The Herald-Press

Newspapers had to be delivered seven days a week (well, five days and two nights.)  We would home school in the morning from 9 a.m. to noon, eat lunch, and head to the Herald-Press.  In the beginning there were the four of us, but it wasn't long before friends began to drop by and help roll papers.  We had a wonderful time!

Once the papers were rolled (300?), Larry and Jamie would load up their bicycles and throw the in-town routes. Christopher and I would load up the car and throw the houses farthest from town.  Rain, sleet, snow, dark of night - nothing stopped the delivery of newspapers.

Once, when my car broke down, I called pretty much the one person in town we had gotten to know:  John Watts.  I knew it was destined to become something more when he said that we could borrow his brand new Ford Tempo - the first brand new car he had ever owned.  On the phone he asked if I knew how to drive a standard transmission and, even though I assured him that I did, when he brought the car to me he made me drive him back to work just to prove I did.  Thinking back, his allowing us to load his brand new back seat with newspapers and drive around town in pouring rain with windows down...  He was either totally insane or in love - or both!

On Fridays we would throw newspapers in the afternoon, then go to Mrs. Baird's Thrift Store, and the boys could pick out what came to be known as Midnight Madness:  honey buns, powdered sugar donuts, cupcakes, whatever they wanted.  It was my way of saying thank you to them for being newspaper boys and a way to encourage them to get up at midnight to role papers and throw the routes.

Even at midnight friends would occasionally come by and help roll the papers.  Winter, summer, spring, and fall for three years?  four?  Toward the end things began to lose the "fun," but Larry, Jamie, and Christopher were always faithful.

Moving to Palestine, Texas

Let's see.  The best I can remember, Larry, Jamie, Christopher and I moved to Palestine in 1984.  We moved to their father's home place on Tennessee Avenue.  His mom had passed away, no one was living in it, and his brother's approved our living there so that I could home school the children.

Things had happened in the public school system that I couldn't tolerate:  the teachers and principals said that Christopher needed to be medicated.  "Medicate him or get him out," to be precise.  Well, I couldn't find a single doctor that was willing to write the prescription!  They said he wasn't hyperactive, that his attention span rivaled their own, that he COULD read (though the school said he couldn't), in fact, he could read on a third grade level and he was only in the beginning of the second grade.  (Fools!  Of course he could read!  I taught Larry and Jamie to read before they entered kindergarten - and I taught Christopher the same way!)

Well, enough of that.

So we packed up lock, stock, and barrel and moved to Palestine.  It wasn't long before their father followed us.  He got a job delivering newspapers for the Palestine Herald-Press.  Pretty soon he was telling the boys that if they helped him, he'd pay them.  They helped and helped, but Pa never paid.  Pa also didn't pay child support.  Somehow, I'm not sure how it actually happened, somehow I ended up taking over the routes so that the kids could get their money.  (Funny.  I don't remember if they ever DID get paid anything except food, clothing, and all the things a parent is supposed to provide...)

We did have a good time with the paper routes - and so did our friends, and ultimately John Watts' parents.  I think THEY had the best time of all!  As we would drive down the street throwing papers from the car, Granny Beth and Daddy John would fill us in on the history of the folks living in the homes we passed.  Mmm-mmm!  How I wish we had written some of that stuff down back then...  Daddy John has passed away, but maybe, if we drove those routes again with Granny Beth she could still remember some of the stories.

All the while, we established the Blair House Family Learning Center, and I set about continuing the education of my kids.  I figured that if I could give them a good solid foundation in reading, writing, and arithmetic they could ultimately teach themselves anything they wanted to learn for the rest of their lives - with no drugs involved!!

And so it was.