Sugar Rocks, Bottle Caps and So Much More

I write a lot about my Grandmother Holden so it's pretty obvious how much I adored her. She was everything a grandmother should be and more. My Mawmaw Cox, on the other hand was not. As a child I just accepted that she wasn't too crazy about us grandkids. I never questioned it or worried about her lack of enthusiasm when we visited. I just assumed she was lazy and didn't like us. I tolerated her because she was married to my pawpaw.

My brother, Timmy and I often spent the night at mawmaw and pawpaw's little house on the edge of Lexington. Pawpaw was the one who cared for us during those visits. He prepared our meals, made sure we bathed but most importantly, he entertained us. He played endless hours of checkers with us on a worn out checker board with bottle caps for checkers, instead of the usual red and black checkers we had bottle caps facing up and down. We spent a fair amount of time on the front porch swinging in the porch swing while pawpaw watched from an old ladder back chair. We dug sugar rocks from the rocky driveway that led to mawmaw and pawpaw's house and raced back to share our treasures with pawpaw. He would inspect them and declare each rock more valuable than the one before. After a long day of playing it was pawpaw who put us to bed in the same room he slept in. Mawmaw had her own room and her own bed that she was in every day before darkness fell. I always thought she sure needed a lot of sleep for someone who did absolutely nothing.

Pawpaw had an endless supply of Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls in the freezer, a cookie jar filled with no bake chocolate oatmeal cookies, and plenty of cokes in returnable bottles that he was eager to share with us. In the mornings he would fry eggs over medium and serve them to us with some of mawmaw's frozen biscuits. I loved the eggs but the biscuits.....not so much. Occasionally mawmaw would get up out of her chair and join us for our meals but sadly, those occassions were few and far between. She rarely got out of her chair for anyone other than herself. She would just sit and stare all day long.

Looking back I can see mawmaw suffered from depression. Maybe with today's treatment she would have had a more fulfilling life. The only kind of treatment she had that I am aware of was the ceramic class she took as some sort of therapy. I'm not a doctor but I think the only purpose it served was to fill mawmaw's walls with hideous ceramic fruit and other ridiculous looking plaques. I don't know for sure why she was the way she was but I do know that while she sat alone in her chair pawpaw was busy doing double duty. He was everything a pawpaw should be and more.

Scholarship to the University of Happiness

If you have a child in school you have probably given some thought to how you will pay for college when the time comes. This past week my son and I attended scholarship night for juniors at Brooks High School. The guidance counselor presented us with a booklet of information and a presentation detailing the ins and outs of obtaining a scholarship for the brilliant kids at BHS.

I was so pleased that the counselor took time to meet with parents and students and we did gain a valuable amount of information. I was not pleased to realize that my son is behind on information gathering necessary to be awarded a scholarship. It seems it is a good idea to begin compiling a resume in the 9th grade detailing leadership, community service, clubs, church activities, athletic participation and whatever else the student may have involved in during his/her high school years. I feel a panic attack coming on as I imagine what my sons resume might look like.

Hi, my name is Patrick Tate. My friends call me P Tate. I will be entering my senior year at BHS and would love to have a scholarship near my home because my mom still does my laundry and serves as my personal secretary. P.S. please contact her if you need to set up an interview as she schedules all my appointments.
Personal objective or work experience: Worked summers in the family business, Louise's Flowers. I really don't know what I want to do with my life but I do know it does not involve flowers or working with my mom and grandmother. For crying out loud, I'm only 17!!! Do I have to decide now?
Education: Brooks Elementary grades k-6 and Brooks High School grades 7-present.

Hobbies and interest: I play piano because my personal secretary aka my mom makes me. I also play bass guitar but what I really excel at is video games and hanging with my friends.

I assume anyone reading this (especially parents of juniors) understands my dilemma. What I don't understand is why we have to pressure our kids to do things for the wrong reasons. I think it is wonderful to volunteer to help others. There is nothing that compares to the wonderful warm feeling you get when you know you've done something really good for someone in need. I don't understand why we have to tell everyone what we've done.

I also think it's great to acknowledge a students achievements with awards during their time in high school especially if it stems from academic excellence or other personal achievements. Awards given because a couple of teachers get together and decide to pass out awards to each others children and their friends are ridiculously transparent to those who know the truth and while they may look good on paper will do little to help a student in the real world.

As parents we were presented with a question at the scholarship meeting, "What do you want you're kids to do?" My answer was not the same as our counselors who said, "You want them to work". Mine was "I want my son to be happy". It's pretty obvious that most of us must work to support ourselves as we go through life, I just don't see why work can't be something we love doing.

I admit I was poking fun at my youngest son with the resume thing. Truthfully, he is a great student and I expect him to do well at whatever he chooses. He has had his fair share of accomplishments and I am certain he will be able to pull off a resume that will be impressive as will all of the other students at BHS who desire to do so. I just hope when listing things they hope to accomplish in life that at the top of the list is the word "HAPPINESS".