By RAY ADLER
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I recently read a letter from my mother, and it contained this quote: “Anyone can count the seeds in an apple, but only God can count the apples in a seed.” That quote reminded me of my grandma. Several years ago, I asked her to write her autobiography and after some coaxing, she did. Grandma wrote down all the main events and then said, “That’s all I’m going to write.” Grandma kept her word.
For years my grandma regaled my mother with her life and times. Later, mother wished she had written grandma’s biography and included some of the stories. It’s too late now for the details as many events are no longer available.
Back to the apples. Grandma was not often down in the dumps, but she had her days. She told my mother of one such time.
Her good friend, a high school pal, had gone to China as a missionary. Both girls had gone to college and Grandma had just taught her first year at the Smith School, where my father eventually taught the last year this one-room schoolhouse was open.
After the third year of teaching, Grandma worked in the County Auditor’s office for over a year. Next came marriage. Two little ones came along during the seven years that followed. The down-in-the-dumps instance came sometime later.
Evidently Grandma had had a letter from her missionary friend. She was feeling sorry for herself and complained to Grandpa that she had never done anything worthwhile. He had a different idea and began listing all the things she had done. Then he played his final card, “Just look at these two healthy children we brought into the world.” He could have said “only God can count the apples in a seed.”
Praise the Lord that Grandma had those children! Hardly a week passed that Mom and Dad didn’t meet someone who was pleased to see their old schoolteacher, Tom Adler. The comments ran something like this: “I learned more math in your class than any place else.” “My kids and grandkids sure need a teacher like you.” “You’re the best teacher I ever had.”
When a mother thanked my dad for not smoking, she said her husband always smoked and her boys didn’t smoke because their teacher didn’t.
The archaic one-room schoolhouses (and today’s small schools) may have had a few advantages over the bigger ones. Plus, they didn’t seem to have the same bad influences that are so prevalent in the larger schools today. The results speak for themselves. Among my father’s former pupils are doctors, lawyers, nurses, mechanics, farmers, salespersons, teachers, barbers, beauty operators, postal employees, bus drivers, pre-surgeons, and – if money is your criterion – several millionaires. The list is too long to continue.
There is scarcely a service my parents needed that a former student could not provide. From grocer to mechanic to heart specialist, my father’s students did literally everything. Toward the end of my parents’ lives, they saw their grandchildren entering the business world.
Like Grandpa, my parents had a final card. They had three healthy children. Mother remarked once about the number of lives our family have touched. “One apple – how many seeds? How many lives are touched?” How wonderful that God can count the apples in a seed.
Educational material and not legal advice, written by the team at Adler attorneys. Email andrea@noblesvilleattorney.com with questions or comments.