Second Chance

              Just last week someone asked me, “Kay, What would you change in your life if you were given a second chance?”  Wow!! I had to think about that.  Let’s see . . .

              As a Depression baby, I grew up on a busy street, El Paso Drive, in northern Los Angeles, oldest of three children. Dad had a job; Mom stayed home with us kids.  Perhaps we were poor, but, we didn’t know it.  We did a lot of family stuff like primitive camping and weekends at the beach.  My parents loved me, even more, they were proud of me.  No, I would not change any of this.

              At nineteen, I married a good man, Harold “Pete” Clark, who had chosen the ministry as his life profession.  We came to Indiana for Pete to attend seminary at Butler, thinking we would go back to California.  Pete served the church in New Lisbon, Indiana for six years and Chesterfield Christian Church for 38 years.  During that time we had four children who were able to attend the same school system.  No, I would not change any of this. Yet, I would change Pete’s untimely death.  When he was 28, he became a Type One diabetic and was insulin dependent for 41 years, but it took his life. He was only 69.  We never went back to California.

              I had attended a junior college before we moved to Indiana and wanted to finish by education to be a music teacher.  Fortunately Ball State Teachers College accepted me and I completed my music degree.  However, I had done my student teaching at Anderson High school with an excellent teacher, Richard Seaver. After seeing how it was done by Mr. Seaver, I knew because of my family and church responsibilities, I could not do an adequate job fulfilling the requirements of any high school music program. So I enrolled in and completed a Master Degree program for English at Ball State. As a result I was able to teach English two years at Ball State, twenty-three years at Anderson High School and fifteen years part time at Anderson University.  No. I would not change any of this.

              The opportunities had arisen for me to cruise.  As a result I have been privileged to visit and to see some wonderful places in other parts of our world: Michelangelo’s statue of David, the Pearl Harbor Exposition, the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel and Westminster Abbey, to name just a few.  I have even walked the Omaha Beach in Normandy.  No, I would not change any of this.

              But I would be remiss if I did not mention what I would least not want to change: the family that God has blessed me with.  Pete and I had four children: two girls and two boys.

Being a preacher’s kid can be a challenge some times, but on the whole, they made it through adolescence without too much trouble.  Today they are all married and are contributing citizens, one is a lay minister, one followed his dad as a pastor.  They have brought eight children into the world and now they have grandchildren of their own.  I am the grateful great grandmother of twelve blood “greats” and six “greats” as the result of second marriages. I count it an honor and privilege to be a Mom.  No, I would not change any of this

              Well, I have thought about the major areas of my life I realize I have been extremely blessed, and I am very thankful.