I am unique

It all started with a simple question in seminary - was there really a time when girls could only wear skirts to school? Yes, and I lived during that time. If my memory is correct, girls were allowed to wear pants for the first time while I was in 6th grade. But what makes me unique, I wore pants to school in 5th grade and with permission.

The fifth grade classes through Shelley Elementary were held in Taylorsville in a 4 room building about 5 miles outside of town. When you turned 10, you were excited to go to school because you got to got there and be away from everyone else. That is if you were one of the lucky 100 students because one class continued to be held in town. 5th grade meant you had the best school lunches in all of Idaho. You actually walked through the little kitchen holding your tray and asked for more or less of something depending on your taste. It meant being able to walk back into the kitchen and have your pickle bowl refilled with those crunchy, sweet slices as many times as you wanted. 5th grade meant you had the whole play yard to yourself, that you did not have to share the swings with the little kids or wait you turn after the "cool" 6th graders were finished. 5th grade meant you had P.E. in the broiler room in the basement during the winter months and you got to tumble on mats for fun. 5th grade just made you feel great and special, but that is not what made me unique.

Wearing pants in 5th grade is what made me unique. Why was I wearing pants then because I had a crazy knee. My knee would lock in a bent position and I could not straighten it out. It hurt too much and would ache if I tried to straighten it. I would walk with a limp because of this. My parents took me to my doctor to help but he did not know what was wrong. I remember him trying to pull it straight and it hurt too much. He decided that x-rays may help solve the mystery, so I was sent to the hospital and they took x-ray after x-ray. Miserable x-rays that seemed to last for hours. I would lie on the table with sandbags weighing my leg down so it would not move and they would take an x-ray. Then the technician would come in, move my leg slightly, readjust the sandbag and start over; again and again. After the doctor evaluated the information, my parents were told to take me to Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah and see what they could do to help. Upon arrival we were informed I was scheduled for surgery the following day, in preparation of surgery I was not allowed to eat for the next 12 hours. During the morning of the surgery the x-rays started again and this time with a "specialist" looking at them. His conclusion, NO SURGERY needed, I was sent home with the decision they did not really know what was wrong but I would grow out of it. My mom told me years later that she was under the impression the doctors initially thought I had cancer and that is why the surgery was scheduled. The other decision that came from all the testing was - cold made it worst! Thus, pants were allowed to be wore because they kept my legs warmer; making me unique - the first girl in my class to wear pants to school and with permission - according to my seminary class.

I did eventually grow out of it - but still to this day I do not know what caused the problem.

5th Grade School Picture

A POEM

This poem was written and given to me by one of my current seminary students. She has given me permission to publish it here.

Our Brother

He was despised and rejected by men.
Man of sorrows down with grief and then,
We hid our faces from him without looking back.

He was forsaken and we valued him not.
He endured our sorrows; have we forgot.
Yet we let him be stricken and afflicted?

He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities no question,
And with His fatal wounds we are healed.

We are like sheep and have gone astray.
Everyone has turned to their own way,
And the Lord laid on Him, the sins of us all.

He was broken, and He was made miserable.
He didn't open His mouth as being taken as a lamb to the kill,
And as a sheep before the shearers is dumb, so he opened not.

He was taken from prison and from judgment unfair.
Who will remember this time during history of dispair,
For He was cut off from the land of the living.

Because of the transgressions of us was He stricken.
Now in His death because He had done no violence to sicken,
Neither was any deception in His honest mouth.

He shall divide all the wicked from all the true.
He has poured out His soul, even unto death He knew,
He'd bore the sin of many, and made an exemption for the transgressors.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was crucified for the sins of the world.
Jesus, Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end to be unfurled,
Our brother lovingly lived and died on this earth for me and you.

Malary Greenwood

Learnings

Alma 37: 6 "Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise."

or in other words -

"How do you eat an elephant, one bite at a time"

I struggle with starting anything unless I can see the end in sight. Thus I rarely start goals, projects, books, etc. I am learning I do not need to know when it ends, I just need to begin. Helps for me are writing what I want to accomplish weekly and daily and checking it off.

We bought paint for the house last June and I am sure still have at least half the house to go plus all the trim. But we spend an hour or two on an occasionally weekend - "one bite at a time"

Healthier life - vegetables and fruits at lunch and dinner, morning walks with Natasha (our border collie) even if it means two showers each morning (one before seminary and one after the walk) - "small and simple things"

P.S.

1 Nephi 1:20 "...the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith..."

- a thank you from a seminary student on the day that I felt like the meanest seminary teacher ever -