Happy Trails To You…

Dear Reader:

A question on Jeopardy one night this past week brought back a funny memory for Brooke and me! The Jeopardy question asked what Victorville, California was once known for…. ( correct response… the Roy Rogers-Dale Evans museum… in the form of a question please!)

Brooke and I immediately started singing Happy Trails to You… before we meet again…It all started in the spring of our freshman year… Jackson was dating someone steady…as she and her date would start walking to his car… from the second story windows of the dorm… we would start singing Happy Trails to You as loudly as possible … much to the chagrin of Jackson and her date… who, embarrassed, would take off running to the car. Now we ask… what else are good friends for?

We were determined to stay upbeat for our last day together…I got up early and began exploring more dirt roads and old homes.

At one point I had gone searching for a series of bushes beside the highway that were covered in lovely orange trumpet vine. I finally found them -pulled off a side road and took the picture (trying to enlarge it) but all my editing didn’t do the scene justice… disappointed I turned to walk back to my car and there, all alone, the most beautiful gladiolus was ” standing ” right beside me adorned in my two favorite colors -orange and yellow!

I started thinking… isn’t that the way it is in life… if we try to live life in ” tunnel vision ” don’t we often miss the most important moments and scenes by concentrating too hard on just one objective? Whereas if we stop, pause, and look around… there is a whole new world waiting for us to discover?

So until tomorrow… we Ya’s have departed to go our separate ways … knowing that we are never far from each other as long as our hearts continue beating and safeguarding the memories of love and friendship that first drew us together!!

Today is my favorite day -Winnie the Pooh

For our ” Last Supper” we turned to Jimmy Buffet for help!

About Becky Dingle

I was born a Tarheel but ended up a Sandlapper. My grandparents were cotton farmers in Laurens, South Carolina and it was in my grandmother’s house that my love of storytelling began beside an old Franklin stove. When I graduated from Laurens High School, I attended Erskine College (Due West of what?) and would later get my Masters Degree in Education/Social Studies from Charleston Southern. I am presently an adjunct professor/clinical supervisor at CSU and have also taught at the College of Charleston. For 28 years I taught Social Studies through storytelling. My philosophy matched Rudyard Kipling’s quote: “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” Today I still spread this message through workshops and presentations throughout the state. The secret of success in teaching social studies is always in the story. I want to keep learning and being surprised by life…it is the greatest teacher. Like Kermit said, “When you’re green you grow, when you’re ripe you rot.”
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