Advise to the clueless

4. List 10 things you would tell you 16 year-old self, if you could.
            Heck!  I can barely even think of 5!

1) Something that I did not know when I was just sixteen
Is that a lot of people thought that I was pretty keen.
A sheepish girl and self-effaced, I felt I was too plain.
I wish I could go back in time and look like THAT again!
Oh, sure, my teeth were crooked, but my hair was out of sight!
I'd like to tell myself to smile.  Forget your overbite!

2) I was raised back in the day when one would show respect
To those who were superiors, their leaders I suspect.
I also thought back then that men should be allowed to lead.
So if a man claimed inspiration, one should really heed.
I'd like to tell myself to pray and wait for a reply
Instead of taking love advice from an unimpartial guy!
Your prayers have all the power, girl, as those of any boy.
And YOUR visions should guide your education, dreams and joy!

3) I think I'd like to tell myself about the facts of life,
The kind of stuff a girl should know before she is a wife.
Some times, it only takes one time to end up 'in that way,'
While other times you try and try and pray and pray and pray.
They told us of the 'facts of life' when I was in third grade.
By sixteen though, a few more facts might just have been an aid!

4) I guess a thing I'd cover is a mix of 2) & 3)
I'd tell myself my body was a gift that's just for me.
I'd tell myself I had the right to keep all hands away
No matter who, my body's mine, I have the right to say.
Of course, sixteen would be too late.  I'd tell myself at ten!
I'd give myself a lesson then about the world of men!

5) I never had much money back before I was sixteen.
I had no clue about the rules in the life long money scene.
I'd tell myself to start right then to save some money back,
To always save a little cash would put me right on track.
I'd also say, don't get in debt except to buy a house
And make sure that you share this plan with any future spouse.




 

Parental Units

3. Describe your relationship with your parents.

Marion

I remember being very young, perhaps at three or four.
My Mom worked on her ironing and I played on the floor.
I remember asking her to play one time when we had snow.
I didn't feel offended by my Mom's resounding "No!"
My Mom wasn't a playful Mom because she was so old.
And since she suffered with Raynaud's she didn't like the cold.
Now, don't become offended at my comment on her age.
My Mom was almost forty when I came onto the stage!
She taught me how to sew though in our local 4-H club.
She didn't 'teach' me how to cook, though she cooked a lot of grub.
She taught me how to knit too, when about 14 years old
And again when in my forties but I still, am just not sold.
Most girls in their teen age years despise their Moms, it's true.

I don't remember ever hating mine, my teen years through!

I suppose parental units would include my dear old Dad.
And I should write a bit of him about the time we had.
Since I was born between the boys, the last of six young girls,
I never felt I was his choice, beloved or his world.
Quite often Dad would use the phrase, "Let's us men stick together."

Walter

Then Ed & Keith would go with Dad to shop Agway together.
Remembering my time with Dad, in truth, quite long ago,
I think of walking in the woods, what for?  I sure don't know.
I guess we just went for a walk, my Dad, Ed, Keith and I.
I'm sure I wasn't even eight and I can tell you why.
See, by the time that I was eight, my Dad had moved away.
And Mom and Dad got a divorce when I was ten.  Okay?
We'd go each week to visit Dad at the YMCA.
We'd swim there at the pool then walk to eat not far away.
Ed, Keith and I would listen while our Dad got drunk and drunker.
Then Mom would pick us up again in her latest noisy clunker.

So you could say I never really bonded with my Dad.
He was a drunk when I was young. His leaving made me glad.
When I was asked if I would like to live with him or Mom,
Without a question in my mind I chose her without a qualm. 
When I was stuck in traction and my rope broke he was there
And that's the only time I felt my Dad might really care.
He boycotted my wedding since I married someone brown.
Then, once I had, I lost contact when I moved out of town.
Now, Dad's been dead near twenty years so we're not all that close.
I hope discussing life with Dad does not seem too morose.

Mom's & Dad's wedding photo

So on to Mom, she's always been behind me all the way.
I tried to call and talk to her near monthly while away.
The Air Force took us far and yet I tried to keep in touch.
My absence pointed out to me I loved her very much.
We moved to Merritt Island after twenty Air Force years,
And there in Florida my Mom would visit us most years.
Now, Mom is old, no REALLY old and I have moved back home.
I walk with her and help her out. I've no desire to roam.
My cousin said, "You've no idea until your mother dies
How deeply she has touched your soul."
My heart holds tight and cries.