A Whole (Nother) Story

A child of the sixties, the first president I kind of remember was LBJ. Even though I was in first grade when he left office, I knew who he was. As I grew older and learned more about the turbulent decade in which I was born, Johnson was always a bit of a minor character: the benchwarmer forced into the game in the JFK story, the out of touch antagonist in the RFK story, the recalcitrant cooperator in the MLK story, the ineffective villain in the Vietnam story. (That old guy.)

His wife, Lady Bird, was also a soft-edged somebody who planted a lot of flowers along the highway, not much substance there. But today, on our road trip home, we listened to the first six episodes of the podcast In Plain Sight: Lady Bird Johnson. Hosted by Julia Sweig and based on her book about the former first lady, the podcast tells the story of the Johnsons' time in the White House using the over 123 hours of audio diaries that Mrs. Johnson kept. Her voice, her insight, and her smart observations humanize the couple in a way I just never considered. (Highly recommend the podcast.)

In my mind, the Johnsons always seemed so old, but when President Kennedy was assassinated and the two of them were thrust into a role they had worked toward but in a time and situation they were unprepared for, he was 55 and she was 51, both years younger than I am now. (Pooooosh! Mind. Blown.)

Despite their good intentions, the changing world was ultimately unmanageable, and they found themselves out of touch, especially with younger Americans. There was a little bitterness along with the relief they shared upon retiring to Texas in 1969. It would have been nice if they had had many years together after that, reading and riding and swimming and hiking and driving the amphibious car on their ranch in the Texas Hill Country, but LBJ passed away just 4 years later, at the age of 64. (So sad, right?)

Nooks and Crannies

The recipe looked easy enough: Mix up the 4-ingredient dough in the evening and let it rise overnight. Stretch and fold it, give it a short rest, and then roll it out. A biscuit cutter and some cast iron skillets warming on the stove were the final pieces. Ease them onto the hot surface and griddle for seven minutes a side. 

"What are you doing?" Gary asked when he came downstairs this morning.

"I'm making English muffins!" I told him. 

He looked skeptical.

I shrugged. "We'll see."

Thirty minutes later? We were buttering our muffins. 

Fork split and toasted, they looked store-bought, but they were much crisper on the outside and tender on the inside than those. 

"These are outstanding," Gary declared.

I'd call that a success.

Supporting Role

I stood on a 12 foot ladder in the middle of the family room stretching to reach the smoke alarm fastened to the cathedral ceiling. It had been chirping since the night before, a side-effect of searing half-racks of lamb before finishing them in the oven for Louise's birthday dinner. Heidi's folks are both in their mid-70s, and still very independent, but wise enough not to climb tall ladders anymore. I pushed the reset button, and the four of us waited, anticipating an annoying alert to break the silence in a minute or two.

"That was it?" Louise scoffed, when I clambered down a few moments later, satisfied that the beeping was over. "How stupid! I told the electrician not to put it up so high! What are we supposed to do when it's time to change the batteries? Pay a handyman 87 dollars? Ridiculous!"

She had a good point, of course. Heidi and I put the ladder back in the garage, both of us thinking how hard it is to be of help and support from 400 miles away. At least we fixed one thing, I thought, checking it off the to-do list we always encourage them to make for us when we visit.

Later that night I woke from a sound sleep, certain that I could hear the alarm bleating about its low battery. I lay in the darkness straining my ears for the persistent warning that something needed attention. It was not my imagination. We heard its piercing alert every 28 seconds for several hours until we dragged the ladder out and, at Louise's direction, just disconnected the whole thing so that it would never bother them again.

We offered to get a new battery and change it once a year on one of our visits, but she declined. This time as we stowed the ladder, I wished for a different resolution. 

But it's her house.

Four Seasons

It was 66 and sunny, bare boughs barely bouncing in a mild breeze when we arrived yesterday afternoon in Buffalo, NY. Today? A hard, cold spring rain is drenching the barely green grass. Tomorrow? A gusty day with a mix of clouds and sun is predicted, but not to worry! Tuesday will bring full sunshine and temperatures in the mid-70s, a true taste of early summer in these parts, right before the snow on Wednesday.

Lucky us! We get all the weather on our Spring Break.

Write On

We were about an hour from home and the sun was still low on the horizon when I realized that I had not updated the slice of life for my students. "I have to pull over!" I told Heidi and then scanned the interstate anxiously for the next rest stop or exit. 

Five minutes later we were idling in a park and ride lot as I cussed a little at the limited functionality of the app and my phone. The task that would have taken maybe 60 seconds if I had remembered to do it on my lap top, as I meant to, before leaving school, seemed interminably glitchy. 

"Are you sure it can't wait until later?" Heidi asked, noting my frustration. 

"Somebody is going to log on looking to post!" I replied. "It has to be there!" 

At last I was able to save and publish, and we were just about to resume our Spring Break road trip when a little chime sounded on my phone. 

"Where's the slice of life for today?" the message read. 

"Refresh your screen!" I replied. "It's there now." 

"Yay! Thanks!" the student responded. 

I took a deep breath and relaxed as I eased the car back into the flow of traffic. When the kids are that eager to write? It's worth an unplanned pit stop to let them.

Dogs in Space

When we went to pick up Lucy from doggie daycare this afternoon, there was a 4-month old pug puppy at our dog walker's house. Evie was a little shy; she watched the rough and tumble of the big dogs from behind the toy basket, her flat face peeking over the stuffies, and looking for all the world like ET hiding in the closet. And when at last she ventured out on her strangely long legs (she'll fill into them), she strongly resembled an AT-AT Walker from Star Wars. 

Really? Is it any wonder that the creators of Men in Black chose Frank the pug as the perfect disguise for a friendly alien? It really isn't much of a stretch.

The Haystack

One of my homeroom students started in person today. Because he was a few weeks behind the kids who had attended already, his mom contacted me yesterday to go over the routine and also to report that he was a little nervous. Understandably so! Our sixth graders have never even been in the building: they have no frame of reference for even the most explicit directions.

"No worries," I told her, "I'll head down to the gym in the morning and bring him upstairs to show him around." 

It was a good plan until I entered the cavernous field house attached to our school. A couple hundred or so masked kids sat on the cross points of a six-foot grid. Many had their hoods up; most were looking straight down at their devices. I scanned the group and considered my options. Short of shouting his name, all I could do was walk up and down the rows peering intently at every student. When at last I was saved by the bell, a figure just ahead of me stood up. "Here I am!" he said cheerfully.

"You are so tall!" I told him. "The camera doesn't show that!"

Later in the day, I found out that yet another of my homeroom kids would be starting tomorrow. "Where do I go?" she asked anxiously.

"I'll come downstairs to find you," I promised, but then looked at the guy I had fetched this morning. "But if you see me before I see you? You better wave!"