Pardon my sentimentality today, but it’s a really good day
for me! I reached a huge milestone in my Motherhood Career. This morning at 8am, I dropped off my seventh
child-- my youngest off at the curb of her high school, culminating 31
years of getting children to school since September 1988, when I dropped my
oldest son, (who’ll be 36 years old this summer) off to kindergarten at Shaw
Butte Elementary school in Phoenix, Arizona.
Seven children over three decades—no matter what else was
going on in my life, or in the world-- I was in charge of getting them to school
for 9 months (and some summer school sessions too—the guilty parties know who
they are!) to gain an education.
My
children went to several different schools, in a few different places: Phoenix, Arizona; Spartanburg, South
Carolina; Glendale, Arizona; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Fort Collins,
Colorado; Meridian, Idaho; and lastly Eugene, Oregon. Seven children have had more teachers, more
assignments, more lunches, more field trips, more sneakers, backpacks,
notebooks, pens and pencils, crayons, markers, posters, Science projects and
Book Reports than I can even begin to remember!
When I began this long season in my life, George Bush was
President. There have been 4 other US Presidents in the same span as my decades
of Motherhood. Three Republicans and two
Democrats. And believe me, it used to be more civil. Nelson Mandela was elected
President of South Africa; AIDS was the biggest news on MTV; shoulders pads and
big hair was the fashion (for men and women!), Cassette tapes hadn’t been
replaced by CD’s yet. VCR’s were the new thing and they were pricey.
Technology was just
on the cusp of what it is nowadays: the Hubble telescope had just launched in
1990. Apple, Microsoft, Amazon or Google were still ideas. Laptops and cell
phones were a decade away. Dolly the
Sheep had been the first successful cloning.
The Euro was created. And
Operation Desert Storm began in January 1991.
It was the first war that was shared in real time on national TV and I
was glued to the television. I even
wrote in my journal the name of the first US military casualty, Airman Michael
Scott Speicher, shot down outside of Iraq.
I cried and promised to remember his name. The kids still had school.
A new gal on TV, Oprah Winfrey with huge hair and earrings
you could see from two towns over, was taking over daytime TV talking to mostly
everyday people about controversial realities which essentially replaced Phil Donahue—the
TV host of my mother’s generation.
Television was changing faster than we could keep up with new channels
popping up—whereas there’d been about 5 channels for most of my life, suddenly
MTV ushered in a host of others—VH1, HBO for starters—and then all the news
channels too—CNN and FOX and more filled up the TV log of programming. We got the details of OJ Simpson’s wild
Bronco ride on LA freeways and the trial afterwards. We also got the tragic news as it unfolded in
Paris the night Princess Diana was killed. And we still had school through all of this—lunches to be made, buses to
catch, homework due.
School supplies went from Trapper Keepers, pens and pencils
and scratch n’ sniff stickers, to backpacks, laptop computers, n' fancy Scientific
calculators. I’ve lived through several
fashion trends too—Reeboks craze, Skechers, Jeansco, Skaterboy, denim skirts,
Doc Martins, NIKE-everything, and now Birkenstocks.
I’ve helped make school assignments out of marshmallows,
Starburst candies, pixie stix, Legos, and Dixie cups and plates, like alot of other parents. I can write reports on Madagascar and komodo
dragons, Florence Nightingale, Harriet Tubman, Women’s Rights, Abraham Lincoln
and Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men—and so much more, at a moment’s notice.
Having so many
children gifted me the opportunity to learn alongside them more subjects
than I would’ve ever learned just on my own. I've done each grade eight times, people! First grade through twelth grade--eight times! Their school careers enlarged my world seven times over. I learned more
than school topics—I learned about being an Advocate for my child and myself. I
learned from writers of books like Wilson Rawls “Where the Red Fern Grows”—a book that I
caught my then-8-yo-son reading, one night, as I walked past his bedroom long
after bedtime and heard a soft whimper that came from under a blanket where a
small flashlight shone. Lifting the
covers, his little tear-filled eyes looked up, “Old Dan died.” I’d never heard of the book before that
moment. What a sweet memory though. I love that book. Reading has become a passion for most of my children,
as it has been mine.
Staying up late creating posters for “tomorrow’s deadline”
has stretched my patience as well as my creativity! We can do alot in a crunch
these days! From printing off pictures
to creating Power Point presentations, the technology available in our home has
made our educational experience so much easier and fuller. I can say that with a great appreciation and
perspective of not having grown up with it. Definitely a game changer.
Thirty-one years.
That’s a Career. I don’t know
anyone who’s done the same thing-- consistently for 31 years. I mean, I am
certain that those people exist; I just don’t know them. I didn’t even think about it through all of
this time either. Reminds me of that old Dunkin Donuts commercial, “Time to
make the donuts”. It hasn’t mattered
what else was going on in my life, my family’s life—School was Number One. Go to school, get an education. It’s the only thing that can never be taken
from you.
Yesterday I was talking to one
of my daughter’s about my sudden 31-year-realization and she said something
that is still resonating in me today, “We always knew that education was
important. Going to college was an expectation.” And just last night, another conversation on
the edge of my youngest’s bed, she spoke about registering for College
classes today for a Fall semester. Although she is nervous about going to college and the unknowns that are out
there yet to be discovered, she said, “I have to go to college so I can have a
good Life and not be a dumb-flip.” Yes,
you do, Sis. Of the seven children, only
one will not attend college in his life—Dean, because he has a handicap that
will prevent it. But so far, we are on
the right track: all of the gang has gone to college or has plans to attend.
Can I just say, without sounding arrogant or hoity-toity, that I am so grateful
for this family tradition of ours?
I was
raised by a mother who only finished 10th grade and a father who
could barely read though he graduated high school. They never spoke of
college to me or my brothers. It was not a family tradition where they came
from, so it was an Unknown to them too. Different
times, for sure. But I wanted more for myself and my children and education is
the way for us.
This morning, at that school curb, as my youngest popped
open the car door and said, “I’ll see you in a bit.”—I just had this lump in my
throat. Solid emotion. This is my last day
of school.
