February 2, 2000
CYBERCOLUMN:
Take time
___"Wake up! Wake up!" he said to us in the middle of the night. We stumbled sleepily out of the house to a blanket spread in the front yard. We lay there looking up at the night sky, witnessing something we'd never seen before and haven't seen since.
___Falling stars covered the sky like a fireworks show. I can't remember the scientificterm, but it was some kind of heavy meteor shower. I'll never forget it, nor many of the other experiences Dad and Mom took us through.
VAN CLEVE
___And when I think about it, the only cost of most of those experiences was time--their time.
___I can still look up in the sky and find Orion, the Big Dipper, the Seven Sisters and the planet Venus Dad taught us to recognize. For years, we took empty baby food jars with us on vacation to collect soil samples from all over Texas and the other states we visited. We gathered every kind and color of soil imaginable, including caliche with bright yellow specks of uranium in it. (That accounts for our glowing personalities and nuclear appetites.) We visited educational places such as museums, historical parks and the state capitol, and we beachcombed for shells and unbroken sand dollars at the coast.
___ Our budget was very tight during one of our stays in Oklahoma City while Dad was going to FAA school. For entertainment, we found the bookmobile nearby and discovered the joy of reading, or we'd walk several blocks to play in a park, and one day we even toured a meat-packing plant. We were warned we'd probably never be able to eat another hotdog or baloney sandwich after that, but unfortunately it didn't phase us. Mom and Dad still had to knock us away from the dinner table. (That uranium thing again.)
___ Dad built several playhouses for us out of large equipment crates during our elementary years. Due to its huge size and the fact it didn't cost anything to build, the first playhouse had to remain in Fort Stockton when we moved out in the middle of nowhere in far West Texas. But the next big equipment crate that arrived turned into a cavalry fort within the picket fence behind our isolated house.
___ Our imaginations soared in a place where TV reception was almost non-existent. Mom and Dad taught us many games and played with us often. We lived 20 miles from town and 90 miles from the nearest doctor, dentist and adequate grocery store. We spent many hours in a vehicle together, which allowed for plenty of singing and conversation, as well as the occasional intelligent debate ("Did not!" "Did too!") and wrestling match (pre-seatbelt days).
___ Mom and Dad made a commitment to raise their children with the truths and principles of God's word. The parents I saw at church were the same parents at home. They lived what they believed. I am so grateful for this heritage of faith my parents instilled in me through example and through taking the time to get involved in church.
___ I started reading a book recently that stated all families were dysfunctional, and the unrealistic Cleaver and Brady Bunch mentality about happy, functional families was why people in general were so messed up. I put the book down.
___ My family wasn't perfect, but my parents were onto something right when it came to spending time with their children. They had the same number of hours in the day everyone else had. They were and have always been here for us kids. We have never had to question their love for us.
___ Those things don't cost money, just a little time.
___ Donna Van Cleve is director of the public library in Cotulla, a writer, wife, mother and member of First Baptist Church in Cotulla, where she is pianist.
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