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Along Life’s Way
Stick-to-itiveness
By Lois E. Wilson
He found a pair of jeans without a patch, put them on, combed his hair,
and then tried to polish the tops of his shoes into a shine. They were
too worn for that. He didn’t want to stick out like a sore thumb. After
all it was the early 50’s. Reaching the kitchen, he grabbed one of his
Mom’s homemade sticky buns. When he tried to kiss her goodbye, she
backed away and said, “You have sticky fingers!” He reacted, “Mom,
don’t ever say that again. I am not a thief!”
He washed his hands, went out the door and got into his pickup truck.
He put the stick shift into gear and drove down the lane to the
highway. As he headed toward the city, he chuckled to himself. “Here I
am leaving the farm to go to the city to a barn dance. My urban dorm
mates should think about that. They like to stick it to me about living
in the sticks and that I am a stick in the mud.”
At the dance, he was about to give up and leave when he noticed a girl
across the room. She didn’t look stuck-up, so he decided to stick his
neck out and ask her to dance. She accepted with a smile. They danced
all the remaining dances together and she agreed to go out with him on
the weekend.
They dated the rest of the summer. They talked and got to know each
other. They were both only children. She was going to start college in
the fall. He had two more years to earn his agricultural degree at the
state university. Back at their respective colleges, they wrote to each
other. She often attached a sticker of interest on her letters.
He shared his high school principal had once told him he wasn’t college
material. “My Dad taught me sticks and stones may break my bones, but
words will never break me. I admit my first year was rough and I had
big trouble. A couple of courses were sticky wickets, but I decided to
stick them out. Now I have the hang of it. Most of all I really like
being in ROTC. It has broadened my interests and increased
opportunities when I get my degree.”
He knew her parents were going to be sticklers for her choice in a
husband and for her finishing her college degree. They didn’t want her
to get the short end of the stick in any facet of her life. He hoped
she would stick up for herself and him. Her parents did like him and he
promised them she would finish her degree. After his graduation, they
were married. Upon return from their honeymoon, his orders to report to
active duty in the Army were awaiting him. Off they went to start their
life together. They stuck to his promise; she finished two degrees; he
earned an MBA.
You may have guessed—this is based on the WILSON story. From my
interest in word components and puzzle construction, one day I noticed
that between the W and N in WILSON are stuck the letters I, L, S, O.
They are an anagram of LOIS—our unknown connection before we met on an
August 9th evening many years ago.
There were the two of us and then a family—sticking together—for life.
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