Our National Anthem

Posted on July 4, 2015 by curtsavagemedia

Jon Singing the National Anthem Progressive FieldFrancis Scott Key wrote his famous poem “The Star-Spangled Banner” as he witnessed the bombardment and defense of Ft. McHenry in Baltimore Harbor during the War of 1812.  Key chose the English tune “To Anacreon in Heaven” (written @ 1775 by John Stafford) as the melody to transform his poem into a song.  Although the Star-Spangled Banner was a popular patriotic song for many years, it lacked official governmental recognition until World War I when the U.S. War Department prescribed a standard arrangement to be played by military bands.  We had no official “National Anthem” until 1931 when verse one of the Star-Spangled Banner was adopted by Congress.  There is still no official civilian version of the anthem, although most who perform it respectfully stay close to the traditional military arrangement of verse one.  Here it is in its entirety.  Happy Independence Day!

O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream,
’Tis the star-spangled banner – O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto – “In God is our trust,”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

© 2015 Curt Savage Media

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Be Careful What You Ask For

Posted on June 26, 2015 by curtsavagemedia

woodpecker-siding-houseOur garage deteriorated to the point where it had to be torn down.  I mentioned to a neighbor that I wished I had a shed.  He was moving and offered us his storage shed.  We created quite a circus moving it from his yard to ours.  The shed was small and I soon wished I had a bigger shed.  Our son Jacob designed and built a barn roof truss for a homeschool project.  It turned out so well, we used his model as a pattern to build the bigger shed – or “Mini-barn” – I had wished for.

We sided the barn with tongue-and-groove pine siding.  The grain of the wood looked so nice, we decided to just oil it and leave it natural looking.  The siding looked good for several years as long as we remembered to oil and water-seal it.  If we forgot, the pine would start to turn black.  Once that happened, it was tough to brighten it back to its natural color again.  I started to think “Man – this oiling all the time is a lot of work.  I’d paint the thing if the wood wasn’t so beautiful.”

Just about that time, carpenter bees also discovered how pretty the wood was.  They decided our barn siding was a great place to build their nests.  Their perfect ¾ inch holes on all four sides of our barn put me around the bend!  I didn’t want to kill the bees because they’re pollinators and we need all of those we can get.  I just wanted them to move out of my barn!  I tried to make the holes repugnant by spraying them with kerosene.  The bees just moved over a foot or so and started a new hole.  I remember saying out loud “I wish there was something natural that would take care of these bees!”

One morning during breakfast, I heard a funny tapping or knocking sound coming from outside (no Archie – it wasn’t “A funny, squeaky sound”).  There was no real pattern to it although the vigorous “Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap” was persistent.  I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from.  Then I saw it!  There was a small woodpecker tapping on the side of our barn.  Soon there was another, and then another.  I thought “Oh good – they’ll take care of those bees!”  My joy was short lived.  The woodpeckers made the siding on our barn look as if someone had blasted it several times with buckshot! I got what I asked for – the bees left.  Now I had LOTS of holes in my barn!

I had to fill the holes with putty and that didn’t look very nice against the natural wood.  So, I got the other thing I asked for; I needed to paint the barn.  Of course scraping and painting every year is getting a bit old, but I must be careful here.  If I ask for some labor saving way to keep the barn white, I might be visited by a squadron of pelicans suffering from gastro-intestinal issues.  I need to remember to be careful what I ask for!

© 2015 Curt Savage Media

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O Father, Where Art Thou?

Posted on June 20, 2015 by curtsavagemedia

IMG“Where’s my father?” is a reasonable question for a divorced kid to ask.  Some kids don’t need to ask.  They stay in close contact with both parents, dependent upon custody and visitation arrangements.  For other kids, that’s not the way divorce works.  Hostility between the adults involved brings out horrid behavior including using children as pawns to manipulate or emotionally injure each other.  In some cases, for protective reasons, contact between one parent and the children is disallowed, either by result of a court order or parental imposition.

Why would I write an article like this for Father’s Day?  Well – because I know a lot of divorced dads who didn’t let the divorce cause them to stop being dads.  Neither did the divorce cause their children to suddenly lose all memory of their fathers.  That’s what’s so complicated about divorce.  It doesn’t “get rid of” one part of a family.  It turns one family into two families – or at least a two-part family.  Father’s Day can be a frustrating day for fathers who can’t be with their children and for step-fathers who are trying to parent someone else’s children, often laboring under the misapprehension that those children appreciate their efforts.

My childhood divorce left me with both positive and negative memories of life with my father.  He loved trains and photography and camping and was brilliant with electronics and drafting – I remember that much.  I’ve shared those same interests my whole life.  I used to sit with him in the garage and he would show me how to use various oscilloscopes and how to make basic electrical circuits when I was just 6 years old.   He was passionate about his beliefs and could have a temper – thank you genetics – but I remember having fun with him when we were together.  Something started going wrong though in our home when I was about 6 years old.  Even to this day, I’m not sure what set it off.  My father and mother started becoming angry at each other more and more frequently until they (we) finally separated and then divorced.

Living apart from our father had a confusing effect on me and my sister.  We were afraid of how angry our father had become, but we still needed him in our lives.  He visited us for a short while and took us on day trips, but contact with him soon ceased.  I don’t know whose decision that was, but I let it go that way.  I didn’t want to upset anyone.    Our mom worked 3 jobs to make ends meet while we stayed with our Grammy during much of that time.  Our mom remarried after a few years.  Honestly, I was not an easy 10 year old stepchild to parent.  Maybe I was still wondering where my father had gone and whether I bore some fault in his disappearance.  Despite my resistance, our stepdad hung in there and got it done.

I got married when I was 24, and my first child was born a few years later.  I remember sitting in the hospital chapel and praying for God to teach me how to be a father because I felt like I had no clue.  Now, with 3 children of my own (and still praying), I think I may know more about my father than I ever thought I could.  Maybe I can find him, give him a call and wish him a happy Father’s Day.

© 2015 Curt Savage Media

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The Force is With Us Again!

Posted on June 12, 2015 by curtsavagemedia

Darth Vader in CrosswalkIt seems space has fascinated mankind probably since the first moonrise.  Ever since man shot the first arrow skyward, his desire to fly higher has been insatiable.  Drawings and paintings of “spaceships” flying through the heavens have been part of our narrative since our story began.  We longed to touch the stars, but had to settle for only the clouds.  In 1853, Sir Walter Cayley sent his coachmen flying across Brompton Dale in Northern England aboard one of his gliders marking one of man’s first winged flights.  Ironically, powered aircraft flight and rocket powered space flight were simultaneously being pioneered fifty years later at the turn on the twentieth century.

While the Wright Brothers were researching and building their first powered aircraft in Dayton, Ohio, a Russian schoolteacher, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, was laying the groundwork for all modern rocketry.  He developed the mathematics necessary for rocketry and pioneered the idea of multistage rockets used for carrying people into space.  To commemorate the 100th birthday of Tsiolkovsky, Russia launched Sputnik I in October of 1957.

Our fascination with Tsiolkovsky’s work, and that of other astrophysicists who followed him, is what led to the creation of the space themed genre in science fiction literature and films.  The first movie to portray the basics of rocket travel was the German science fiction silent film “Frau im Mond” which premiered on October 15, 1929.  Several other space themed movies and television shows followed, the most notable of which were the Flash Gordon and Buck Rodgers television shows that aired in the early 1950’s.  From there, we were “Lost in Space” in 1965. Roddenberry’s “Star Trek” TV series went “where no man has gone before” in 1966.  Then, in 1977,everything in space changed; Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope premiered!  We learned about “The Force” and that force kept us wanting more Star Wars action for decades as we eagerly waited for episodes 5 and 6 and the “pre-quels” – episodes 1, 2 and 3.

10 years have passed since the theater release of the last Star Wars movie, Episode 3 “Revenge of the Sith”.  I started to think the story had ended with the bad guys winning.  What a terrible way to end the galactic ride that started way back in 1977!  Then, in 2012, fans were given new hope (not “A New Hope” – that was Episode 4) .  George Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Disney and they immediately went to work on Episode 7 “The Force Awakens”.  Finally – the adventure could continue!

To celebrate summer and share the excitement of the new Star Wars movie with the community, First Presbyterian Church in downtown New Castle will be hosting free public showings of Episode 4 “A New Hope” – otherwise known as “Star Wars” on June 12th, Episode 5 “The Empire Strikes Back” on July 10th and Episode 6 “Return of the Jedi” on August 14th.  The movies will be shown at dusk, around 8:30pm, in the parking lot behind the church at 125 North Jefferson Street.  These evenings should prove to be fun as some Star Wars moviegoers are known to show up to screenings dressed as their favorite Star Wars movie characters and some fans even dress up their pets!  Space fans rejoice and grab your lightsabers – The Force is with us again!

© 2015 Curt Savage Media

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Ready, Set, Now What?

Posted on June 6, 2015 by curtsavagemedia

graduationIt’s fun to look through old graduation programs and read about the accomplishments of the graduates and all the plans they had for their futures.  I remember wanting to be a forest ranger when I graduated from elementary school.  It was my idea of a dream job when I was twelve.  Comparatively few people ever get to work at their dream jobs.  Many of the plans in those graduation programs never come to fruition; some people become impatient while training for a job and others have to take alternative employment and never make it back to their “dream jobs”.

Recent newscasts and Internet news feeds have been teeming with stories pertaining to graduations from a wide array of educational institutions.  The stories garnering the most views are, of course, from those schools where either a celebrity commencement speaker made a profound or controversial statement or where something sensational occurred during the ceremonies.

As the speeches conclude, the class of 2015 is introduced, caps are thrown into the air and the newest aggregation of graduates takes flight.  Like baby spiders, the new graduates will break away from the social web that was school and fly, dangling from their thin sailing strands, wherever the winds will carry them.  Some have arranged matriculation.  Others have no plans whatsoever; It’s like they’re saying “ready, set, now what?”.

Some students excel and accomplish great things at college.  Others eventually come to the realization they just aren’t college material.  I fondly remember John Belushi’s character “Bluto” saying “Seven years of college down the drain.  Might as well join the (expletive) Peace Corps.” in National Lampoons’ 1978 film “Animal House”.  Daniel Simpson Day, or “D-Day” (another character in the movie) had a 0.0 grade point average.  Many successful people either discontinued their college educations short of completion, or they never stepped foot on a college campus in the first place.  Bill Gates (Microsoft) dropped out of Harvard.  Richard Branson (Virgin) never attended college.  College is not always the answer to “Now What?”

So, if you’re a recent graduate, what IS the answer to “Now what?”  That depends on your bent.  I’ll offer this graduation advice; “Don’t focus on chasing the money.  Unlike a bad reputation or regrets over a bad decision, money doesn’t last.  Money also cannot buy a sense of satisfaction.  If you go to college, make sure you go because you want to and need to, not because it’s what’s expected of you.  You ask “What business should I pursue if I want to be rich?”  Answer – the business of being about who you are.  Be the brand of “you”.  Be as careful not to listen to the naysayers as you are to not go along with the Greek Chorus.  Put another way – misery loves company and has a lot of it.  Why do you think it’s so loud?  Seek the wisest counsel you can find; read the Bible and pray a lot.

Even if you have to pursue your career goals on a part-time or unpaid basis, don’t give up on that pursuit!  Ready.  Set.  Be faithful! to the calling and gifts God gave you.  Don’t wait.  Start now!  Who knows what gifts your accomplishments will bring to mankind?

© 2015 Curt Savage Media

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At All Times

Posted on May 25, 2015 by curtsavagemedia

Honor GuardEvery time I drive past our Lawrence County Courthouse here in New Castle, Pennsylvania,  I gaze upon the many American Flags flying from their posts along the stone wall’s edge.  Like patriot sentinels, they call my attention to the high ground beneath the trees; the place where the Honor Guard fires their salute to our fallen soldiers each Memorial Day.  My eyes follow the line of flags to the place where dignitaries stand and speak about our fallen sons and daughters; they speak of duty, honor and the remembrance due the names engraved upon a polished granite monument – the honor roll which lists names of our County’s war dead.

Other monuments exist is various places around the county.  Driving down Croton Avenue takes me past the Military Honor Roll at the intersection with Cascade Street.  As I drive around Kennedy Square, I’m under the watchful eye of the Civil War Memorial soldier statue standing guard high above the Spanish American and World War I monuments.   A World War II artillery piece guards Greenwood Cemetery on West Washington Street- the cemetery where many veterans are buried, Including Col. Daniel Leasure – commander of the Pennsylvania Roundheads, and Captain James Cooper who commanded Battery “B” of General Hooker’s First Corps.  Route 18 through Mahoningtown takes me past another nice war memorial, and continuing out Route 108, I find the Battery “B” monument near Mt. Jackson.  Most of the sentinels guarding these county war memorials are made of stone and metal.  There are few human guards to maintain and protect the monuments to those who maintained and protected our freedom.

At the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, members of the Third U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) from Fort Myer stand sentry duty at the tomb 24 hours a day, 365 days a year regardless of the weather.  They change the guard every thirty minutes to one hour depending on the time of year.  These sentries consider this duty to be very sacred – as is expressed by their creed:

“My dedication to this sacred duty is total and wholehearted.  In the responsibility bestowed on me never will I falter.  And with dignity and perseverance my standard will remain perfection.  Through the years of diligence and praise and the discomfort of the elements, I will walk my tour in humble reverence to the best of my ability.  It is he who commands the respect I protect, his bravery that made us so proud.  Surrounded by well meaning crowds by day alone in the thoughtful peace of night, this soldier will in honored glory rest under my eternal vigilance.”

One day a year is not enough time to adequately honor or express gratitude for our veterans who gave their lives in the service of our country.  The freedoms afforded us by the protection given by our armed forces are not occasional, but are ours at all times.  We owe our veterans, both living and dead, our gratitude and our commitment to never forget them.  Our busy, hurried lives and full calendars should not reduce Memorial Day to just another day off work.  Those monuments around us, even the photos on our mantles, should serve as reminders that we are to remain vigilant in the honoring and remembrance of all of our veterans at all times.

© 2015 Curt Savage Media

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Final Exams

Posted on May 18, 2015 by curtsavagemedia

alg-plane-hudson-jpgWhen insomnia, starvation, hypertension, dehydration, hysteria, panic, depression, loss of recall, a decline in personal hygiene, self flagellation and temporary aberrations in the space-time continuum all occur simultaneously within a seven day period, it must be finals week.  To prevent the creation of an academic black hole of hopelessness, institutions of higher learning have created a wave effect of the above phenomena occurring from early May to mid- June thus allowing social media, the conveyance of all truth in the universe, to display videos of students experiencing post-finals euphoria thereby preventing those at pre-finals critical mass from experiencing emotional implosion.

Did no one see these tests coming? There are syllabi for the courses of study. Sometimes, these syllabi even have chapters and pages broken down by course weeks. It’s not like the books are suddenly delivered the night before finals week begins. Now that we’ve established the existence of course calendars, syllabi and texts, why does there still exist such an intense fear of the end of course criteria? Maybe the fear arises from a lack of confidence in one’s approach to learning; even one’s practice of study.

Only perfect practice makes your practice perfect.   Put another way, the practice you practice determines your practice.  Of course, the new phrase making the rounds is “best practices” – those known to consistently produce superior results, thus establishing them as a benchmark.  So if we’re not using “best practices” then are we guilty of malpractice?  Maybe if our pre-med finals have an average of less than 2.0.

Tweets about finals week – “Is walking around campus with a coffee maker while crying”.  “I think my blood consists of caffeine and sugar at this point.”  “This week I’ve run out of money, food, motivation and the desire to do anything but sleep.”  “Told myself I couldn’t pee until I did part of my project.  Gotta motivate myself somehow.”  “Hey guys, at least if we fail this test we still have our personalities.  I mean, I’d be a pretty cool taxi driver.”  #finalsweek.

If studying for tests is like flying, then taking the test is like landing the plane; your approach determines your landing.  The comedian George Carlin has a skit in which he talks about flying on a commercial flight.  He questions why the pilot would announce “Folks, we’re on our final approach.”  Carlin asks “What? Did we screw up the other ones?”  On January 15, 2009, Capt. “Sully” Sullenberger and First Officer Jeffrey Skiles took an Airbus A320 in for an emergency landing on the Hudson River.  The water landing was perfect with no loss of life because the pilots had studied and practiced for that less than ideal scenario hundreds of times.  Cal Ripken Jr. of the Baltimore Oriels showed up prepared to go to work and played in 2,632 consecutive games with no concern for what that workday would throw at him.  He maintained a high level of fitness and practiced through every off season.

When you’ve prepared properly for a test, there’s really no rational reason to panic.  You are as prepared as you’ll ever be.  Once the finals are over, you’ll probably never again be tested on the same knowledge in the same way.  Besides, those weren’t the real finals anyway.  Those come much later in life.  To help you make sure you find the right answers, I’ll give you a hint – they’re in the book.  #GodsWord.  #studyearlyandoften.

© 2015 Curt Savage Media

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Stuff Our Moms Said

Posted on May 10, 2015 by curtsavagemedia

Curt With Mom_0002We should probably stick with our standard story “Sorry Mom.  I didn’t hear you”.  If we admit to remembering ANY of these other things our moms said, that confession pretty much kills our alibis.  But just between you and me – you know you heard many of these:

#10 – “Because I’m the Mom; THAT’S why!” Okay – no arguing with that and definitely a bad choice for mimicking practice, unless you also like to practice sounding like someone in pain.

#9 – “Don’t make me come in there!”  We’re not trying to make you come in here.  We’re trying to goof off and ignore you Mom; which is pretty fun – until you come in here.

#8 – “It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt”.  You can completely ignore this one.  That will ensure you’ll have plenty of scars and childhood photos showing your arm or leg in a cast.  And don’t worry about knocking out those expensive teeth; you’ll lose them all later anyway.

#7 – “Who do you think you are?”  Warning; rhetorical question.  PLEASE don’t attempt to answer this one.

#6 – “What part of no don’t you understand?”  See number seven above.  Disclaimer; may possibly be answered if you are a third year law student, but do so only from a safe distance.

# 5 – “I don’t care who started it; I’m going to finish it!”  This is a clear signal to all participants in the current fracas to run for cover.

#4 – “Money doesn’t grow on trees”.  I never really believed this one.  I just figured Mom had the tree well hidden because every time I had some expense related to a school activity, she magically produced the needed cash from somewhere.

#3 – “I cooked it which means you’ll eat it and you’ll like it!”  And I did – except for the Lima Beans; we actually compromised on that one.  As I moved into my teenage years, this saying morphed into “don’t eat the whole thing.  There ARE other people in this family you know!”

#2 – “Someday you’ll appreciate everything I’m doing for you”.  Solid truth.  It only takes until you run out of food, money and clan underwear to realize just how true this is.

And the #1 thing moms said – “I don’t care what everyone else is doing; I’m not their mother”.  An “arms length” statement of “I love you like my next breath and will not allow you to go out riding around all night with a bunch of reckless, underage drinking “friends” who don’t care about you and who’s moms don’t care enough about them to tackle them”.  This mom might have also quoted Proverbs 13:20 to you.

Isn’t it funny how, after living for so many years as “grown-ups” on our own, we still frequently hear our moms’ voices admonishing us or speaking their pearls of wisdom as we deal with various situations or events in our lives.  Funnier yet is how we catch ourselves repeating, nearly verbatim, their words of “Mom Sense”.  Fast forward a generation and you would probably hear your children speaking the same words.  It’s like our moms’ words subliminally become part of our verbal DNA.  That’s the only excuse we can offer as to why we can all remember stuff our moms said, because we can never admit we were actually listening.

© 2015 Curt Savage Media

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Anger Management

Posted on April 30, 2015 by curtsavagemedia

krakatau volcanoAre you mad?  Before you answer that, a few things should be considered.  MAD was a favorite magazine of mine when I was 14.  If you’re an Alfred E. Neuman fan, you’re probably MAD (I am), but not necessarily “mad”.  If you’re bouncing around like a bunny on Ecstasy while waiting for the Mother Ship to return for you, some might say you’re “Mad as a March hare”, but you’re probably far from being “mad”.  There are “mad dogs” (and Englishmen – a little tip of my hat to the late, great Joe Cocker) and even mad cows (they always look kind of docile to me).  I’ve heard there are Mad Men working in the advertising business on Madison Avenue, but those guys aren’t really “mad” – they’re just unscrupulous.  There are however multitudes of people who are mad as hell and I’m not talking about the movie directed by Andrew Napier.

Putting my silly verbosity aside for a moment, I have a serious question.  Why are so many people so very angry?  Sure, I can get a little tense if someone sees my turn signal and still whips into a parking place I’ve been waiting for, but I refrain from road rage.  If someone “diss’s me in some way, I get hostile on the inside, but refrain from going publicly ballistic.  No real harm was done, and the insult was not worth the price a response would exact.  However, there are rare moments when, like Walt Kowalski in “Gran Torino”, a person has to go “mano a mano”.  The defense of “Liberty and Justice for All” is the solemn duty of every citizen.  Those we elect, hire and appoint MUST be held accountable in their duties of assisting US in that defense.  Smashing and torching your neighborhood is not accountability nor is it the defense of liberty and justice for all; it is vandalism.

Rioters in various places claim they’re acting up and rebelling against those in authority because of “miscarriages of the public trust” and abuses of power resulting in harm to their “fellow citizens”.  How ironic.  Indeed, there have been nauseating demonstrations of abuse of power by public “servants” ranging from police actions to gross negligence, even obstructions of justice on the part of elected officials.  However, the irony is many of these “demonstrators” are the same individuals who commit crimes against their “fellow citizens”; crimes like robbing or assaulting their neighbors and mob crimes like burning down their own community centers and neighbor owned businesses.

Do the majority of protestors have a plan for how this behavior will bring about change?  No.  They’re just angry.  Why are they angry?  Because someone told them they should have everything they want.  And how have they been taught to get what they want?  They’ve learned from popular culture and media how to adopt a dog pack mentality; resistance to obtaining what is desired is met with viciousness.  Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, writing in “The Antichrist (1895) and “The Will to Power (1901), claimed “What is good? Everything that heightens the feeling of power in man, the will to power; power itself. What is bad? Everything that is born of weakness. What is happiness? The feeling that power increases – that a resistance is overcome.”  These lies did not bring the alpha dogs in Baltimore and elsewhere happiness or power.  If they would manage and express their anger in an intelligent manner, public focus would turn back toward injustice, and injustice would crumble under that righteous indignation.

© 2015 Curt Savage Media

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She Had to Be Tough

Posted on April 23, 2015 by curtsavagemedia

Me & ConnieWhen she was barely two years old, her older brother painted her red from head to toe with dry cherry Jell-O mix.  For a follow-up, he found a pair of scissors and gave most of her dolls crew cuts.

She was always drafted as co-pilot or co-conspirator whenever her brother wanted to create some fun.  This included one episode where the pair was spotted nearly becoming airborne while riding down the middle of a busy street in a radio flyer wagon.  Their mother’s good sheets and the neighbor’s broomsticks were purloined to create a sidewalk schooner just in time to catch the powerful Santa Anna winds.

She was tough enough to stand up to her brother and to have his back too if necessary.  They argued like siblings do, but none of the neighborhood kids could mess with either one of them without also having to deal with the other.  When a group of playground bullies jumped her brother and were in the process of making him part of the pavement, she came running and tore into them like a mad wolverine.

She was as tough as the boys, but expected to be treated, and respected, like a young lady should.  One young man tested the tenacity of her chivalrous expectations and paid dearly for his lapse in judgment.  His inappropriate comments and advances caused his head to become the target of a skateboard while going through the lunch line in the school cafeteria.  After school, she returned the borrowed skateboard to her brother, and he let her keep his flannel shirt as a reward for her stand.

She likes to fish.  Once, while on a cross country vacation, her brother fell into a river while trying to free a snagged fishing line.  Sister to the rescue; she ran down the river bank and helped pull him to safety.  This was par for the course though.  As tough as she had to be, she is also always the one trying to maintain the peace and keep the family intact.  She’s the one who kept track of her father after the divorce.  She even located and established contact with half brothers and sisters.  It’s fitting that the job she’s been doing the longest involves being “mom”, teacher and protector to everyone else’s kids.

Despite having a less than “fairytale” life, she seems to have fought her way to her “happily ever after”.  She’s like the poster girl for that Chumbawamba song where they sing “I get knocked down, but I get up again – You’re never gonna keep me down.”  This tough gal is my little sister and I probably would’ve been far worse off and worse for the wear on many occasions if she hadn’t come to my rescue.  Much of our young lives, we had a very small circle – our Mom, our Grammy and each other.  We were always moving – four elementary schools, two junior highs and two high schools.  The most stable constant in our lives was each other.  I guess it’s fitting that I made you a cake for your 8th birthday from the cement I “borrowed” from the construction site next door huh Sis?  We should’ve had rocky road ice cream with it!  Happy birthday Connie!

© 2015 Curt Savage Media

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