Herald - Lantern - Dispatch 28 May '86 71

, , •- ■ , loyride III dk By Libby Demp Forrest U (ED. NOTE: Forrest continues to bask in flowers and chocolates, recuperating from surgery. This column was published last September; most probably will remember it and not wish to read further.) Dear No. 1 Son, Thanks a lot for not taking the wallpaper off the wall when you were packing up to go off to college. It gives me a good feeling to know you left something behind. I know I have to grow up sooner or later. You seemed to have grown up before I did. You took the posters off the walls; you took most of the furniture; you took all the junk I was always yelling about. WHEN I GO INTO your room now and look around, I wonder where the years went since you moved out of the room you used to share with No. 2. That seemed a little strange at the time. What that change signified at that time was a little independence for each of you; you liked to get up early and No. 2 never much cared for mornings. Your room became a sanctuary, a stereo chamber, a museum of rock stars who papered the walls. I used to say, " Look at this place. How can you sleep in a room with those creeps staring at you?" LAST YEAR when you went off to college for the first time there was a whisper of anticipation that you'd be back now and then. Now those whispers seem to bounce off the walls where the creeps used to hang. Sure there's Thanksgiving and Christmas to look forward to. But if last year is any indication of what lies ahead, you'll come home and look around and say the house seems different. I think it is you who is different, not the hou%. OH, THE CURTAINS came down and new curtains go up once in a while, and the old rocking chair that was broken for so long finally gets put up in the attic, and a new doo dad is hung up on the hall bookcase, but the house is the same. It's been a spell since you flung a baseball bat across the front, its sound making my teeth chatter three rooms away while I stood at the stove. It's been a spell since I heard you fighting with No. 2 in the driveway over who used your basketball and left it hidden in the weed patch. I MISS those fights I always fostered a clean-living, soft-speaking household, but oh. we had our little differences. I miss those little differences. I miss hearing you say, "Mom, you're wrong. 100 percent wrong." Love, Mom McJ. JK ,r!i 11 JTliZgL Ruin' /' 111, // // it lit Do you not envy the rain its freedom/ y / 'I To come and go as it pleases. ' / / Q / And to be whatever it wants to be?/ A / / / ' , l 6 > ■' / ' ! P ! J / As the rain is a nurturing source / , For the flowers and trees and Man. i I . j So should man be a nurturer for his fellow man. / V J ! l / / / / ' j How often we are born to one form, / ! I j Only to differ from the way we were j I ' During the passionate summers of youth () . Hardening, into more enduring molds, j Until, with snow white hair. / ' / We begin to mellow I t J / ; 0 / , / • ' 6 ' ' /J If Man could mellow at birth ' t / His vehemence toward those who are different. He would have already learned the lessons of rain. ; / ! •' I U ! 6 He would appreciate that we are all Seasons... J Seasons meeting each other at different times. / Sharing love and turmoil, peace and strife. / Rain and sunshine, sleet and snow. / j j / V f ' B-v' Harry Emerson Otto ' ^ J / ^ !

5 Z>eAem »*/>, I Trampin' through the meadow - got a whistle for the noon with my cap swung back - my feet unshod - to feel the first of June. Got not a care that follows • got not a care that shows - got mud and sandy coated feet with grass curled 'tween my toes. The honeysuckle makes me drunk - the crickets ask me why. The sun skims off the river and squints into my eye. Trampin' through the meadow - the cobwebs catch my nose. The bullfrogs swap some croakin' when a b«e beds down a rose. Got a branch to sling my shirt on • got a swimin' hole to try got a rock to study minnies - got a sunny spot to dry. Watchin' dragonflies and swallows slidin' down the sungot rhymes to splice and songs to sing before their sliding's done. By E j Duffy

Survivors Advised To Apply Promptly

Surviving dependents of a deceased worker should apply for Social Security benefits as soon as possible following a worker s death, Del Brooks, Social Security manager in Wildwood, said recently. Applying promptly will allow benefits to start in the shortest possible time, Brooks said. In addition, some benefits cannot be paid for more than one month before the month of application. Social Security benefits can be paid to these survivors: Unmarried children under 18, or 18-19 if full time secondary school student. UNMARRIED children over 18 who were disabled before 22 and remain disabled.

A surviving widow or I widower of any age caring I for a child under 16 or I disabled who gets benefits. I Widow or widower 60 or I over. Disabled widow or I widower 50-60. Dependent parents 62 or I over. Benefits can also be paid I to a surviving divorced I spouse if she or he was mar- I ried to the deceased worker I 10 years or more. GRANDCHILDREN can I get benefits on a grand- I parent's record under cer- I tain circumstances. More information about I Social Security survivor I benefits can be obtained at I the Wildwood Social Securi- I ty Office, 136 E. Spicer Ave. I The telephone number is I 800-272-1111.

Lee: Man of Honor I

(From Page 70) responsible for his actions and must act on his own conscience? Pity the poor duped military man who does not believe in the cause he fights for; he makes a poor soldier and is no man at all. While Lee was a student at West Point, he paid for his schooling. He earned his salary while in the service of the United States. A series of events changed his position and being a man of honor, he followed his conscience. I have never heard the Civil War called the "late unpleasantness," but it does minimize the memory to heal the wounds of war that Stratton is so concerned about. I doubt anyone living in the south at the time of the war felt so lightly about it.

IN CASE YOU FEEL I fit I into the hardcore southern I slot. I have lived in the I north as well as in the I south. My only direct I relative in the country at I the time of the war enlisted I in the Union Army. If Stratton believes his I statements will help heal I the wounds of war, he is I very naive. There is a per- I sonal spite there between I the lines - just hope he I won't come to Florida with I his carpet bag filled with I prejudice, insults and bias I to put the natives in their I place. I know not all of Cape I May County feels as I Fowler Stratton. I have I many good friends there. Rl/TH KENDIRCK ERKE I St. Augustine, Fla. I

I Wf'flf i I MOUND | I THE | I CORNER | the shops of 9800 3rd avenue Harbor Bike & Beach Shop Bicycle sales, service, and rentals. Rafts and B beach supplies. 368-3697 H Irish Pavilion m The original Irish |H import shop on the RJ Jersey coast 368-1112 Lillian Albus Special occasion clothes and elegant E2 casuals 368-5111 Needle Me Handpainted needlepoint H exclusive designs, DMC, Ey and cross stitch fabrics 368-6006 M Olive Tree Designer jewelry, graphics, M posters, and accessories H for your home 368-1612 I Quintessence Designer dresses and sportswear, lingerie, and accessories 368-4164 Serendipity Custom floral arrangements and gifts 368-7033 I Village Shop 5 ■ Couturier fashions, beachwear, separates, and accessories 368-2694 I Open Daily £