Beneath the Wraps

               When Jenna was seven years old I had signed her up for an acting class.  The show to be preformed was “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown”.  A few hours before taking her to the “audition” she painted red dots all over her face and told me she couldn’t possibly go because she had the measles.  I don’t know what she had against Charlie Brown at the time, but I know the entire “Peanuts” gang were not high on her list of shows to watch.  Pretending she was one of them seemed against her nature.           That first night of class the script was passed out.   Three boys and four girls read the script according to how the instructor had assigned them before she changed what parts to read for.   Lucy and Linus were cast that night but she was still getting a feel for who the other children would play and who would be double cast (as there are just six characters). ...

          I have so many memories of Christmases – before Roland, after Roland, childhood, on and on and on.           This year we will be celebrating twelve years together.  Half of them with financial struggles and at least three with sub for Santa.           When I first moved in to our first house (Roland and the boys had already been living there for six months) it was September of 2001.  In December our family was targeted as the “twelve days of Christmas” recipients.  And that was fun and I felt very welcome to the area.           Our first tree was an artificial Charlie Brown – the kind that gets used in a window display as part of the winter scenery – but not necessarily Christmas.  It is what would be used in a window selling skis or snow blowers or something – an insignificant tree...

Throughout the years I’ve written down a child’s interpretation (most from four year old minds) of what things are. Here are some of them: Four years old, looking for a specific shade Which one is “antler” brown? On mortar: Why are there grey lines on grandma’s house? Popeye looks just like Charlie Brown, but he’s a smoker On Saturday’s warrior video: “It’s a happy sad show.  But some of it is boring.” “Are you sick because you’re building a baby?”     tiger skin snow snakes     Potato Paper Why does the potato have trees First corn dog discovery: “There’s a hot dog inside!” Egg Slobber Adult complains about the small amount of money that may accompany a huge mound of paper work “Well you are lucky.  I do paper work at school all day long and I don’t get paid anything” The cave i...

         Jenna LOVES to sing, and dance, draw, learn, explore . . . I have wanted so badly to enroll her in dance lessons, or music lessons, art classes , etc.  I have even considered sports when she has shown interest – but it was always out of reach financially - even on those rare times when it looked like the class itself might be in reach, I knew that the costumes (or uniforms) would get out of hand.           Last summer I had the opportunity of enrolling her in a peewee theatre class taught by a gal who had instructed children’s theatre in New York.  Jenna would have an opportunity – not only to act, but to sing, to dance and perform and hopefully make new friends.           The play is never done in its entirety.  The instructor has been given only six to eight weeks to rehearse before putting on the show.     ...

I googled Odd Facts and came up with list after list of odd facts – but not all were “facts”.   I questioned some of it like “Ernie and Bert from Sesame Street were named after the cab driver and police officer in “It’s a Wonderful Life” – I could not find any evidence that confirmed that.   Henson said he was not there when they named the characters, but even he believes that it’s just coincidence. Then I decided I needed something to back up all the facts that I share.   Hey, but just because you read it on the Internet doesn’t make it true.   And just because you learn something in school doesn’t mean it will stick.   For instance, my peers and I learned about the solar system almost every year that I was in elementary school.   (I personally saw no purpose for it.)   We were taught that Pluto was the smallest planet.   Today we are told that Pluto is not a planet at all.   It seems that the International Astronomical Union deci...