Powerful Words! Ain’t it the Truth…Ain’t it the Truth!

Even as a child this song stayed with me from The Sound of Music.

do- a deer, a female deer
re- a drop of golden sun
mi- a name i call myself
fa- a long long way to run
so- a needle pulling thread
la- a note to follow so
te- a drink with jam and bread
that’ll bring us back to do oh oh oh…

They make us laugh with genuine happiness or with sarcastic wit.  Imagery woven into our mind or sadness into our heart.  These alphabet letters strung together to form WORDS.

Simple words with specific jobs.   Connected, they form sentences. There are simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex types of sentences.

I remember having trouble learning the subject and predicate parts of a sentence, and used commas way too extensively whenever I wrote in school.  It took a while for my ‘light’ to come on with grammar, but I’ve always liked to write.

My Second Grade teacher, Ms. Harbour, was one of my favorite teachers.  She kept these small, homemade bound blank books for us to publish our stories in them.  I remember her bragging on my small book of Cats.  It had red tape as binding, and I wrote simple sentences about cats and illustrated it.  That act of bragging on my small book made me want to write more.  I was so proud of myself.  Small words said aloud to a group of seven-year old children impacts me to this day.  Words are powerful!

My Fourth Grade teacher, Mrs. Hill,  also encouraged me in my writing.  It only took one compliment and reading my paper aloud to the class as a positive example to nurture my love of writing.  I wanted to be like Ms. Harbour, and be a teacher when I grew up.  It took a while, but I finally became one.  I hope I inspire students to foster a love of a life skill as Ms. Harbour and Mrs. Hill influenced me.

What are these simple word parts?  How do we put them together to form the magic of memories, songs, stories, and poetry?

• They name
• Show action
• They describe

They are powerful!  So powerful that we see ourselves as we are named and described.  We feel the words.

Read what my medal says: ‘Courage.’  Ain’t it the truth?  Ain’t it the truth?  Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz

Nouns name . . . pure and simple.  We are given names by our parents.  More importantly are the names that we claim.  

Sometimes our jobs or profession give us our identification.  How many times have you given your job title in your introduction?  The ‘er’ suffix can turn the verb into a noun.  I’m a teacher because I teach.  However, I am so much more than my job title.

Our beliefs, habits, interests, and life events help determine our identities.  Christian, Mom, friend, widow, educator, over-comer, writer, singer, pet-owner, caregiver, daughter, camper, woman, nail-biter, aunt, sister, traveler, collector, napper, head of household, and sometimes couch potato.   All these identities (nouns) and yet, I’m still adding more as life continues.

You clinking, clanking, clattering, collection of calliginous junk.   The Wizard from The Wizard of Oz 

Where would we be without verbs?  We’d be still or unlinked.  They show past, present, and future action.  They’re both regular and irregular.  They link or show a state of existence.  Ever tried to talk without using, ‘is, are, was, were, have, has, had, been, or will be”  Verbs can’t stand alone because they need a subject (involving a noun) to hold onto.  “I do!” See even words require relationships!

Many verbs are needed to help describe what we do or how we move in our life.  Feel the need to be lifted off the ground?  Jump, hop, bounce, vault, or leapfrogging!  Some days are like that.  It’s hard to keep my feet still.  On difficult days when I’m having a bad one, it’s hard to lift my feet off the ground.  I feel stuck, glued, cemented in, fastened, or chained.  I’m thankful that those times don’t last too often.

My favorite verbs describe being active!  I love laughing, snorting, exalting, singing, teaching, joking, traveling, mothering, dancing, going, talking, swinging, driving, sightseeing, shopping, smiling.  Honestly, there are times when I’m waiting and anticipating more than I care to admit.

If you think that nouns and verbs are important, then consider adjectives.  They are used to describe or modify a noun.   To make it more confusing some verbs are used as adjectives to describe nouns. Throw in the comparative or superlative forms to show degrees.  Then there is also the proper adjective that describes a noun.  

It’s easy to describe someone or an experience.  Someone could describe me as short, strong, curly-haired, awkward, funny, old-fashioned, blue-eyed, witty, happy, friendly, unorganized, cautious.  I strive to be joyful, confident, and content.

Am I happier then most widows?  More unorganized than other teachers?  Less cautious than other women?  Catch my drift?  There are always people in different situations.  Some situations are better and some worse than mine.  There’s a constant on this Earth; Life changes and we grow from the changes.  I’m going along with God’s plan and hoping that I’m making the choices that are favorable to His will.

Adverbs are the describers of verbs or other adverbs, adjectives or phrases.  I’m claiming them as my favorite part of descriptors.  When using the verb, we might as well tell when, where, or how we’re going about life.  

Forever ago, I was a wife.  Today, I’m single.  Someday, who knows?  Intentionally, purposefully, sometimes patiently and sometime impatiently, I live my new life.  I have faced my grief and come through it.  Now, I’m living on the other side of that loss of John’s love.  I am stronger for it due to God’s strength.  

How I face my new role and live this life is bravely, positively, somewhat adventurous (I’m growing this trait!), joyfully and cheerfully (most of the time.), faithfully, optimistically, thankfully, and thoughtfully.