A Fresh Perspective

Martha Sterne, in her little book, Earthly Good: Reflections of Life and God , tells about the time an old friend morphed into an unacceptable person. Mrs. Caldwell, who Martha knew was a teacher somewhere, lived a few doors down. She would stop by their house from time to time with treats. She taught her little songs, how to play canasta, and took a wonderful picture of her and her cat. Mrs. Caldwell, says Martha, had fat sausage curls all over her head, just like Aunt Pitty-Pat in Gone with the Wind . And on each cheek was a small, bubblegum-pink, perfectly round circle of rouge. Martha says that she knew Mrs. Caldwell was very beautiful because she loved her and showed it. Well, the years went by. They moved to a new neighborhood. Martha says she worked very hard in junior high to become cool and achieved a kind of fragile success. Then on the first day of her sophomore year in fourth period class guess who turns out to be her algebra teacher? Mrs. Caldwell – complete with saus...