THE DAY

[creativesoul]

I HAVE LIVED IN A GARAGE FOR ALMOST ONE YEAR, SHARING HOUSE WITH A WOMAN WHOM AT ONE TIME THOUGHT THE WORLD OF, NOW WE HAVE AN AGREEMENT TO :BE FRIENDS. i GUESS THAT IS TRUE, I SUPPOSE MY IDEAS ABOUT FRIENDSHIP ARE A LITTLE DIFFERENT. i BELIEVE A FRIEND RESPECTS YOU AS WELL AS LOVING YOU.PERHAPS i AM OLD SCHOOL, I BECOME RATHER ARROGANT WHEN SOMEONE TALKS LOOKING DOWN THIER NOSE AT ME. THERE IS MUCH THAT I HAVE YET TO ABSORB IN THIS CRAZY WORLD, AND I WORK WITH CHILDREN THAT HAVE HAD VERY DIFFICULT LIVES. i HAD SOME MOMENTS OF DOUBT WHERE I WONDERED IF IN FACT I WAS BEING OF SERVICE OR NOT. I AM VERY HAPPY TO BE WORKING GRAVEYARD TONIGHT BECAUSE I CAN PRAY AND READ AND DO WHAT COMES TO ME NATURALLY- WHICH REALLY IS NOT ALWAYS THE CASE.THE TRUTH IS i HAVE LET THEM ALL KNOW THAT I LOVE THEM AND CARE ABOUT THEM, AND I SAY THINGS LIKE, LETS JUST GET THROUGH THIS TOGETEHR,
I WISH SOMETIMES THAT SOMEONE HAD SAID THE SAME TO ME. THEY DID AND THEY HAVE. I HAVE BEEN BLESSED BY LOVE.
MY MENTOR AS A YOUNG RUN AWAY HIPPIE CHILD WAS AT ONE TIME AN ORPHAN AND A SOCIAL WORKER IN NYC, AND WAS THERE AND IS STILL THERE FOR ME. SHE HAS SAVED EVERY LETTER I HAVE WRIITEN TO HER, AND TOLD MY SON RECENTLY THAT SHE WILL EVENTUALLY GIFT THEM TO HIM. SOMEONE SOMEWHERE CARED AND LOVED ME A GREAT DEAL. MY GRANDMOTHER WAS A GRACEFUL REFINED WOMAN THAT DIED AT 93, AND AT THIS TIME OF YEAR I THINK OF HOW WE MADE CHRISTMAS COOKIES TOGETHER IN HER RED AND WHITE CHECKED APRON. I MISS HER MORE THAN THE SIZE OF THE OCEAN, BUT SHE GAVE ME A HEART.
IT WAS IN THOSE GREEN EYES THAT I SAW MY FURTURE, AND DONNA GAVE ME HOPE.THIS IS WHAT I TRY TO GIVE AWAY EVERY DAY, THAT IF SOMEONE LIKE ME CAN DO THIS THING, THAN ANYONE CAN., IF THEY WANT TO, AND THEY TRY. LOVE COMES FROM THE INSIDE OUT ALTHOUGH THE FIRST TIME YOU FEEL IT ,, IT CAME FROM SOMEWHERE, YOU DECIDE WHERE IT CAME FROM, AND THEN GIVE SOME TO SOME ONE ANY ONE.IT IS CHRISTMAS SOON, AND YES THEY ARE CUTTING DOWN TREES, BUT MAYBE YOU COULD PLANT ONE INSTEAD,

[stilltrucking]

In 1980 I drove a school bus for The Mark Twain School in Montgomery county Maryland. It was a school for emotionaly disturbed children. I could not see anythng wrong with those kids except I wondered about their parents. Montgomery county used to be one of the highest per captia income counties in the US. It seemed to me that the parents were mostly high level government beurocrats. They were so busy running the government they did not have that much time left for the kids. They were always making deals with them, if you behave we will buy you this or that.

Good kids they seemed to me, but they knew I felt sorry for them and they took advantage of that. I would break the rules for them, one day one of the kids wanted to know if her dog could ride on the bus, I said sure.

On the way to school the bus broke down. While we were waiting for the tow truck they asked me if they could sit on the roof of the bus. I said sure. When the tow truck got there they were all sitting up on the roof and a great dane was running around the bus. That was the last day I drove for that school. They transfered me to a school for "normal" kids.

I can't remember who said it, I think it was that German mystic, ah shoot
Meister something or other, but the quote has been bouncing around in my head since thanksgiving.

"To be thankful is to pray" probably a mangled quote from geezer memory.

Nice post
thanks for sharing.
I used to love working grave yard, I used to love night driving too when I still was a truck driver.

[Arcadia]

to deal with normality sometimes is a heavy thing. The nearest to led cows to a corral. Our first schools to form teachers were named "Normales". We still have Normal Nº 1, Normal Nº 2, Normal Nº 3... I work in a school for supposed "normal" kids. One kid 13 really defied us each day . In my classes in a whole year only wrote a poem looking at a Quinquela Martín painting (beautiful), draw a Fontanarrosa´s character, and continue a fragment of Moby Dick without using dots and with lots of repetitions. He was totally absent in Social Sciencies classes (well, somehow... he was entertained talking, shouting, insulting and hiting all his companions..). The other teacher told me that he only worked in geometry and doing electric circuits. Totally des-interested in English classes and only motivated in Educación Física a day that they did some demostrations with hip hop music.... He enters and go out from the classroom all the time (our classrooms this year are little adapted-houses). The nearest in 30 metres, the others 50. So we wonder every time, where´s...?. During the last storm one of the perimetral school´s walls were down.... but he didn´t leave the school!!! I wonder why...

interesting thread!, thanks for posting it!