November 25, 1949, in a rickety old house on Lick Creek, a child’s cries disturb the chilly night. This birth was not like the others, Grandma Cook had delivered the others, but this baby was big and Daddy had to go get the Doctor. The Doctor’s name was Carter he made the long trip up the hollow to deliver me into the world. I would be the last of the children to be born at home. Daddy couldn’t take a chance on losing Mommy. Daddy named me Ruth Ann, after two of his old girlfriends. I don’t think that Mommy liked that idea much, but Daddy thought it hilarious. My birthday was just another day in the life of John and Nola Preston. They already had three girls, Stella Marie born August 14, 1945, Norma Lee, born January 16, 1947 and Lois Jean, born December 26, 1947, and I was just another girl. Daddy wanted so much to have a boy, not that he didn’t love us, Daddy and Mommy wanted both boys and girls. Mommy was a small, thin woman. At the time she gave birth to me, she weighed less than one hundred thirty pounds and was five foot two.
Daddy was tall and thin, six foot two and was one hundred eighty pounds. When Daddy was born, Grandma had named him John, but Grandpa’s sister, Magdalene Justice, filled out the birth record naming him, Bascom Preston, Jr. No one knew of the deception until Daddy was old enough to join the Army, they could find no record of a John Preston. It was then that “Aunt Mag” revealed her secret. This, of course, made Grandma and Daddy mad and the Social Security people thought that Daddy was trying to defraud the government. This was quickly straightened out by the government by forgetting any money paid in by Daddy to Social Security over the last five years. Daddy had to start from scratch, new name, new number. At work his name was Bascom Preston, Jr, but all his friends and family called him John.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Making Choices
Whenever you make the right choice between good and evil, something inside of you turns a little more toward the good. Your good choice changes you for the better, and the next good choice is easier to make. The same is true for wrong choices. Each one changes you for the worse, and the next bad choice is easier to make.
Slow Down
School has started, the days are quieter for some families, but for some people this time of year is very dangerous. The streets are crowded every morning with teenagers in a hurry to get to school. We have to be on the lookout for teenagers late for school, they expect us to know that they are late and we had better stay out of their way. I know teenagers aren’t the only ones out there making it a very dangerous place to be. Adults, rushing to work every morning, pose a real threat.
People should leave for work a little early to avoid a lot of the traffic problems faced by the people who are always late. Losing one’s temper in route to work only makes for a longer day.
We should always obey the traffic laws. The laws were established to protect us, and to provide us with a common set of rules that we can live with. We tend to think that if we don’t get caught going over the speed limit, we haven’t broken the law. That is a lie. We have broken the law. Speeding is against the law. Driving on the wrong side of the road is against the law. Your probably thinking, “who, in their right mind, would drive on the wrong side of the road?” The answer to that question is- someone breaking the law. A law is a law. We as citizens are to abide by the rules that we as a government make for ourselves. God tells us in His word that this is His will.
Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For it is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: 1 Peter 2:13-15
People should leave for work a little early to avoid a lot of the traffic problems faced by the people who are always late. Losing one’s temper in route to work only makes for a longer day.
We should always obey the traffic laws. The laws were established to protect us, and to provide us with a common set of rules that we can live with. We tend to think that if we don’t get caught going over the speed limit, we haven’t broken the law. That is a lie. We have broken the law. Speeding is against the law. Driving on the wrong side of the road is against the law. Your probably thinking, “who, in their right mind, would drive on the wrong side of the road?” The answer to that question is- someone breaking the law. A law is a law. We as citizens are to abide by the rules that we as a government make for ourselves. God tells us in His word that this is His will.
Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For it is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: 1 Peter 2:13-15
Monkey in the Middle
By: Ruth Ann Runyon
There used to be a game of toss that was played in bygone days, where the children would select a “monkey” who had to stand in the middle of the playing field while the rest of the children surrounded him and threw a ball over his head to another child on the opposite side. The only way out of being the “monkey” was to somehow jump and catch the ball. If you were small and other children were larger than you, most of the time you were in the middle and the longer you were there the more you were taunted and ridiculed and made sport of. This is a lonely place for a child to be. You want to play with others but you know that it will lead to humiliation and so you just say that you don’t like that game.
There is a game that is being played today, it is called divorce, and more and more people are playing it. In this game also, there is a “monkey” in the middle. This game is being played out all across this country. These little “monkeys” are not big enough to ever get out of the middle. Their days are spent trying to catch the attention that is being thrown back and forth from one adult to another, and their nights are spent trying to fix the problem of being too small to matter to anyone.
Custody is tossed back and forth for a long time and the monkey catches nothing, for you sees no matter which of the adults wins, the monkey loses. Daddy’s gone away and Mamma has to go to work because Daddy doesn’t want any of his child support money to help Mamma in any way. Now the little Monkey has lost Momma, too. He now has to stay with strangers all day and at night Momma has to study for a better job so she has no time to be Momma any more.
Months go by and Daddy comes less and less. Monkey decides that Daddy must not love him anymore because of something he had done or said. Maybe he should have played the game better or maybe he should have been bigger, then maybe Daddy would have loved him better. Then he starts to get angry, mostly with himself. Momma’s busy working, trying to make ends meet and Monkey is alone most of the time, the people who are with him most of the day could really care less about him as a person, he is money in their pocket. At home the TV and video games are his friends as he goes deeper into the depression that began when Momma and Daddy started to play the game.
Years go by, nobody knows where Daddy is. Some say he found another wife and has children that he loves more than Monkey. Momma has remarried to a man that has his own children and Monkey is just a troublemaker anyway. So Monkey sits in his room, he doesn’t care about the game any more. He wants nothing more than to get through this game of life, he is tired of jumping for the ball, maybe somewhere out there in the unknown dark universe there is someone that will love him for who he is.
There used to be a game of toss that was played in bygone days, where the children would select a “monkey” who had to stand in the middle of the playing field while the rest of the children surrounded him and threw a ball over his head to another child on the opposite side. The only way out of being the “monkey” was to somehow jump and catch the ball. If you were small and other children were larger than you, most of the time you were in the middle and the longer you were there the more you were taunted and ridiculed and made sport of. This is a lonely place for a child to be. You want to play with others but you know that it will lead to humiliation and so you just say that you don’t like that game.
There is a game that is being played today, it is called divorce, and more and more people are playing it. In this game also, there is a “monkey” in the middle. This game is being played out all across this country. These little “monkeys” are not big enough to ever get out of the middle. Their days are spent trying to catch the attention that is being thrown back and forth from one adult to another, and their nights are spent trying to fix the problem of being too small to matter to anyone.
Custody is tossed back and forth for a long time and the monkey catches nothing, for you sees no matter which of the adults wins, the monkey loses. Daddy’s gone away and Mamma has to go to work because Daddy doesn’t want any of his child support money to help Mamma in any way. Now the little Monkey has lost Momma, too. He now has to stay with strangers all day and at night Momma has to study for a better job so she has no time to be Momma any more.
Months go by and Daddy comes less and less. Monkey decides that Daddy must not love him anymore because of something he had done or said. Maybe he should have played the game better or maybe he should have been bigger, then maybe Daddy would have loved him better. Then he starts to get angry, mostly with himself. Momma’s busy working, trying to make ends meet and Monkey is alone most of the time, the people who are with him most of the day could really care less about him as a person, he is money in their pocket. At home the TV and video games are his friends as he goes deeper into the depression that began when Momma and Daddy started to play the game.
Years go by, nobody knows where Daddy is. Some say he found another wife and has children that he loves more than Monkey. Momma has remarried to a man that has his own children and Monkey is just a troublemaker anyway. So Monkey sits in his room, he doesn’t care about the game any more. He wants nothing more than to get through this game of life, he is tired of jumping for the ball, maybe somewhere out there in the unknown dark universe there is someone that will love him for who he is.
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