This photo, which dates to the 1950’s,
is my favorite of my siblings and I.
I’m the little squirt on the left.
It brings back many fond memories.Weekly Photo Challenge: Nostalgia
Autobiographical
Discover Challenge: Here and Now
HERE AND NOW:
I am fortunate
To have free time
To put pen to paper
I am thankful
My mind is still intact
As I inch closer to my
Seventh decade of life
I am happy
To have an outlet for
My creative endeavors
I am humbled
To share my thoughts
And images
With others
I am hopeful
New ideas
Will keep coming
I am excited
To see the arrival of
The first hummingbird
This fall
Discover Challenge: Open-Minded
If I had a nickel for every time
I put my foot in my mouth,
I could have easily retired
in my thirties.More than once, my razor sharp
tongue came within a hair of
slashing my own throat.In 1972, the first companywide
meeting I attended as a new hire
with Selection Research, Inc. (later
to become The Gallup Organization)
included fifteen or so male associates
and myself.As we circled the table with introductions,
I stated my name, briefly described
my job responsibilities and proceeded
to announce I was SRI’s token woman.Lucky for me, CEO Don Clifton had
a sense of humor. He chuckled, rather
than issuing a reprimand or escorting
me to the door.He was open-minded in looking beyond
my naiveté to see the potential lurking
below the surface.Don afforded the same consideration
to innumerable others, always open to
the diversity of people and cognizant
that talent comes in a multitude
of packages.via Discover Challenge: Open-Minded
Four Simple Lines
She was a formidable figure…a force with which to be reckoned.
Our paths crossed in 1966 at Westside High School in Omaha, Nebraska.
Judith Hoyt taught English Composition, a prerequisite for graduation.
It was the luck of the scheduler’s draw that landed me in her class.
Mention of my fate drew knowing looks of pity from classmates.
“Good luck” they muttered under their collective breath, with a sly smile.
A consummate taskmaster, Mrs. Hoyt tolerated no horseplay within her hallowed walls. Straighten up and fly right was her credo.
She expected and most often extracted the very best from her students.
While quick to jump on sloppy work, Mrs. Hoyt was equally free with praise.
Those who went the distance in meeting her exacting standards gained
a level of literacy as writers which would serve them well in life.
While her subject expertise and commanding presence in the classroom were her visible trademarks, Mrs. Hoyt’s secret weapon was her uncanny ability to
surmise the unique essence of each student and to capitalize upon her insight.
It was years after the fact when I finally fully grasped her brilliance.
Thumbing through my Warrior yearbook, I came upon her inscription:
“If you know it…
And you do,
You can say it…
And you will.”
Four lines containing a mere fourteen words nailed me to a “T”.
Judith Hoyt understood long before I the symbiotic interplay of expertise
and confidence which defines me to this day.
Daily Prompt: Expert
A Trip To The Store
I recall accompanying my mother shopping
in the late ‘50’s and early 1960’s.
This wasn’t Saks Fifth Avenue, mind you,
just local retailers, independently owned.
Upon entering the premises, a sales associate
immediately offered assistance.
The clerk queried to determine customer needs.
Items were pulled and brought to the dressing room.
The sales associate checked back regularly to clear
unwanted merchandise and bring additional sizes or styles.
A seamstress was ready with tape measure and pins in hand.
Basic tailoring of apparel was complimentary.
Items purchased were neatly bagged, boxed or placed
on hangers, once wrinkles were removed with a steamer.
Regular customers were addressed by name.
Sales associates became familiar with the individual
preferences of customers and often gave a heads up
when new merchandise arrived which might suit
their particular needs.
Fast Forward to 1985
My mother needed a new spring jacket. I accompanied her
to a local mall. It took a few minutes, but we finally located
the coat department.
Two sales associates were busy straightening and
stocking merchandise. Neither greeted us or asked
if they could be of help.
My mother was short on energy and patience. I started
browsing the racks, picked up some items, ushered
her back to the dressing room and helped her on and
off with jackets.
Another trip to the floor found both sales associates absent.
I gathered up more items and… BINGO… found a winner.
When we exited the dressing room, the sales associates
had magically reappeared and were standing at the register
chatting away.
When I caught their attention, they began arguing about
whose sale it was. Although ready to blow a gasket,
I calmly explained the obvious…I had done all the work
helping my mother and the sale was rightfully mine.
Jaws dropped in unison.
The transaction was completed forthwith and we were
on our way. (I never received my commission check.)
Fast Forward to 2016
A trip to a big box retailer is easily a half-marathon event
that requires navigating an arena-sized facility where
unsuspecting customers can spend the rest of their lives
unless they leave a trail of bread crumbs behind them.
And don’t count on those employees decked out in matching headsets to acknowledge your existence.
The best I can determine, they only communicate with each other… or maybe Mars.
Meanwhile, brick and mortar stores wonder why more and more people choose to shop online.
It’s quite simple.
We prefer to be ignored in the comfort of our own homes.
With This Ring I Thee Wed
Life is like a roll of film
Developed day by day,
Frame by frame,
Indelibly imprinted
With all the joys and sorrows
Encountered along the way.
1976 – 2016
40 Years
Transported
I opened the door Saturday
into a wall of humidity so dense
it took my breath away…
reawakening memories of
those sultry, sticky summers
growing up in St. LouisFireflies captured and held hostage
in jars with holes in the lids
to keep them glowing longerChocolate covered ice cream bars
dripping slowly down the stick,
along my wrist, right onto my
third pair of clean shorts for the daySeeking refuge under the lush
green canopy of the forsythia bush
where, magically, the ground
always stayed cool and dampPitchers of lemonade and an
arsenal of salt tablets to stave off
dehydrationAfter taking a bath, making a
beeline for the swing set…a great
outdoor hair dryerSleeping on the screened-in porch
to soak up the fresh night airThe endless days of summer
lazily ticking away, one by one
A Nerd Before His Time
Kyle was his name.
His face framed by oversized glasses held together with tape.
A shock of unruly brown hair standing in perpetual salute.
Rumpled shirt and trousers with zero nod to peer fashion trends.
The guy who set the curve in every Honors class at Kirkwood High School.
Walking unabashed into class with his signature brown bag.
No, not a briefcase or backpack….but a tattered grocery sack without handles.
Toting his books and other necessities from room to room. A practical solution to minimizing trips to his locker.
The fact that social media didn’t exist in the 1960’s was a stroke of pure luck for Kyle. Mercifully, his ribbing was largely confined to school hours.
Given that his wit was every bit as sharp as his intellect, he could more than hold his own when bantering with academic types.
And, when Kyle put those less cerebral in their place, his retorts typically flew right over their heads.
I don’t know what became of him, but I like to envision Kyle as a neurosurgeon…suited up in ill-fitting scrubs…striding confidently into the O.R….carrying his surgical instruments in his trusty brown bag.
Saturday Afternoon Matinees
Sexual curiosity is in our genes.
As grade schoolers in the 1950’s,
neighborhood kids took turns
baring private body parts
in an empty garage, while friends
peeked through the windows.Boredom set in quickly and
images of nudity evaporated
from our collective conscience
as we pursued other activities.The arrival of raging teenage
hormones put the sexual pedal
to the metal, launching that
awkward ‘groping in the back
seat of the car at the drive-in
movie’ stage of life.Today’s teens have technology
lending a new twist to the
realm of sexual exploration.
‘Sexting’ takes them boldly
where no one has gone before.Nothing much is left
to the imagination or
to be discovered later,
at perhaps a more mature
juncture in life.What were once fleeting sexual images
residing only in the mind, now
live on in cyberspace indefinitely…
images that can come back to haunt
people of all ages, at any time.
Two Peas In A Pod
The pansy and I
Are kindred spirits.In early spring
We shake off
The frosty chill
Of winter,
Turn our faces to
The warming sun
And revel in the
Crisp, cool air.By mid July we
Retreat from the
Sweltering heat, to
Get our second wind,
Come fall.
Out of My Write Mind 