Kids-n-Keys #58

Kids-n-Keys #58
by Sandi Layne

“That’s a Nice Rampart.”

It took me a second to realize what my guest, BJ, was referring to when she was in my living room. I blinked, looked around, wondering, "What?”

I’d spent time cleaning and vacuuming and preparing to receive a visitor so I could not fathom what was out that would be a rampart. Or perhaps it was just cumulative exhaustion that impaired the progress of the meaning from my mental dictionary to the functional cortex of my mind.

Then, I got it. The castle wall in the corner, surrounding the stereo speaker. “Oh, that rampart. Yeah. Thanks, we tried to build a big one.”

I am not entirely sure why that took me so long to get, honestly. I grew up with words like "rampart," "obstreperous," "consternation," elucidation," "prevarication," "ennui"... The list goes on. And I developed, in my youth, a deep and abiding relationship with a dictionary.

The Dictionary

That dictionary...Oh...I wanted to bring it with me when I moved to Arizona. It was my mom's and it weighed something in the neighborhood of 100 pounds. All right, not really, but when I was five years old, it felt like 100 pounds.

It was published, I remember, in the 1930's. About six inches thick, with covers that once, I'm sure, had been dark green. The pages were thin and onion-skin-ish. They had little notches for the different letters of the alphabet. Old maps in the back, done in pastel-candy colors. You know, the ones that look like those almonds everyone has at their weddings.

I grew up with this tome, referring to it often when my mother shot the twenty-dollar words at us and told us to look them up. I used it, outdated as it was, through high school and college. I wish I'd brought it with me.

These days, I go to www.dictionary.com if I want to look something up. But every time I do, I feel a guilty prick in the back of my neck. Seriously. It's as if I'm betraying an ancient, sacred trust.

“Trust…in a Book?”

A dictionary teaches many things. Spelling and proper grammar, to name only two. I never doubted that the Ancient of Days Dictionary was true in its given sphere.

My Bible is a book I did bring with me, of course, when I moved out of my parents’ home. It, too, is a result of my mother’s fine teaching. She gave my latest Bible, as a matter of fact. I had, ah, demolished my small, pocketsize Bible. I did this by repeated, enthusiastic demonstrations while teaching Sunday School. Really. So, Mom got me a new, purse/pocket Bible. It’s slender and…it has those onion-skin-ish pages. I love it.

But I love what’s inside it even more. When I am uneasy, worried, or concerned about the future, I can rediscover what the Lord has to say about a situation. When life throws hundred-dollar moments my way, I can find that same spirit of rejoicing in scripture. It’s awesome.

Kids-n-Books

I believe strongly in passing along traditions. Both my boys have Bibles. Cyclone, as a matter of fact, made Scooter a present of a Bible before Scooter was even born. To me, that bodes well for the future!

I pray all the time that my sons will grow to honor the Lord, to become strong in faith, and to spend time with their Creator. So, that Bible was a priority for me, when it came to buying books for them. I just got Cyclone a new one this month. He wanted it. Isn’t that cool?

He hasn’t, though, learned the tradition of the dictionary. Alas!

So, I am making a promise to myself, right here. I will go out and find the biggest, heaviest dictionary I can for Cyclone. And for Scooter, too, for when he is old enough to read. A book that my boys can use as a tool for discovery.

It will help them find tremendous words to win games like hangman.

At the very least, they will know what a "rampart" is.

Sandi Layne's new book, Garrison's Girl, is now in print. Sandi's homepage is:
www.sandilayne.com, and you can email Sandi at: sandilayne@sandilayne.com