Pollyanna

If you could listen to someone who is an EXPERT on a certain subject (from the past or the present) who would you want to listen to or what would you want to hear about?

That is the question I recently asked my facebook friends.  I got some great answers (to hear Jane Austin talk about her book Emma, to hear the author of Peace Child talk about his life as a missionary, to hear an expert talk about living with adult children, to listen to a ship-builder from the 1600s talk about how they built huge ships back then, to hear Abraham Lincoln give a speech).  All excellent answers, of course!  I have changed my answer three times.  First I thought I wanted to hear someone who is truly an expert on healthy living - food and exercise and balance!  Then I thought I wanted to hear someone who could positively, absolutely tell me how to help a struggling reader become a proficient, fluent, excited reader.  But, after a few more days of thinking, I have decided I would want to hear my infamous great, great aunt Mary give her speech on Pollyanna!  Let me tell you more:

Aunt Mary's Pollyanna speech notes...

Aunt Mary was my Grandpa Alber's aunt.  She was my mom's great aunt, so she would be my great, great aunt!  My grandpa was born in 1914, his mom was born in 1886, so I am guessing Aunt Mary would have born around 1886 too.  The Pollyanna books were written by Eleanor H. Porter and published in 1913, when Mary would have been an adult.  She traveled around the country and gave speeches to women's groups about the Pollyanna books.  I have the original Pollyanna book that Mary used.  It has my mom's name in it too because it was given to my mom.  At the beginning of the book are three pages of notes that Mary used in her talks.  I've read Pollyanna a couple times and have always loved the book.  From Mary's notes, it appears that she gave a very detailed synopsis of the book.  She goes over the characters and the storyline in great detail.  She tells of some of the undercurrent relationship building going on.  She explains "The Glad Game" and how Pollyanna uses it in her own life and how she encourages others to play.  I can imagine my great, great Aunt Mary as an excellent story teller, expressively exclaiming over certain parts of the story - with an enraptured audience wanting to hear every word.  I see dressed up ladies with gloves and hats listening and looking forward to tea and cookies afterwards.  Although the notes do not go into much detail about the deeper inspirational lessons from Pollyanna, I can't help but believe that Aunt Mary got into that too.  Pollyanna was a child of God, using her optimism and her love for people to help her minister to everyone around her.  She was a confident, bold young person who cared deeply for the people God brought into her life.  She found things to be glad about even when it would seem impossible for most of us.  She knew that the Bible tells us over and over and over to "Be glad in the Lord" and "Rejoice in the Lord."  Pollyanna had that figured out.  I think Aunt Mary had that figured out too.  I feel proud to be related to my great, great, Aunt Mary.  Grandma gave me aunt Mary's wedding dress too!

Great, Great Aunt Mary's Wedding Dress

   I love being an aunt, myself.  I have three nephews and one niece.  These adorable young people are so precious to me.  I want to be a special aunt to all of them.  As a girl, I always loved to hear stories about my grandparents' aunts.  Of course, Grandpa's Aunt Mary was one I enjoyed hearing stories about.  Grandpa adored his aunt.  His mom was quite ill for a few years when Grandpa was growing up and his aunt Mary came to take care of him and his brother.  When I was at my grandma and grandpa's house playing with my nephews, Grandpa would tell me I remind him of his Aunt Mary and the way she used to interact with him and his brothers.  I like that.  And, Grandma had an aunt named Aunt Ruth.  I'll copy an excerpt from Grandma's biography written in 1999 to explain the specialness of Aunt Ruth:  "When there was company, Lois Ann often had to share her bed with them while Dona slept on the cot.  Her Aunt Ruth (her mama's sister) would come every summer for a long stay.  This aunt used wooden crutches to walk and had a painful tumor on her back.  Lois Ann was careful enough that she was able to sleep on the same bed as her aunt without bumping her.  Lois Ann loved spending time with Aunt Ruth.  She felt her aunt was an amazing woman and was impressed by all the things she could do even on her crutches.  Medicine has come such a long way that Lois Ann feels her Aunt Ruth could have been helped today.  Aunt Ruth gave the children toys at Christmas and enjoyed crocheting things for the family.  Lois Ann remembers fondly, 'We all loved her....she was so happy!  She bought us our first can of pop!  We went to an air show and she was going to buy us all pop.  We had to share it because she didn't have enough money to buy everybody a whole can of pop.  But, we bought orange pop.  None of us really liked it.  We wanted it so bad and we didn't really like it then when we got it.  It was different.  We preferred lemonade or milk.'"