By Loretta Humble/Around the Town
I passed that cow as on my way to town the other morning and laughed. Then I thought about it and turned around to try to get a picture. In my haste to catch her in the act, I kind of stopped in the road. Brandon Huls caught me at it and told me to stop playing in the road. The lighting wasn’t right, but I think you can get the idea. (By the way, she was not stuck. I watched her straighten up and turn around and go right back.)
I posted the picture on Facebook, saying I was thinking about a column about the grass always seeming greener, I got some good responses. My daughter Tina Norwood didn’t try to get a parable out of it. She suggested maybe the cow was looking for some grass that hadn’t been used for a bathroom.
Virginia Reeder offered some help with phrasing: “Maybe instead of focusing on ‘the grass is always greener’ your article could address how some folks always seem to strive for the things they cannot reach or get instead of enjoying what they already have. Same idea, different approach.”
I said that was what I was trying to say.
Virginia replied: I know when I was teaching, so many of our youngsters had a hard time figuring out what was meant by many of our cliches, axioms, and other old sayings so we would break them down and look at them in different ways. I always hoped to get the kids to see how those old sayings actually fit into their lives, even though it may not be obvious to them. They always tried to be so literal instead of getting the analogies, I guess.
Virginia makes a good point. Then Cheryl Kutscherousky chimed in about a teacher who took another approach: “ I had a teacher who had us draw it literally. Somehow, the drawings were both hilarious and inciteful. Once we finished laughing at the picture, we could better discern the meaning. Loved, loved, loved Mrs. Edwards!”
I would have loved to have either one of these ladies as a teacher! Each obviously really cared about getting the message across to their students.
Then I got this response from Lisa Anding: “As you know the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. But… I think this cow has a mighty will to get what she wants. Sometimes you have to go over, around and under to get to the good stuff. I think the story here is “where there is a will, there is a way” even if it requires you have to twist out of shape and go under. Just my thought.
Anybody who knows Lisa, and has seen what she has done with her wedding venue, Anding Acres, and what she is working on in Malakoff, knows that Lisa is speaking for her own determination and creativity as well as that of the cow.
Then Royce Norris, who at least 100 years ago dated my other daughter Liz, had another interpretation: Or maybe she’s just scratching?
Okay, another wise guy. But then, what do I know? Maybe she had a terrible itch, and while she was there just figured she would get her a few bites of urine-free grass.
I really enjoyed this little back and forth, and I appreciate all you folks who helped me write this column. Maybe we can do it again soon.