A few years later
best friends laugh and reminisce,
just remembering.
talya (& craig)
Musical Pairing:
old best friends
Fourth Grade
GBE 2 – Blog on: Week 94 Writing Prompt: School Picture
 |
| 4th Grade |
Mrs. Mills was a southern lady with kind eyes, a love for teaching and an unhurried accent that made even a good scolding sound pleasant. She was just what my rambunctious fourth grade class needed.
Arranged in alphabetical rows, we learned cursive and long division, discovered that boys were smelly and girls could be fickle. Just beginning to glimpse the world beyond playground boundaries, we were innocent and carefree, soaking up history, science and life like kitchen sponges.
While Walter Cronkite spoke of Watergate, I perfected my advanced levels of jacks—Around the World and Pigs in the Pen.
During harvest, a cotton trailer became my playground.
During harvest, I began counting down to Christmas.
Sunday mornings were spent at Brinkley Chapel, singing hymns and trying to concentrate on the message. I prayed for my dark soul and for bright, sun-shiny days. I prayed my stomach wouldn’t growl during the ‘every head bowed and every eye closed’ part.
I longed to be Marcia Brady but instead looked like Jan.
I was going to be a nurse and a wife and a mother.
I carry this picture to remember where I started. I carry this picture to remember who I am.
talya
Musical Pairing:
Keiser Cowboy
GBE 2: Blog On – Writing Prompt #92 – Gusto!
My hometown looked like every other small southern town with a looming water tower, a cafe serving homemade chocolate pies, and a two pump gas station where hometown boys gathered, telling tall tales and waving to those who slowed at the four-way stop.
Each day between Gryner wall and Keiser Junior High, the town bore witness to a Wild, Wild West re-enactment provided by her own resident, Howard Ray Dawson.
 |
| Howard Ray Dawson |
Howard Ray, a grown man who never aged, served as the town’s mascot. Each day no matter the weather, he galloped in on his beloved Trigger through a cloud of dust to the middle of Main Street. 
Howard Ray’s daily western show often stopped traffic and school children, all who were friends, all who cheered his zest for life.
When Trigger was hit by a car and Howard Ray ended up in the hospital, the town rallied. The Graham family paid extra for him to have a television in his hospital room. Someone bought him a new horse. Everyone visited him in the hospital.
Abraham Lincoln said, “Whatever you are, be the best one.” Howard Ray was special in many ways. And he was the best cowboy to ever come out of Keiser, Arkansas. His enthusiastic spirit still lingers.
talya
Musical Pairing:
