Late Summer Loose Ends

School was supposed to start this past week for Boyer Valley, I think that Charter Oak-Ute resumes this next week, Maple Valley has postponed school until September. If you hadn’t heard, both BV and MV built new facilities this summer and they’re both having some trouble getting everything finished and ready to go for the new school year.

Usually, most teachers like to get into their room and do some planning in the weeks before school. Needless to say, that hasn’t been happening for many of us and it’s led to a feeling of being unsettled. So this week I’d like to tie up a few loose-ends that have been bothering me. Consider this my way of trying to accomplish some sense of closure.

Way -back in the Fourth of July column, a few of you may have been confused. Which is a shame, because several people shared with me how much they appreciated what it said. I signed the column “R. Saunders.” People have been asking me who that is and what that meant.

Richard Saunders was Benjamin Franklin’s pen name. As in “Poor Richard’s Almanac,” Franklin’s famous periodical that was full of homespun humor and sage advice. The thirteen virtues that I had Saunders expound upon were Franklins- perhaps one for each of the original thirteen colonies. I thought they’d be especially poignant for the Fourth, considering the polarized political rancor that seems so prevalent lately which the Presidential election has seemed to exacerbate.

I made two mistakes in my column praising the Charter Oak Achievement Days. I reported that one of the Welner brothers had told me about the Methodist food stand. It was actually Loren Straight who put me on to how old the portable building was. Sorry about that. Having been married into the town 13 years ago and now living here for five, I still can’t put the right name with the right face. I also said something about the new shelter house being air-conditioned. Someone since then told me that that’s not the case. I guess I’m not sure either way, I hope my saying that it would be didn’t make any difference.

I finished ‘Catcher in the Rye.’ I figured out what the title means, it doesn’t have anything to do with baseball. It has something to do with that old song, “when a body meets a body coming through the rye” and trying to save people who are lost in life. You really have to read it for it to make more sense and to do it justice. I highly recommend it.

John Grisham’s ‘the Bleachers’ is also well worth the read, even if you don’t like football. If you’ve ever played football, you’ll regret not reading it. Haven’t got my hands on ‘Home Grown Democrat’ yet, I may wait till it comes out in paperback.

I’m not sure why I haven’t been in the mood to write about politics lately. Probably because it looks like any one who’d bother voting has pretty well made up their minds and aren’t too open to changing it. And I for one am sick of the mud slinging and the anger. It’s not worth getting myself worked up and I hate having other people angry at me or thinking I’m somehow inferior to them or crazy or something.

I have to get one political issue off my chest quick. A Bush supporter recently reasoned that it’s not wise to change Presidents in the middle of a war. That just confuses me because if they’re talking about “The War on Terror,” that was being waged even before it was declared and it will probably be a reality that we have to live with for decades to come. If we declare Marshall Law or suspend elections, then the terrorists win. If they’re talking about the war in Iraq, it seems to me that the President announce “mission accomplished back in March and Sovereignty was transferred at the end of May, a day or two ahead of schedule. So isn’t that war over? Or did I miss a memo?

Please forgive me if that made you angry or if you think I must be crazy or ignorant or something for being as confused as I am. Don’t forget to vote November 2, even if it’s not for who I’d like. If don’t exercise our rights, the Terrorists win. Democracy is like muscle- “use it or lose is.”

Sadly, I have to report that Noah’s Ark has been dry-docked. We really needed around 12 kids. 6 three year olds and 6 four year olds. We had commitments from about 7 but would’ve needed to combine the ages, which would very be difficult. One of the big appeals of the new public preschool is the convenience for working parents of running all day. For Noah’s Ark to have done that involved new and different licenses which would’ve taken more time and raised costs. It was a difficult decision, but eventually, we had to give up the dream.

It’s a sad loss for the community and a shame that St. John couldn’t sustain such a blessing of a ministry to young families, but life happens and the only constants are God, death and taxes, so we grieve and move on. We’re sorry to those of you who were looking forward to Noah’s Ark continuing.

I’m not sure my daughter Ellie grasps what it means for her yet. As far as she’s concerned, she’s going to ride the buss to high school next week She doesn’t turn three till December, so we’re not going to put her on a bus for a while. I’d still like her to get that Christian foundation, so maybe we’ll look into St. Matthew’s preschool in Mapleton next year.

Kids still say the darnedest things. The other night over supper, Ellie announced-

“Mom, Dad…”

“Yeah, hon?”

“Mom, Dad, Gwacie…”

“What is it, sweetheart?”

“Mom, Dawd, Gwacie…I have to tell you something…”

So we set our forks down, anxiously awaiting her important announcement.

“I have to tell you somtin’, um, Mom, Dad…”

I thought that what ever it was had to be important or profound because she was working so hard to get it out.

“Mom, Dad, Grace…We eatin’ supper.”

Yep, she may be under the delusion that she’s fourteen, and she may still be pretty hit-and-miss with the potty training thing, but at least she has a firm grasp on the obvious.