Memory Monday #48

     After taking off for awhile on my blog (see previous blog), I am returning to my "Memory Monday" blogs! At last writing, I was a Freshman in high school...my Sophomore year was pretty uneventful...we moved into a new High School...my older sister's class was the first class to graduate in the new school.
      Pittsfield Community High School became the home to not only kids from Pittsfield, but we also absorbed a couple of other high schools which closed down and came to Pittsfield. In the case of one school, their principal became a assistant principal at the new PHS.

Pittsfield Community High School

     As small schools were unable to keep their doors open, this practice of combining areas into one school became pretty common. It was hard for communities to close their schools. In farm communities the schools may have been their main pride and source of  belonging.  So when students had to be integrated into a new school, sometimes there was a bit of a clash of "us" and "them".  Usually after a year or two this feeling of separation would dissipate.
     Our school  logo was an Indian head and our team name was the Saukees.

PHS logo

     As today, sports were very important...we had a killer football team, and off and on good basketball teams.  We were one of the largest schools in our immediate community..graduating approximately 100 students a year!  The Sophomore year of high school is kind of a gray area for most teens...at least in my time.  We weren't the green freshmen; most of us couldn't drive yet...not 16; nothing too outstanding!  But we still had a lot of fun!

I am back!!

 

  I just posted a draft that I had written on Christmas and somehow never got posted! It has been a very difficult two-three months but everything should get back to a somewhat normal routine...without my best friend.  I have always wondered when people would loose someone and say what a relief it was! But now I understand! It is no fun watching the one you love just melt before your eyes...Dick had a very rough, but not necessarily painful, last couple of months...and on February 12, 2014 at 12:15AM, he drew his last breath with me and our daughters at his side.  It was a very peaceful passing from this world into the next...I feel his presence with me every minute and I know he is at peace and watching over us!
     We were enrolled with a hospice group...Vitas...and they were wonderful.  If anyone reading this is in my similar situation, do not hesitate to contact one in your area.  And with their help and my wonderful daughters' and terrific friends' help and support, we were able to keep him at home until the end of this life. Such a comforting way to experience such a dreadful but inevitable  part of existing.
      We (our girls and I at Dick's request) had his remains cremated..we had no formal ceremony or service; no visitation for "viewing"....we will have a very private service with family and close friends at the National Cemetery here in Texas...he served in the Air Force so is eligible for a spot there! What he didn't know, but would approve of, is that we are going to make several trips around to some of his favorite spots and leave a little of him behind! It will be the "Dick Dodds Farewell Tour"..with t-shirts and all!!
     Our son-in-law had coined a phrase for us...Members of the "50/50 Club"... because we had celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary on December 29 and we, as of last spring, had traveled to all 50 states!!  We did car trips to all but the last one...Hawaii..we couldn't drive there!!
     So I am back...I have put my life on hold...I have not written on my blog for months...I have not attended any social or church functions for ages...I have not created anything in my studio...but now I am ready to reenter my old live albeit without him....as I know he would want me to.