, no field work,no.2 ,rainy days, just chores, no field work,, No 3. Going to the fair, just chores, no field work, unless we were filling silo, or threshing, or making hay. On Sunday when we were going to Grandma's after church, I didn't change out of my church clothes, and Grandma said to me "phuu Bobby, you smell of the cow barn." so I said, "honest Grandma, I didn't touch and manure, cow, horse, or chicken", but I always changed clothes after that.

MORE FROM B.S.: my Pa used to sing songs to us, and recite poetry, and encourage us to do math problems in our heads. He said his father used to quiz the entire family every Sat. afternoon, right after lunch. It was called dinner in those days, and grandma made everything from scratch, and everybody pitched in.