Decoration Day

Next Monday is Decoration Day at the Ott Cemetery. I will be in Texas visiting my kids and grandkids so I will be going out to decorate graves next weekend. I bought flowers today.

Back when I was a kid, Decoration Day(s) was a big event. We have family at the Ott, Cowan, Pleasant Ridge, Fairvew and Flippin Cemeteries (and a few more). But the Decoration Day that I most remember is the one held at the Ott cemetery. We all got new clothes because people dressed up for Decoration back then. My Granny Ott often wore a hat.

Lots of people came to the Ott Decoration. I would see cousins that I didn't see very often. Like us, they would all be dressed up. It's always windy at the Ott. Even on the hottest day a breeze will be blowing there. After cleaning and decorating graves we would have "dinner on the ground." Everyone would bring food and come down to our house and we would eat.

It's an old cemetery with several graves. There are 5 generations of my family buried there. Not just Otts - my Granny's Bundy family is buried there too. My Granny had a sister named Mahlia Melvina who died at a young age. I used to wish my name was Mahlia and I would wonder what she looked like. Iwould look at the graves of my Ott great-great grandparents, John and Sarah, and wonder about them. They were the first Otts to live here and homestead the farm. There's been much discussion over the years about Sarah. She is a mystery to us.

There are several other graves that I used to really wonder about. A young Kaler girl, who's family put stones around her grave so it wouldn't be lost. And the many baby graves used to worry me. Now I think of those who have been put there in my lifetime...my Daddy, Granny, Aunt Opal and favorite cousin, Earlene, my nephews, David and Ronny.

Decoration Day isn't what it used to be. It's becoming a dying custom. Now people just come and go as they wish to decorate and some cemeteries don't allow deocrating at all. The headstones must be flat and only a small vase for flowers is allowed. That seems very sad too me. I hope that never happens at the Ott cemetery. It's a beautiful place and anyone is welcome there to visit or to be buried there. We're still "country" enough to hold to old fashioned Decoration Day.

Branching Out

Last night I had the honor of speaking to the Flippin Graduating Class of 2011. I taught these students when they were in the 7th and 8th grade. Every few years in a teacher's career a bond will be forged between a class and teacher. There was an immediate bond between this class and me. Some of my fondest memories as an educator have come from the time that I spent with these students.

They had asked me to speak at their graduation back when they were sophomores and I honestly figured that they would forget about me since I no longer taught at Flippin. Back in October I got a call from the senior class sponsor and she told me that I had been voted as their commencement speaker. I didn't take this responsibility lightly - in fact I saw it as one of the biggest challenges that I have faced as an educator. I wanted to make sure that I got it right.

As teachers, we sometimes forget that everything that we say and do is making an impact on students. I try to stay conscious of what I say and the tone with which I say it. Every day I tell myself to remember to guard my tongue and my actions. I never realized how much of what I had said and done was being "absorbed" by those middle school kids. As I sat down to put on paper what I wanted to say, a flood of emotions ran through my head. This was a large class, by Flippin standards, but I could tell you something about each one of those kids. I wanted to be able to write a speech that made each of them feel that I had written it just for them. I hope I was able to do that.

This morning those kids are alumni. No more will they walk the halls of Flippin School as students. That safety net that comes from being part of a group is weakened now. That feeling of belonging and being in a safe, familiar place is altered now. They will all go their separate ways and develop into their own unique individual adult personalities. They will come together again for reunions, but it will never be the same.

I hope the things that I chose to say will help them a little along their journey. I want the best for each of them. I wish they would never stumble or feel inadequate but I know that they will.

The them for my speech was the same as the title of my blog spot; "Don't Be Afraid to Climb on the Skinny Branches." I hope that they climb as high on the tree of opportunity as they can. And I hope they enjoy the view from atop those skinny branches.