I learned to swim at this pool in Nevada, Iowa. It was right across the parking lot from the Nevada High School and right across the alley from Gates Hall. My mom signed us up for swimming lessons. You know it is funny because I don't remember if my brothers came also. I don't remember how I got to the pool for my lessons either. I did not learn to swim. I did learn to float and hold my breath. I also learned to dive (not part of the lessons)!. Isn't that funny? I could dive but did not swim. I never got to go in the deep end because I couldn't really swim. Today, I can do the backstroke and the sidestroke, but I don't like to do the crawl. Just don't like it. I am grateful to my parents for sending me for lessons. Mom and Dad never learned to swim. In later years Mom took water aerobics but she never would get out of the shallow end. She was afraid and so was dad. I am pretty sure he never ran more than an inch of water in the bathtub. I have never seen him in shorts, let alone a bathing suit. My early exposure to the pool was a blessing.
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My Mom also signed me up to learn ceramics. My teacher was an old woman (maybe, she seemed old to me!) who lived on a farm outside of Nevada. She was patient and kind and I cannot remember her name. I learned to work with the greenware, cleaning the seams and smoothing the imperfections while being aware that any wrong move could destroy the piece. I learned to paint on 3 coats of color and to finish my pieces with clear glaze. The process took 3 firings She showed me how to paint the eyes. I loved to do horses and cats. I think all my horses were black with white manes. They have all been broken and tossed. For many years I had a cat that I made all those years ago, but it too got broken in some forgotten accident and discarded. The only things I have left from those ceramics lessons are this pink candy dish that I made for Grandma Scott, a statue of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus and a plaque with praying hands.
My daughter, Tiffany has the statue and the plaque. Here's how it happened. Grandma Scott always put people's names on the bottom of her stuff. She was trying to make sure people got things they had given her or that she thought they would especially like. Well, she put my name on that statue. I had no interest in it, but my mother loved it. So when I ended up with the statue, I just handed them right over to mom!. Tiffany also loved them. I guess that loving feeling skipped a generation. So eventually, the statue ended up with Tiffany. She has quite a few items, like the picture of Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane and the HUGE ceramic Nativity Set that I made in the early 90s during my second stint of doing ceramics. The problem with art and ceramics and all the crafts that people like to do is when you are done, you need space to display or store them or someone to give them to or to sell them to. All the crafty, arty stuff I have done has always led me to a place where I couldn't make anything else with out getting rid of something! So, I used to crochet. I made afghans, I made bedspreads, I made doilies, I made granny squares and zigzag throws. Where are they now? I took them all to Good Will when we moved from 39th Street in Milwaukee to Garay Lane in Port Washington. For a while in the early 2000's I made jewelry. I made necklaces, earrings, bracelets in every color and all different styles. Where are they now? On their way to Good Will. No one needs that much jewelry. Since 2005 I have been making quilts. Luckily for me, many of them were for gifts or for some specific person so I am not overrun with quilts. Also, I stitch them all by hand which means it takes forever for me to make a quilt!
It is funny to me when I look back at all the things Mom did to encourage me musically, artistically and physically even though she was not musically gifted, not was she artistic or athletic. Did I look at it that way back then? Heck no. Was I grateful? Not so you'd notice. Kids just expect parents to provide opportunities to learn and to grow. I know now that many parents cannot or will not give their kids these kinds of opportunity. Mine did and I am grateful.
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