Long Division, Local History, and Learning at Any Age

            As I attended Woodland High School commencement ceremonies, my mind bounced to several places. The young people who walked across the east side of the gymnasium to receive the coveted diploma reflected the beauty of youth, laced with lofty dreams, and tons of exuberance and confidence.

            Without much prompting, my thoughts reverted to the year’s end of 2008. These same young people, as third graders, and I were plodding through long division, with silly little prompts like "Dad – divide, Mom – multiply, Sister – subtract, and Brother – bring down." Incidentally, that sequential reminder was something I had picked up from a workshop somewhere along the line, but it seemed to help the young mathematicians execute those devilish long division steps!

             The third graders in May of that year had much more interest in local history, particularly the founding of Fairfax and the horrendous Osage Reign of Terror. I tried to stick with the basic facts of sudden abundance among the Osages and unscrupulous greed that precipitated heinous crimes. I told the students that some of the more graphic details I would elaborate on when they got older. Surprisingly, a high school student saw me in Fairfax and requested the information I had promised to share after she had matured.

             At that time of the school year, all of us were wearied from the stress on our brains. The state-mandated test had drained us. But persevering, we finished strong, learning something each day until the very last one when we hugged goodbye for the summer.

            My mind leaped forward to just days prior to this commencement. Looking nothing like the teacher I had been in 2008, I was garbed in faded overalls with a long-sleeved shirt for sun protection along with a wide brim hat. Instead of my heels or cute, little flats, I trudged in unsightly boots to the livestock tank on my mother’s farm with a submersible sump pump and an ancient hose in tow.

           As I lugged the contraption for draining the tank of rancidly stale water, I remembered many years earlier. It was an extremely rainy spring season, causing the flooding of the underground housing of my parents’ water well. I think it was spring break so Dad had conscripted me to assist him with pumping the water out of the below-ground area where the water well pump operated. It was raining cats and dogs!
           I still question why I was surprised to observe my father, in his 80s, climbing down into the tiny underground enclosure to plug in the sump pump. I had never seen my father afraid to tackle anything. His age made little difference.
          Having been trained regularly in OSHA standards, everything he was doing defied every standard in which I had been instructed. Somehow despite my trepidation and unheeded warnings about electricity and a rainstorm, we pumped the water out, restarted the well, had water again at the house, and were soaked to the bone! He daily lived out the proverb, Never give up.

          Little did I think in 2008, that the use of a sump pump would be at the top of my agenda for a day in May nine years later. That yucky water in the livestock tank would only serve as a breeding spot for mosquitoes. The water, accumulated from the many rains of 2017, reeked as though the stock tank held a ton of dead fish. But I guess When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

           If I wanted to reduce the chance of having an infestation of mosquitoes, I needed to empty the tank of the revolting water. After all, I had taught third graders -  Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

           Finally, as I returned to the present and gazed with pride on the accomplishments of former third graders during the commencement exercises, I began to hope they will remember, as their teacher does almost every day, You’re never too old to learn.

           Hardly a day goes by that I do not learn something new. Often, I am learning from necessity, not from the sheer joy of it. Frequently,  I am having to “google” an unfamiliar procedure so I can learn the steps to do it. Let me clarify, most of the things I have to learn never made my bucket list of “must-do” activities. In fact, I could have died a happy person and never learned to do some of these things. But my mind has stayed incredibly active. I think I am staving off dementia!

           Congratulations to each of the Seniors in the Woodland Class of 2017. May each of us, including your third-grade teacher, focus and embrace one of the greatest proverbs ever written by wise King Solomon, the sovereign during Israel’s Golden Age.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6