dual personalities

I am off to the airport this morning to pick up darling daughter #2 and her petite famille. Hopefully their travel was easy and delay-free.

While cleaning up prior to their arrival, I came across an old issue of my secondary school’s alumnae association magazine.

It was the May 1969 issue and it included the headmaster, Mr. Beasley’s, last column. The times they were a-changin’ and he was very concerned. Although written 54 years ago, it could have been written yesterday. Here’s a bit:

How difficult it is to know when is the time to speak, and how even more difficult it is to know what to say! It is particularly difficult to know what to say to children in these days because they hear so much, and what they hear is so contradictory. Many of them want specific answers to profound questions, and yet the answers they need will inevitably have to be superficial because there is not time to probe, in depth, philosophical questions. It is a time of action, rather than meditation. It is a time of over-simplification. It is a time when the lines between good and evil are blurred. The times seem to be not only out of joint, but out of focus. We fail to realize that no man or woman is altogether good or altogether evil, but life is a continuing struggle to preserve the good, no matter in what terms you express this goodness.

Who knoweth the spirit of a man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?

I was finishing up the seventh grade and had no idea he was ending his tenure on such a troubled note. He retired that spring and died later that summer, which was quite a shock to everyone. We all wished him a long and happy retirement.

That fall my brother went off to college and nothing was ever the same. The seventies were a wild ride, but I came through it all right. Thanks be to God.

My old school is no more. It merged sometime in the eighties with the boys’ country day school and became another school altogether. As I approach my 50th reunion in the spring of 2024, my interest in the new school could not be less. And as they say, you can’t go home again.

Happy Thanksgiving week! Enjoy your family. Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved. (Psalm 55:22)

Happy Friday, readers! I am ready for the weekend and my long list of chores ahead of Thanksgiving. I am going to “work” from home on Monday and then take the rest of the week off. I am very thankful for my job and the flexible schedule. I am also thankful for the beautiful fall weather and leaves we have been treated to this year. My neighborhood is just a colorful palate these days.

Of course, I’ve filled up approximately 3 1/2 bags with leaves the past two weeks, but that’s the price you pay for beauty. I will probably fill up another 3 this weekend!

I had to go out at night on Tuesday (!) for the University City Historical Society Annual Meeting and Dinner. I got officially voted onto the board–and helped lower the median age. We had this lovely cake. It’s amazing what Costco can do with a sheet cake these days!

And in Mr. Smith news, here he is in his travel LL Bean tote. He’s going to the groomer this weekend ahead of the holiday and our visitors.

He is learning to love car travel in the front seat. Even if I shame him when we walk out to the car.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving! Watch Planes, Train, and Automobiles, eat some pie, have as many crescent rolls as you want, and enjoy Prosecco with all your meals.

The title is, of course, from PTA. It’s the scene in the Jefferson City bus station. Lol.