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“Ugh, what time is it Honey?”

“Umh, I don’t know. My eyes aren’t focused yet. Just a minute. It’s 5:30 a.m.”

“5:30 a.m.”, I exclaimed! “God hasn’t even woke the sun up yet! Isn’t there something in the Bible about getting up too early?”

“No, sweetheart, I think you’ve been reading too many of your own stories. I’ve never seen that scripture. Go back to sleep. We still have fifteen minutes,” -- and with that we both rolled over and tried to grab a few winks.

It was a very important morning for us because we had a 7 a.m. appointment with a kindergarten student. It was our first trip to school with my granddaughter to have breakfast on Grandparents Day at Magnolia’s Ellisor Elementary.

I grew up as a Tomball Cougar. My brother was a Cougar, my sisters were Cougars, my daughter was a Tomball Cougar and my son was a Cougar, but when my daughter married, they bought a home in Magnolia ISD.

I never in my life envisioned the local school districts growing like they have and for the first time in my life I set foot in Bulldog Country. Now lest anyone chastise me for starting a rivalry between the schools, I do really and truly have a tongue in cheek attitude about this. The rivalry between local school districts has been around ever since Ug went to Rock Quarry High and had stoneball games against Mo from Tar Pit ISD. In other words, high schools have always prided themselves in their local mascots and school pride was not invented by myself. It’s always been around.

Before we entered the building I asked my kindergartner if I could run in the halls and she gave me strict instructions about walking. I then asked her if I could holler in school and again she promptly taught me the rules.

Breakfast consisted of a doughnut, a cup of coffee and an orange drink. I enjoyed sitting at the almost too small table and watching the other children in the cafeteria. My granddaughter did her best to be the little lady she is, but as she began eating her pastries, small crumbs began to fall on her clothing. Pawpaw did his best to keep them brushed off, as she and Meme talked about her surroundings. I don’t talk much in crowds. The background noises play havoc on my one good ear and I really can’t hear much except garbled jargon. I like to watch people.

Human nature is funny but mostly, very predictable. When you see a grandparent with a particular child you can generally get a well rounded snapshot of the family. Now of course this doesn’t always hold true because of our different family situations, but in general you can tell a lot about families by each generation, especially if you see them together in one place. I have my own standards on how I personally judge each group I observe and I think my success ratio is pretty good.

I met Mrs. Hyde, my granddaughters teacher. I saw Billy Richey and his family and I also saw the lady who “blows the whistle.” My granddaughter doesn’t understand that the lady that “blows the whistle” is called a coach. I think that somehow in my granddaughters mind that lady that “blows the whistle” was the most important person in the school. 

After breakfast we were invited into the gym for assembly. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited and several students were recognized for their achievements. A carefully worded moment of silence was held and then the principal emphasized several school rules.

I was very impressed when Mr. Campbell mentioned that one of the rules was the usage of the words sir and ma’am.

I actually was somewhat stunned by it, because in today’s society our southern respect seems to be offensive to many people. I’ve gotten older and just cranky enough that when someone deliberately tells me not to address them as sir or ma’am because they think it is actually offensive, I do it on purpose and apologize all in one breath just to aggravate them.

All of this happened over six years ago and now my once “little granddaughter” is growing up to be a fine young lady and a new “little granddaughter” has come along to follow. Ellisor will be a memory this next school year to my now “oldest granddaughter” and new stories and new events in life will soon arise.

Keep up the good work Ellisor and way to go Mr. Campbell. Maybe together we can teach people that underwear is to be worn under the clothing and not outwardly.

Clifford