NEBRASKA WOMEN

 

NEBRASKA WOMEN

 

Nebraska was settled by families. That is what has made this state so strong.

The media has tried to tell our girls to be little princesses so they will grow up to please the prince.

I certainly agree that a girl should take care of her body and look as good as possible. What I object to is the torture they are encouraged to go through.

I will start with the shoes that have platforms and heels that could kill. Then you wear a blouse that is cut so low that you need surgery to wear it. Plastic surgeons have talked women into taking a little off here and adding a little there.

What ever happened to just staying healthy, getting some exercise and putting a smile on your face.

 

Nebraska women have worked beside their men and refuse to be pampered. They share a life and are not doormats. OK maybe not all of them.

 

I thought the day of being a sweet young thing was over.

 

It is not smart to act dumb.

 

It is smart to be strong. It is smart to be educated. It is smart to always try to be better.

 

I admire all the young women who have been able to do their own thinking, make their own decisions and ignore the media who try to tell them how to run their lives.

 

I also admire all the men who encourage their women to be the best they can be for their families and their country.

COUSINS

COUSINS

 

Summer is family reunion time.

When you are very young, you have a lot of fun with all the cousins. When you become a teenager it is a bit of a drag. Then there is a time that you are so involved with your life that you lose touch with all the cousins.

 

My dad came from a family of 11, and he was second to the youngest and I was almost the youngest in his family. Some of the cousins were as old as dad. I have lost touch with most of them.

 

My mom came from a family of 4 and they were nearer to my age.

I have learned to know them again and just had a visit with one. It is so interesting to find out what we have in common and to get some questions answered.

 

You can only talk to cousins about grandpa’s temper or grandma’s cooking. Our parents are gone and we don’t have their wisdom and experience to rely on any more. We should have asked more questions and listened more.

 

We talked about our visits to Perkins County in the 40’s. What an adventure that was to travel highway 30 through all the little towns and read the Burma shave signs. My cousin lived in the middle of nowhere in Perkins County. There were 3 kids and how we did love seeing them. We went to a little country church on Sunday and were treated to the best food you ever ate. I could write a whole story just on the car trips in a Model A. No heater, air conditioner, power anything. It took all day.

 

If you want my advice, take it or leave it, if you have a chance to hook up with your cousins don’t pass it up. You have these genes that you share and you will find you are more alike than different.

 

Families get more important with the years.

THE UNDERPASS

 

THE UNDERPASS

 

I love to take a walk every evening.

Tonight my walk took me to the Clay Center Public School now called The Sandy Creek School Clay Center (which is by the way a little hard for me to swallow). Only grades kindergarten through 6^th grade attend. Junior High and High School attend Sandy Creek 7 miles south.

 

The underpass is being repaired and I remember hearing stories about it. The old school was built in 1929, but I do not know if the underpass was built at the same time. At the time it was built I am quite sure highway 14 was a gravel road and the traffic was not heavy at the time. Max, who graduated in 1941 told me all high school students were instructed to use it to be good examples for the children. High School students did not have cars. They were threatened to be whipped with a rubber hose and several experienced that.

 

It was a scary place for the little kids starting school. Sometimes the drain plugged up and it flooded so they had to cross the street. During hours when there was no school they didn’t use it just to defy everyone and prove they were capable of crossing the highway.

 

During WW2 the school population grew and the traffic also became heavier, but before that I cannot imagine many cars and only an occasional truck.

 

When my kids went to school there was often graffiti on the walls and they taught phonics so the kids could sound out the words. Sometimes they asked me what they meant but usually there was an older kid to explain and then laugh.

 

I was surprised to see the underpass repaired instead of closed. Many kids ride the bus and most have bikes. Teachers stand at the crosswalk to help bikers.

 

Some of you on facebook will have your own memories of the underpass. I hope you share them.

FRIENDS

Whatever you want to call them, old folks, seniors, mature, each one is a story or maybe even a book.

That old veteran, he can tell you more than anything you learn in college.

That old farmer, he remembers getting up at dawn and working till dark. Not only raising a corn crop, but milking, feeding, cutting different kinds of grain.

That one with a smile on his face is remembering the coolest car he ever owned and all the pretty girls admiring him (or maybe not) or maybe remembering the first time he went to town on a 48 hour pass wearing that uniform.

Most of the men still think they are young whippersnappers stuck with a bunch of old ladies.

The women mostly talk about food and grandchildren but they lived through the women’s movement and worked for the rights that this generation takes for granted.

That silver haired lady left high school graduation to work in Washington D.C. With the FBI. How very scary and exciting to leave Edgar, NE leaving all her friends and family behind.

That quiet one, she remembers working on the farm milking cows, feeding chickens, helping in the field and raising kids to be responsible citizens.

Several women took Normal Training in high school and went directly to teach in one room school houses.

Some privileged few got to go to college and join sororities only to find out when they got out they really were just like everybody else.

We must never forget those who through the years have stayed home and waited for a husband then a son and then a grandchild to come home from fighting a war. Now not only do they wait at home, they join the fight.

I will write about things and people I remember through the years. If I bore you just delete and go on to the next post.

Just remember AGE IS ONLY A NUMBER.