Pass or Fail

Schools used to bring in a trailer once a year and test the sight and hearing of grade school kids. They may still do it, I don't know; I homeschool my kids.

Each year, I'd enter the trailer with fear and trepidation. I was frightened that I'd fail the eye test. I was more confident with the hearing test but I was so afraid of some unknown thing because I couldn't read the eye chart. There was such a relief in passing the test and being allowed to return to the classroom with the others!

In fourth grade, things got a little worse when Mom took me to an eye doctor. It was bad enough worrying about failing the eye test in school, now I was faced with failing it at the doctor's office. The only comforting thing about failing it at the office was that the doctor fixed the machine in a way that I could pass the test in the end. It meant getting glasses but at least I could see!

Mom took me to the eye doctor every year after that and every year I tried to pass the test and every year I failed and had to get new glasses with a new prescription.

Now let's jump ahead about three decades to last Monday when I took Cameron and Richelle in to get their eyes checked.

I suddenly realized that as an adult I've always referred to these appointments as getting our eyes "checked" and not "tested". For a split moment I wondered why, tasted the phrase "get your eyes tested," and a faint memory of anxiety returned. Knowing the kids would love the story, I told them about my pass or fail anxiety and how each year I would be disappointed at failing yet again. They thought it was the funniest thing ever.

Richelle had her eyes checked first (see? I still do it!) and her prescription (reading) hadn't changed. She was so disappointed because she wanted new frames. We were in the waiting room while Cameron was getting his eyes checked, Richelle trying valiantly to control her disappointment, when a thought struck me.

"Richelle!" I exclaimed sitting straight up, eyes wide.

"What?" she replied warily. The waiting room of a doctor's office is hardly the place for excitement and, besides, she was familiar with that particular tone of voice.

"You passed the eye test!" I shrieked in a hoarse whisper.



The post script to my childhood story is ironic. About twenty years ago, I asked Mom why she decided to get my eyes checked in fourth grade. Was it her personal policy to have us kids' eyes checked at that point?

She looked at me rather oddly and said, "No, I took you in because I got a note from the school saying you needed to see the eye doctor."

Veteran's Day Parade

The scouting thing to do in our county is to participate in the Veteran's Day Parade. I have done so every year but one since 1992 when I first joined Cub Scouting. I have marched or ridden in the hot sun, the cold and windy rain, and everything in between. This year it was rain. Everything from drizzle to downpour. Most of the girls had umbrellas but all that did was divert the water from their heads down the backs of the girls behind them so I had them put the bumbershoots away. We're from the Pacific Northwest after all....a little rain doesn't bother us. Much.

You can't see Richelle or me and probably half the girls on there are from three other troops but this is what we looked like Tuesday.

Skating

Again, I haven't posted in a while but that doesn't mean nothing's happening around here!

Yesterday, Richelle and I attended our monthly homeschool roller skating event. This is nothing outstanding, just a day out of the month when the homeschoolers converge on the local skating rink for a couple of hours. Some parents are out on the rink with their kids, some (most) sit at the tables and kibbitz while obeying the command of "Mom! Dad! Watch this!!"

Richelle was given a really nice pair of rental skates that she described as "so smooth you don't even feel the floor!" Evidently, they were so smooth that she couldn't feel to stop, either, because I heard a "Hey, Mom!" and looked up just in time to see her come flying off the rink, bounce against the padded opening, narrowly miss a little boy, dodge around a young girl, brush past an adult, and come to a crashing stop against a table and two chairs....all in about one second and ten feet.