A PLAN GONE ASTRAY - Segment 2 (Scroll down for earlier segments)

     I wanted to repeat kindergarten.  But after graduating with honors in nap time, my teacher said I had to move on to greater challenges.

     With no building blocks and naps, I would be facing the greatest challenge of my life.  I could see problems on the horizon.

     I must have gotten too close to the horizon because one of my problems was standing beside me.  It was Mrs. Haller, the elementary school principal. She introduced me to the school paddle.  Years later, the school was re-named Helen Haller Middle School, in her honor.  I don’t know if she earned the honor because she had given me a swat, or she earned it on her own merit.  Nevertheless, if I had known I was getting a swat from a famous person, I would have asked for a signed paddle;   probably even asked for more swats.  I don’t recollect the reason for the swat, but there didn’t have to be much reason in those days.  I think mine was for floating schoolwork in the irrigation ditch.  I loved watching schoolwork bob up and down in the water until it capsized and went under.   I thought that was far more fun than watching the carefully crafted model boat I had been working on for three months, drift downstream and out of sight, never to be seen again.

     School may have been more enticing if there had been a row of cherry trees in the hall, or an irrigation ditch running through the middle of the classroom, but just sitting behind a desk, staring at a blackboard full of complex addition problems to solve and numerous assignments to complete, was more than my mind could handle.  It preferred being wild and free.  So it roamed freely.  (I wasn’t going to mention it here, but one of my colleagues came up with an exceptionally creative name for a wandering mind.  She calls it “waking around.”  She said I inspired the name.)   

     My mind would frequently wander off to cherry trees and irrigation ditches as it searched for something meaningful.  With each passing day, it was spending less time in school, and more time enjoying getaways.  I found it a remarkably inexpensive way to travel.

     I would take my schoolwork home for it to complete, but it would have none of it, or, very little, at best.  Baseball and relationships were far more important.  Schoolwork was a disruption.     

    As I regressed through school, my parents, teachers and counselors began realizing their plan was going badly astray.  I would have achieved more in a cherry tree.  

 

 

To be continued...check back soon

   

A PLAN GONE ASTRAY - Opening chapter (Scroll down for previous chapters)


   

     I like to have a plan, but I’ve discovered life is much more adventuresome without one.   And plans can go astray; just get up and walk away.  I, personally, have had grand plans that suddenly disappeared.  Just yesterday my four year old grandson was getting into my car.  “Grandpa,” he said, “you need to clean out your car.” 

     “I had planned on doing that this morning, but my plan went astray.”

     “What’s “astray?”

     “That means my mind went one way while I was going the other way, causing me to forget about cleaning the car.”

     “Oh?”

     I love grandkids.  They are satisfied with a brief, simple explanation.     

     During the Dark Ages, I had some terrific plans, but they were all superseded by the plans of my parents, teachers, and anyone else who was older than me.     

     I thought I had the perfect plan for my life; climbing cherry trees, playing in irrigation ditches, and running wild and free on Gramps’ Ranch.   

     But there were others who felt there was more to life than this.  If there was, I hadn’t heard about it.  Surely there wasn’t more to life than running wild and free.

     They told me there was a big world out there, and they wanted to prepare me for it.  I couldn’t imagine a world bigger than my own.  I thought my world was just the right size.  I was perfectly content with cherry trees and irrigation ditches. 

     “No, no,” they said, “You need reading, writing, math, woodshop, algebra, biology, band and anything else we think will prepare you for a big, new world.”  They really didn’t mention all those subjects, but that’s what they meant. 

     My life was about to take a new direction. SCHOOL!  It cut sharply into my wild and free time.

     I had other plans, but they would have to wait.  For now, I would have to follow their plan, through reading groups, math, band, woodshop, and other obstacles too numerous to mention here. 

     It wouldn’t be long before they questioned the wisdom of their plan.  I would provide enough evidence that theirs was a plan gone astray.    

     My experiment with school went smoothly in the beginning,   probably because the life of a lab rat had always been appealing to me.  

     I enjoyed playing with the giant blocks and lying on the rug listening to stories, and taking naps.  Then some undercover kindergartener was tipped off by his older brother that it wouldn’t be this way through high school.  In fact, it wouldn’t be this way next year.  I could see life coming to an end. 


To be continued...check back soon