Bucket Punch

A recipe for life...

Ingredients:
compassion, humility, acceptance, humor, love, friendship, dreams, joy, faith, service

In one bucket:
Pour in 1 gallon of compassion
1 quart of acceptance
1 cup of humility
1 pint humor
8 ounces of sparkling joy
3 cups friendship-one each from family, friends, community
dash of dreams
pinch of faith in human kind
squirt of love in each serving glass
sprinkle generously with service

Stir with courage
Serve with a smile over the rocks of shared experiences

Serve in:
reflective crystal
topped with lemon slice or cherries
sprig of the inevitable

Serve hot or cold, 365 days for a century
Sip slowly hearing the sounds of laughter and treasuring nature’s tranquility

Contributed by Ann

Citizenship

My Citizenship Picture (1947)

It reminds me of a number of different emotions. The day of my examination was a day of trepidation. My parents-in-law drove my husband and me to St. Paul. I trembled through the whole trip which took longer then than it does these days, afraid I wouldn’t pass the exam. Marriage for me meant for life so I know I would be in America for the rest of my life so I needed to apply for Citizenship. I took a course by mail at the U of MN and learned all about the workings of the government and what it meant to be a citizen.

I was also asked for my thoughts on different subjects. One in particular shocked me some at the time. It was, “Do you think the standard of education in the South should be on the same level as in the North?” I answered it with my own question, “Why should it be any less?” I am glad I took that route of learning. It was very thorough and I did pass the examination and was pleased to become an American and yet even so, another emotion was making itself felt about the fact I had to give up my British passport and the security it afforded me. But it wasn’t as much about losing the security since my husband had the same values as I did. If we had problems along the way we would work them out but it was like deserting my family, friends, and country, and part of my identity.

But I have been an American now for nearly 62 years and it has been good. I have a good husband and two fine children, five grandchildren, and one great grandson. I look at that picture now and say, “If only you could have seen ahead, you wouldn’t have worried one bit.” I am so glad Great Britain is an ally of the U.S. of A. How could they not be?

Contributed by: Gwynneth Schwanbeck