FAMILY -- PLAYING THE DAY AWAY

The Benjamin home, we called this place. A large pasture provided new and exciting places to explore and occasionally would turn up a treasured item with which to play. A favorite one, I recall, was an old discarded wood stove. We worked hard to drag it from a good distance away into our playhouse area that we had “built” with rocks and whatever else we could find.

It was at this home that we received one of our most favorite pets -- a goat. Our half-brother who visited with us from time to time gave it to us. In the mornings, the goat would go under the house and butt his head against the floor to wake us up. We would go out and feed him, then would play the day away chasing, and being chased.

A large ditch ran the length of the front of this house and beside it stood a tree that, in the fall, would shower down its leaves of yellow and red. It was our chore to rake the leaves from the yard into the ditch. This “chore” provided play for hours on end.

THE CHILDREN AND THE TREE

The scruffiest tree one might ever see,
It stood just inside of the fence.
Its leaves fluttered down and caused Mother to frown
As the pile became quite immense.

Taking wing without sound, the leaves covered the ground
'til the ground became yellow and red;
Then out came the brooms and, swept into a mound,
The leaves made a wonderful bed.

To the ditch the leaves went, then the children, intent
Taking turns, they ran and they jumped.
They tossed and they tumbled, they giggled and rumbled,
One might say the children were pumped.

The leaves became scattered, but little it mattered
Their laughter sent waves of pure joy.
And Mother was pleased to bask in the breeze
While the children played happily sans toys.

O, where did it go, the time and the place
Where children could make their own fun?
Plant a tree, if you please, and give children release
To play in fresh air and the sun.

In our world, play was what you could make of it, and play we did!

In our world, play was what you could make of it, and play we did!

March 16, 2011 – CUTAWAY – HOW TIME SLIPS AWAY

How could this be?  Two years I’ve been away.  What happened?

The last two years have been interesting, to say the least.  In the interim I have had two total knee replacements, have enjoyed some (forced) quiet time, done some studying and, in general, life has moved at a slowed pace.  My surgeries and recuperation have greatly improved my mobility and I have now resumed a near normal lifestyle. 

Being quiet is not a bad thing.

Our family has grown by three great-grands, two boys and a girl, and we’re expecting a third girl in a few days. 

We anxiously watch the daily news as we follow the events in Japan where we have a granddaughter living through the nightmare of the mammoth earthquake and tsunami.  She and her Navy husband are finishing out a tour of duty there, soon to be returned stateside.  How we wish that had happened sooner.  So far, she is fine although she is quite anxious as the aftershocks continue to come.

Spring has come to Florida and the plants are flourishing.  Azaleas, dogwoods and Bradford pear trees have exploded with pink and white color to awaken our senses after the long winter chill.   We experienced the coldest winter on record, I believe, certainly since we came here from South Carolina in ‘71.  Hard to believe we’ve spent over half our lives here and yet still feel so very close to SC.  Great family and great friends never grow distant.  God is good!

So as I begin anew to open my life experiences up to you, I trust that something I might share will lend encouragement and inspiration to your life.  

FAMILY -- IN TEACHING AND LEARNING

At the Benjamin home we began to take our places as children of purpose. Our mother was the dearest person in the world to us and even at our tender age we were sensitive to her needs and learned parental respect for her. But we were, after all, children.

Mother had now achieved a level of financial stability that allowed her to purchase our first pieces of new furniture, a sofa and chair that I recall as a very pretty rose color. We were working in the cotton field and I can't recall how or when the items arrived at our home but they were left sitting on the front porch. However it came to be, we found them there and, being children, began to have a heyday climbing all over them, jumping up and down on them – in essence, having a ball. The party was to be short lived.

We saw her coming, in no particular hurry but slowly and patiently making her way across the field toward the house. She carried in her hand the dreaded hickory switch -- which on this occasion was from a tender cotton plant -- and when she arrived delivered it on the three in turn quite deftly. Her point was well made and three pairs of skinny legs told the tale. Lesson learned.

Our mother never failed to discipline us when discipline was required. It was always swift, just and thereby infrequent. Her method of parenting her children was to teach, and we learned early on that our best choice of discipline would be self-discipline.

Our mother demanded, earned and received our respect for as long as she lived. We will never forget her or the lessons she taught us.