"The Time Has Come," the Walrus Said.......

Yesterday was my parent's wedding anniversary. They have been dead now for many years, but I still think of this as a special day to remember them. I'm not sure what a "war bride" is, but their wedding would sort of fit I think. They met during WWII when my dad was stationed in Bossier City, Louisiana, my mom's home town. He was transferred to Officer Candidate School in Florida. When he was almost finished there, my mom traveled by herself with all the documents she'd need for their wedding. (She was a Catholic convert so she had to have proof of receiving the sacrements) She wore a brown and tan suit and a "diamond" necklace that I still have. Not real diamonds, but sparkly and pretty. Right away my dad was sent to California, so my mom was one of only a few women on the train with the troops. Except for a couple years during the Korean War, my mom lived away from her first family whom she really missed.

When we were little, my mom used to read us poems. Maybe they didn't have as many picture books way back then. I don't think I read poems to my kids, but it is something I remember about my mom. This is one of them. It's been stuck in my head for several days:

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes - and ships - and sealing-wax -
Of cabages - and kings -
And why the sea is boiling hot -
And whether pigs have wings."

I was dusting my bookshelves today (something one should do more often than once a year) and opened an old poetry book to this Lewis Carroll poem. Imagine my horror finding out that the poem is about a man and a walrus that trick some young oysters into going for a walk - then eating them!!! No wonder shildren of the '60s grew up wanting change. But I did laughed at the pig's having wings. That is probably the first I ever heard of winged pigs, Cincinnati's mascot

One poem I remember my mom reciting was Rudyard Kipling's IfI think she'd quote from it when we wanted something or disliked something. But she really liked that poem. I've kept a little ditty based on that poem which I cut out of St. B's church bulletin a long time ago.

If you can start the day without caffeine or pep pills,
If you can be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,
If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,
If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,
If you can understand when loved ones are too busy to give you time,
If you can overlook when people take things out on you when, through no fault of yours, something goes wrong,
If you take criticism and blame without resentment,
If you can face the world without lies and deceit,
If you can conquer tension without medical help,
If you can do all these things,
Then you are probably the family dog!