Memories....

Sense my Dad passed away last December I have been doing a lot of reminiscing of things when I was a kid. This one that I'm about to share made me laugh...

When I was a kid my Dad had an old beat up white pickup truck that we drove to town once or twice a week. We had to because it had a tank on the back that we filled with water at the fire department and brought home to fill our underground tank so we could have running water. Well this old truck didn't have much in the way of a radio and Dad taught me songs that we would sing on the way home with the windows down my hand out the window and belting it out as loud as we could. Well it wasn't until 4th grade that I came to learn that these songs that Dad had taught me weren't exactly 'appropriate'!

The entire 4th grade was going to be putting on a play for the school. It was a really big deal, we were learning how to square dance for part of it I remember that... but what really stands out in my head is the day that we were handed out song books to learn. I was standing on the top row of one of those steps that you stand on when your in choir... well, I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to what was in the song book, I was too busy doing something else... who knows what. Well the teacher began to play the piano and the kids began to sing... and Ahhh! I know this song Dad and I sing it all the time... so I start to sing, being so proud that I know all the words...

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the burning of the school
We have tortured all the teachers
We have broken every rule.
We are marking down the hall to kill the principle us brats go marching on!

Well as Im just belting out this song all the kids quit singing.... one by one.... Im looking around but I keep going...

Glory, glory, hallelujah
Teacher hit me with a ruler...
So I met her at the door with a loaded .44
The teacher don't do that no more.

Now, the piano has quit playing and my teacher looks sooooo mad that she could spit. I knew more verses but I thought I might want to be quite at this point! She walked up and said follow me young lady. We marched straight to the office and I sat on a chair, looking a the secretary. The teacher went in and talked to the principle. Then she left, what seemed like forever later... while no one had talked to me my Dad comes walking through the door. Uh Oh! Not Good! He looks at me with the eyes... you know the ones, what have you done this time! I sit... he walks into the principles office, then I hear something I wasn't expecting. My Dad starts laughing!

As my Dad walks out of the principles office he has a smile on his face and looks down at me and sese... kiddo your going home for the day. We leave and I say, am I in trouble... he said no, but on the way home we need to learn a new song! Dad knew he had got me into that mess Im guessing, I got kicked out of school for the day, but it was a very memorable day!