Mrs. Wiggins

Today is Monday, and we have the day off......or at least I do.  Bethel called at 1:40pm and said: "Hey, did anyone call you to say we were meeting at 1:30 today?"  I said: "NO, but I wish I knew!"  Oh well, I think they will be just fine without me today.  Truthfully, my feet hurt, my knees hurt, my shoulders hurt, and my kidney is killing me.  I could use another day off.  I am still having some issues with my kidney, so peeing is not fun right now.  Sort of like peeing sand spurs and lighter fluid.  Oh well, I only have myself to blame...its all good.  I tend to be a little barbaric in the way I handle my own health, and I am afraid I have passed these traits on to my children as well.  Mike busted his eye open in college, and he wanted to butterfly and superglue the huge gaping cut closed.  The doctor had a fit, so Mike got some regular stitches above the eye instead.  Funny how these things are passed down.  My daughter Kristin is also tough as nails, but unlike her father, she is also very intelligent. 

Kristin was born when her Mom (Penny) and I were very young.  We were a young couple without a dime to our name. Naturally, we did not have any money for things like baby furniture and so forth, so we improvised. One day, Penny and I decided to go fishing behind the apartment (the only activity we could afford) so we jumped into my Camaro and drove down the dirt road leading to this canal.  We were talking along the way about a baby bed,and naturally, we did not have any money to buy one.  Low and behold, we look up, and there was a old baby bed (all set up) in a vacant lot next to this canal.  This bed was completely out-of-place in this vacant junk-yard lot, but there it was right in front of our eyes.  I disassembled the old bed and took it home.  The bed was stripped and repainted, new decals added (baby lambs I think) and my Mom purchased us a new mattress for it.  This old bed was as nice as any store-bought bed.  God answered our needs on that day, and he later blessed us with a perfect little girl.  We named her Kristin (after the girl who shot JR on the TV series Dallas)

We always knew Kristin was a little ahead of her peer group.  She started walking at 8-9 months old, and even her teeth came in early.  We would read to her and look at her books over and over. Kristin could never get enough of me reading her books, and telling her stories.  I still remember the story of "Oscar Beaver." LOL.   Naturally, with doting grandparents, she had several educational toys as well.  I used to tease Kristin and have some fun with her when she was very young.  I remember she had this toy called 'See and Say' Farmyard.  You pointed the arrow, pulled a string, and the toy would say something like: "The Cow says "MOOOOOOO" ...you get the drift.  I found the stickers (representing the animals) peeled off pretty easily.  So, I decided to mix the animals up on the facing of the toy.  Kristin pointed the arrow at the cow, and the toy would say: "The Chicken says Cock a Doodle Dooo!"  She tried it again:  She pointed the arrow at the horse.  "The Cow says MOOOOOO!"  LOL.  She quickly lost interest in that toy because it was "Stupid"  LOL.  I had great fun with that one. 

We would observe  Kristin "reading" her books at age 4 or so.  At first, we thought she was memorizing the pages by the pictures; however, sometimes, she would be reading pages without pictures.  We would be driving down the road (this was before car seats really) and Kristin would be standing in the front seat saying:  "BURGER KING, BURGER KING!"  or McDONALDS, McDONALDS and so forth.  At first, we thought she was seeing the billboards and recognizing the Logos,  but, when she blurted out "Wilson Chiropratic" (or something like that)  we knew something was up.  Penny was washing the dog one day, and Kristin was looking at the shampoo bottle and giving instructions: "Mom. it says to wash, rinse thoroughly, and repeat."  She was just 4 years old.  Kristin would stand on our coffee table and sing: "Just a Swingin" which was a big hit by (John Anderson) at the time.  Kristin liked to look at the farm yard animals when we drove around town.  She would say: "Look Daddy, Moo Towells" (COWS)   I would say: "NOPE, that is a horse!"  She would get really silent and quietly blurt out:  "ooks like a moo towell"  (yes, I said "ooks")  Even at that age, Kristin had to be right, she had to have the last word.  I had a lot of fun at her expense. 

Kristin was a whiner. She would start whining about something, and I would say: "Doug and Wendy WHINER!" which was a take-off on a Saturday Night Live skit. Kristin HATED that. Broke her pretty quickly of whining. For no reason whatsoever, I started calling her: Mrs. Wiggins" which was a take off of a Carol Burnett character on her variety show. Tim Conway (another star on the show) would say: "How are you, Mrs. a Wiggins?" LOL. I know, it's stupid.  But, I still call her "Wiggins" or "Wiggy" today.   She was just so damn cute. 

We knew school was going to be a problem for us.  We put Kristin in pre-school at a local church school.  We got a phone call .  They wanted to advance Kristin into Kindergarten.  Ok we said.  Then they wanted to move her to first grade.  We said: "Maybe"  Then they recommended the new public school opening which had programs for bright kids like Kristin.  This school was the perfect fit for her.  Kristin advanced rapidly, and at her own pace throughout her grade school years.  I never remember her getting anything other than an "A" on a report card.  By this time, Kristin was smarter than both me and her mom....and I am serious. 

By this time, we had moved to Sebastian, and Kristin applied for, and was accepted into Sebastian's International Baccalaureate Program before it became all watered down. Only 17 students of the original class received their IB diploma.  This high intensity academic program paved the way into Vanderbilt University and the rest is history. 

I am so proud of my daughter, and I regret not being a better father to her.  She deserved better than I gave her for sure. Six years ago, she gave me my greatest gift ever received.  More on her tomorrow. 

GZ