Registration for the Face to Face With Greatness seminar in Temecula, CA, April 9-10, needs to be in to Erika Lundquist by tomorrow! She can be reached at evlundquist@gmail.com. I encourage you to attend, either for the first time, or as a refresher. You’ll be so glad you did! ~Teri
Wow! There has been so much going on over here at TommyMom, that we’ve not revisited the “Perky Paradox” in quite awhile; which is a profile in CORE and Love of Learning years based on my own upbringing. Visiting CORE frequently is vital to a strong and stable Leadership Education as you will see…We’re now well into the high school years. I’ve honestly spared you grim details in between…trust me.
I confess that there could be other possible subliminal reasons for “not coming here” in awhile.
And for me, they are scary.
Because I’m such a shallow individual now in certain areas of my life…
Some people, in spite of Leadership Education tend to digress…
Or they’re heavily influenced by their CORE and Love Of Learning friends.
I say this tongue in cheek…
but not really.
SEVERAL of you posted comments and concerns about the “upstairs bedroom” photo…
And whether or not our friendship was immediately null and void because of this disclosure.
The answer is…N-O.
But while DeDe was “racey” and quite a “looker”…
I, on the other hand, at this point in my life, was…
“The Amish Cheerleader.”
I’m the one on the far right…
You didn’t know that the Amish sent their young to secular institutions so that they could experience “getting out more”, did you?
My boys HOWL at this picture.
I actually think it secretly frightens them.
My youngest once brought it to me and wanted to know why, if I was a cheerleader, they didn’t take my picture with these nice girls, too?!
At this point in time, driving an hour to work daily had taken its toll on my dad…
( remember this is Washington, not California, folks!)…
and we had finally moved to the community where the church was located.
And lived next door…
In this house.
It was quite an adjustment.
Nearly Gilligan’s Island…
“No phones, no lights, no motor cars, not a singly luxury!”
I would’ve felt like Robinson Crusoe, except for one thing…
By this time, I was hooked on country life and its benefits!
There were many weekends, on a Friday night…
when we still lived “in town”…
that my dad would make the drive for me to “stay the night with DeDe.”
His infinite wisdom had paid off.
The city slicker was STILL quite inept at farm life…
but I LOVED to be there!
I can only recall one time, in all of our 11 year tenure at this church..
when DeDe came to stay the night with ME.
She had a standing commitment…
to this milk cow that was the “love of her life” for many many years.
And she had to milk…
Faithfully…
At 5 and 5.
A.M. …and P.M.
but the P.M. wasn’t quite as traumatic or inconceivable.
Or she had to pay her dad to do it.
And she wasn’t about to commit to that!
She had 4-H duties…
and bills to pay.
Pretty much by the time she was 10!
Her dad was one of the smart ones, too.
Now the reason that DeDe…
And her mother…
And three sisters…
were a paradox, was because of this…
Trust me when I say…
Manure pile by day…
Prom Queen over and over and over again by night!
The gowns were profuse!
By this time, the English Tudor palace house had been constructed “across the street”…
On the “other 80 acres.”
This girl, to the Amish cheerleader was a “woman of the world!’
She could muck barns by day…
milking twice in there as referenced…
jug the milk, sell it to locals, and be in the shower and ready for a date…
faster than you could say “Green Acres.”
And date she did.
Constantly.
Miss Social Butterfly.
She was attending the local high school…
While I was in a private church school that resembled a military academy!
The school district was one of the first nationally, trying out year round education in our area…
it was a new concept with no track record.
After much debate and contemplation…
My dad, along with input from my brother and I, decided that it would be best for us to attend a private school.
For two years.
They were long years, believe me.
At this point, I would like to highlight yet some more of the seeming “quirks’ in this relationship…
We were being educated in two totally different methodologies…
Wouldn’t that tend to cramp the friendship?
It brought us closer together.
We shared a common worldview…
and tons of time together, going about daily business…
minus a television and equally mindless activities.
And we didn’t know the difference…
or feel especially “deprived.”
All involving a tremendous work ethic and consistency.
Well, DeDe’s incredible work ethic…
and my “nose-in-yet-another-book” consistency.
But make no mistake…
it was making indelible impressions and lasting habits.
Watch CORE closely..
for “out of it spring the issues of life.”
to be continued…
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