August 16, 2019 Issue, Page 4 of 10

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Page 4 The Elk City News, Elk City, Oklahoma Friday, August 16, 2019 Opinion Page EIM|p™ = 2caLy, “ElkCituNews y / Serving Western Oklahoma since 1901 School days are back in session Photo by MetroCreative. A Marriage of Hearts By Don Munsch, Editor Glynda Lomax is a Chris- had come by selling expen- motions but without any joy. tian author and podcaster sive floor wax and she spent Family and friends came to Some days in life you just remember forever. who resides in the Ozark all their grocery money for give their condolences, but Mountains of Northern Ar- the week buying it. nothing could ever fill the One of them is the first day of school. kansas with her two very He worked hard and tried void his dying had left in bossy dogs. She wrote her with all his strength to give her heart, or in her life. Each For yours truly, my first day of high school as a sopho- (first About Life..column in her everything she had never morning she rose, cleaned more included crutches. I had sprained my ankle playing ‘2003 for a newspaper in had. For years they were still the house and then ... noth- basketball sometime in the weeks before school. After deal- Dallas. She is planning her poor as could be, but never ing. ing with the ordeal of crutches for the first days — about two next book, cared. They had each other Just silence and emptiness weeks — and having to navigate a new campus, I ditched and that was all that mat- without him there. “Chains do not hold a tered, and they built the hap- She stopped sewing and them and just let my ankle heal as best it could. marriage together. It is piest of lives together. doing other things she pre- The next year’s first day wasn’t better. I locked my keys threads, hundreds of tiny Decades later found them viously enjoyed. There threads which sew people retired and enjoying their seemed to be no purpose in our lives ever feel meaning- in the car. How’s that for being distracted? together through the years.” golden years when tragedy anything anymore, since he ful again? Or did our lives — Simone Signoret struck. They had been hap- was no longer there to do I don’t recall much about my senior year first day. Must pily married nearly 60 years them for or enjoy them with. only hold meaning when have been an uneventful first day of school. She was only 13 and he when he was diagnosed with Rare indeed is the match they were here with us? Can was 19 when they met. She cancer. The doctors gave of hearts my aunt and uncle we be just ourselves? Do we As a reporter, I usually do some kind of first day story. looked and acted so much him a month. She was be- found and the happy mar- even want to? We were so happy being us. older, he could hardly be- yond devastated. Her life, riage that followed. Is it any Sometimes, it’s the story about a new school opening, lieve her when she told him so intimately entwined with wonder then why so many Marriage is like an empty which can be pretty exciting. her age several dates later. his, would never be the same are willing to travel to the box. What you get out of a She had gone to her girl- again after he was gone. ends of the earth in search marriage as a couple de- Nine years ago, I did a story about the first day of George friend’s house for a fitting He was concerned with of that one person that ful- pends on how much you Ranch High School, near Houston. Three years ago, I went and he thought she was the whether she would have fills them, or why they feel each put in to the marriage. Now she goes to the box to the opening of Braswell High School in Denton County cutest brown-eyed girl he enough money to live on so devasted upon losing that had ever laid eyes on. Af- after his death. “I wanted love? They are gone. We each day and finds it emp- in North Texas. That school still needed work done on its exterior space — landscaping — when it opened its doors. terwards he took her to the to give you everything you will never hear them laugh ty except for the haunting church to meet her mother never had,” he said once as again, never reach for their memories of the laughter in It’s interesting to live in communities that are growing and within days they were they were discussing the fu- hand, never rush home from his eyes, the night he held dating. ture. work to share our day with her when her mother died, and need to build new campuses as their student population Three dates later he pro- Though the doctors gave them. his early morning smile, and has grown. That happened with a district I covered at my posed they get married. Her him only a month, he lived Gone. In a moment’s the immense grief that tears last newspaper gig. That district’s new elementary campus response was, “Don’t be a year, never showing any time, our lives are forever at her heart each time she — increasing the total number of elementary campuses to silly! I’m too young to get signs of pain, only fatigue. changed and all the happy thinks of the years stretch- married.” Six months later As the end grew nearer, he years we shared, and all ing out before her without three — opens next year. they did it anyway. He had felt like doing less, and slept the sad ones, become trea- him by her side. Occasionally, I do a story on a new teacher's first day. fallen madly in love with her much more. One day when sured memories. No longer It can all change in a mo- innocent brown eyes and her they were alone, he said to is there an endless supply ment’s time. Death owes In 1999, my story was about a grade school teacher at a notice to no one. Tonight, naivete, she with his honesty her, “All I ever wanted was of new memories, the ones district near Amarillo. Five years ago, I did a story about if your loved one is still by and shyness. for you to love me.” With we have are all we will ever a choir teacher's first day at a middle school in Odessa, There was little work to be tears running down her be given, and we must now your side, hug them a little Texas. had in the dusty little West cheeks, she touched his face come to terms with living tighter and remember to say Texas town of Clarendon and said, “You don’t know with their memory instead T love you and tell them all Sometimes, it’s not a teacher but an event that stands out, and having no money, they just how much I do love of living with them. the reasons why. You might such as the solar eclipse two years ago. On that day, I went spent their wedding night in you.” The everyday activities never get another chance. to an intermediate school and reported on a science teacher the Clarendon Park. Early She was thankful he didn’t shared, once full of sweet- It could all change tomor- doing a lesson about the eclipse. married life brought them seem to feel any pain. Just ness and contentment, now row. It could all change to- heartache when their first before he died, his breathing become shocks of raw grief, night. And still other times, I just observe parents bringing their child, a son, died at one day became labored and then ... reality slaps in the face of all “A great marriage is not children on the first day and record the parents’ and chil- old, but they kept on going. he was just gone. It was then we have lot that we can never when the ‘perfect couple’ dren’s thoughts. He never scolded her in spite that the silence set in. regain. Can we go on? Can comes together. It is when of her youth, even when The months after his death we walk the next step with- an imperfect couple learns Lately, in the last few years, I have been seeing “Last once early in their marriage, drug slowly past and found out that one person we have to enjoy their differences.” a high pressure sales person her still going through the built our lives around? Will — Dave Meurer First Day” shirts that some high school seniors have been Schools should pursue additional wearing. The first day of school is always a day to look forward to, for both teachers and students alike. Everything’s fresh and a blank slate lies before both instructors and students. It’s a chance to start making make one’s mark and taking that first step on a journey. federal funding for free meals By Oklahoma Institute and lunches to all students, importantly, it helps to pro- money on the table and for- Students in Elk City Public Schools went back to class for Child Advocacy CEO maintain a count of total duce healthier and happier going the financial aid of- Thursday. Other local school districts, such as Merritt and Joe Dorman breakfasts and total lunches kids who do better in school fered by CEP. Canute, began classes last week. To everyone going back served daily, agree not to because they are properly To review which school to school, at whatever level, have a good year, and best of One year ago in my week- collect household applica- nourished.CEP is a great districts were eligible and ly column, I wrote about the tions for a school meal pro- program, but it only helps participated last year, you luck. Community Eligibility Pro- gram, and determine if non- the children in schools that can view them at https:// vision (CEP), a program ad- federal funds are needed to participate. Unfortunately, sde.ok.gov/child-nutrition- Have something ministered by the U.S. De- cover costs above the USDA. many eligible schools do partment of Agriculture that helps to fund free breakfast requirement. The benefits of this pro- not. Based on numbers re- leased by the State Depart- documents and also see which districts were close to qualifying. If you live in a to share? and lunches for all students in eligible schools. The pro- gram aims to help students gram are obvious. It helps low-income students access free and nutritious meals ment of Education in April 2019, only 44 of the 153 district which might qualify, eligible school districts in contact your local school ad- without creating a stigma; ministration or board mem- Send your in low-income, high-need Oklahoma had enrolled. areas, so schools are only it streamlines school caf- That means that of the bers to see if this might be eligible if 40 percent of their eterias by eliminating the 348,000 Oklahoma students a possibility for your area. When it comes to educating editorial to student body qualifies for need for cashiers; it reduces who could be in schools government assistance like paperwork for parents who supported by CEP, only our children and properly SNAP, or the Supplemental would otherwise have to ap- about 117,000 are. More feeding them, every dollar Nutrition Assistance Pro- ply for free and reduced cost than half of those students counts. At OICA, we be- editor@ecdaily- gram. A school interested in this lunches; and it eliminates the need for a school bu- in CEP-enrolled schools were from Oklahoma City lieve our schools should do everything in their power to program must meet the es- reaucracy tasked with track- and Tulsa. That means that a participate in programs like news.com tablished eligibility require- ing things like unpaid meal great many schools — mostly ments, serve free breakfasts charges. Finally, and most in rural areas — are leaving this and ensure their stu- dents reap the benefits.