Life is sho
they could dunk like Michael Jor
dan. Forget practice and the blood,
sweat and tears of falling on your
face ? - eating your
liver ? they wanted to be as
Michael Jordan, right now. (I
refused to lower the basket!)
But, now that I am forty- years
old, I'm starting to have serious
doubts about saving the dessert for
last. And to tell you the truth, I am
having these doubts because so
many of my adult fhends ? grown
ups ? are telling me, It's time to
switch: Eat The Dessert First!
Life Is Short!
With the summer Olympic
games fast approaching, most of us
have seen the shoe commercial
urging us to 'play hard because life
is short.' Forget about tennis shoes,
here is the real world.
I sat down with a new friend
the other day to talk about life and
what it sometimes means to us
when we are in different age
groups. The woman, in her iate for
ties maybe early fifties told me the
story of how she had recently lost
her husband to cancer. -
"it was out of the clear blue
sky,M she said. "He was uiagooscu,
determined to have six months left,
and in six months, he was gone. H
All of their married lives they
had planned to spend the "choco
Brown
Continued from page A1
and development
Nine years ago, Michael Snow
was sent to her office for throwing a
pair of scissors at another student.
Michael was in a combined 2nd/3rd
grade class, and had been in her
office ten or twelve times in the past
two years as a result of his behavior,
she recallsr
"Michael was a nice little kid,
but he had a temper problem," she
says, looking, straight ahead at the
paneled wall in her den. "I gave him
the same kind of spanking I gave
my daughter. I gave everybody
three licks."
She remembers following pro??>
ccdure: first calling the chiMkk
father, who was Mfc of town, then
calling the child's mother, who
agreed that the child should be
spanked and sent back to class.
After the first hit, she says, Michael
tried so aggressively to get away
from her that she asked her assistant
principal to hold the boy, "so I
wouldn't hit his hand or anywhere
but his buttocks."
Later, the mother visited the
-child and Brown says she personal
ly talked with him and made sure he
was calm before he went home.
"The next morning the father
appeared in the office and accused
me of abusing his son," she said.
"He showed me pictures of his son's
buttocks that I can frankly say did
not look good." She says she did
not hit him particularly hard, but
thinks the time lapse between the
first and second hit may have
caused the unusual bruising.
Brown says she and the father,
Larry B. Snow, talked at length. She
says she explained that she worked
extensively with Michael on his
behavior, and that "I did more for
Michael than for other kids because
of the trouble he got into."
Unknown to Brown, Snow
taped that conversation and played
it later for Superintendent Zane Ear
gle, and showed him the pho
tographs. At the end of the school
year, the Snows transferred Michael
to Hall- Woodward.
"I was ready to go to court,"
says Brown. "What I did, I did by
the book and in the line of duty. The
times I used corporal punishment
always left a bad taste in my mouth.
When all other interventions failed,
I used it only with parental permis
sion."
If elected to the school board.
Brown would retire from her posi
tion with the school administration.
She says feels well-qualified to
serve on the school board, despite
the publicity that may come her
way as a result of the spanking inci
dent
"If I feel I have something tp
offer in a situation, I'll go ahead
anyway. Whatever this election
brings, I will continue to be a part
of education in some way and I will
continue to work for ^children,
teachers and parents of the Winston -
Salem/Forsyth County School Sys
tem."
it, eat the dessert first! Continued from page A1
late cake" of their latter years with
each other. But now he was not
there and wouldn't be back. She
frft tf? travel. the rrsi nf ihr
way, alone. He advice to me: Eat
the dessert first.
A 55 year-old woman told me
of how suddenly it was that she
lost her very best friend ? her
husband, just a few years-age;
He was only forty-seven years
old and for the two of them, things
were just starting to get really, real
ly sweet. He was doing marvelous
ly well in his work and she was
equally as happy being supportive
of him, and being involved in her
awn right in a hnst of rnmnrwmfy
social causes. They lived in a great
house and as for the children, they
were growing up nicely. Soon they
would be on their own.
And then one day ?he iound
IrerseTTseated at the dessert table
eating chocolate cake, sliced origi
nally for two, alone. Her very best
friend, the person she had placed
first above anyone else including
the children was gone.
I couldn't help but cry a little
when she told me the story of
how, or. the morning after her hus
band had died, that her eldest son
came in to comfort her and said,
"well at least mom, now we will
be first."
These and many other circum
stances have forced me to rethink
my whole idea of when should I
ask for the dessert. I think that 1 am
about to change.
The next time I go out for
lunch or maybe dinner, instead of
having the meat and vegetables
first, I am going to ask for the pie
tmxlc. Bui that is nut ail. ~
Yes, maybe what I should start
doing is turning to the last few
pages of some of my favorite
books that I have not yet read.
- Perhaps I will fast forward the
video player so that I can see the
last fifteen minutes of all the clas
sic movies, I've missed.
Maybe I'll forget about foot
ball and basketball altogether ?
until the playoffs. Heck, maybe I'll
even start to sleep through the
preacher's sermon until her starts to
hoop.
I don't think that I am alone. A
father recently told me that he and
his son, ten years of age, are prac
ticing to run in a marathon race
together. That is chocolate cake.
Yes ma'am, I think that it's time for
all of us to call for the dessert ?
chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla
with walnuts and whipjjed cream
on top.
FOOD FAIR HOMETOWN LOW PRICES!
SAVE ON FRESH CAULIFLOWER OR
BROCCOLI
rOUR
EACH
JUST
DIXIE CRYSTALS GRANULATED
SAVK l()<^
STRONG VIVA PAPER
TOWEL
ROLLS
JUST
SUCH A HOMETOWN FEELING!
SAVE ON REFRESHING
ANGEL SOFT BATHROOM
A.V
FOOD FAIR HOMETOWN
TOODP HOMETOWN HOT OE MP SM-1 g
FOOI) FAIR
HOMETOWN
BEE F
SAVK $1.00
TYSON-HOLLY FARMS BONELESS
CHICKEN BREAST
GRADE "A"
LB.
JUST
49
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