#11-20 Things About Me

This is the second installment of 100 things about me in honor of my 100th post. Have you seen those new little devices advertised that you can carry with you at all times - kind of a little recorder - where you can make verbal notes to yourself so you don't forget where you're parked, when you're supposed to pick somebody up, etc. etc.? I need one of those, because I'm always thinking of things to add to this list and don't have a pad or paper handy. I think that should have been #1 - I can't keep two things in my brain any longer than two seconds - one of them has to go to make room for the other!

11. Dad became the pastor of a tiny church, whose current pastor was an elderly lady in poor health. The size of the church doubled when we became a part of it!

12. My second brother would stand on the platform and pretend to preach when we got there before anyone else. Today he has his Ph.D. in Old Testament Theology.

13. My parents ran a used clothing store in this little town, and we spent all day Saturday down there. The big treat of the day was a nickel giant Baby Ruth or Butterfinger candy bar and a nickel RC Cola. We got first dibs on the donated clothes in the boxes. We thought it was great!

14. We played missionary and Bible School in our yard. We had a neighbor whose granddaughter was visiting and we led her to the Lord during one of those back yard Bible schools. I wonder what ever happened to her and if she remembers that commitment she made.

15. Heber Springs Elementary made a big deal of Halloween. Each class had a candidate for queen and king of the Halloween festival. I was honored to be the queen in the 5th grade and my brother was king that same year in 3rd grade. Our sister had to be a witch that year, and the pictures show that she wasn’t very happy about it. Mom made me a beautiful red dress and we made our own crowns. What excitement!

16. One day I had a huge surprise – they bought me a piano! I don’t know where they came up with the money. But I began taking piano lessons at age 7.

17. We had no pianist at the little church, so Dad would give my teacher the hymns for that Sunday’s service and they were part of my lesson. I had a little offertory book as well. Of course I couldn’t reach the pedals and wouldn’t have known what to do with them if I could. I was 8.

18. I took it upon myself to start playing the organ when we were in Omaha, at age 15. I am a very generic pianist and organist, but can make the organ sound better.

19. I quit playing anything when I went to college and found that everyone was so much better than I could ever hope to be! But I always had to play when I came home. I have continued to do so throughout adulthood, mostly the organ.

20.My piano crashed into a million pieces on O Street in Omaha, when Mom and Dad were moving. The truck driver headed up to the church to get Dad’s books from his office, nobody fastened the back gate of the truck, and that was the end of my precious piano. Can you imagine the cacophony of sound that created?! They didn’t dare tell me until the next time I came home from college. It was so sad.

TO BE CONTINUED . . .