I’VE BEEN THINKING
        about the paper route I carried when I was only 13 years old.  I hated that paper route!  I truly hated waking up at 4 0’clock every morning.  I hated folding, blocking, and loading those newspapers in the big wire basket over my front bicycle wheel.  I hated the rainy days.  I hated the days when it snowed or iced.

        I hated wheeling about those empty streets when everybody else was still in bed asleep.  I detested using my Saturday mornings trying to collect from people who didn’t want to part with 25 cents.

        Oh how I hated that paper route!  But every day of my life now I bless it.  It taught me perseverance.  It taught me responsibility.  It made me tough and that’s what you have to be in life.  It taught me that the most dreaded things in life were only temporary.

        AND IT GAVE ME MONEY FOR MUSIC LESSONS!

Sam Stone, 808 Castetter Road, Henryville, IN 47126. sam@samstonedulcimer.com