THOMAS JEFFERSON HELPS WITH BABY SITTING

Wow, another day of rain here in "The Walk." That's good for the canals. They sure look good. Well guess what? My Lady friend just stopped by with her grand kids. She wanted to know if V.W. Resident could help her out. It seems she needed a "volunteer" to tell the kids about our history and founding fathers. This neighbor lady actually thought my memory goes back that far! I knew this much: She wanted to go out shopping for a while.

Well I thought it was "amusement time." I always tell these kids stories, and sometime get the facts right. Today I told the kids about George Washinghands (kid language). He was our number one hero. He had a big White Horse, a Row Boat, and a Mission to accomplish.

I told the kids that Gen. Georgie had a job to do. It was simple: Go beat up Charlie Cornwallis; and tell Betsy Ross to "Start sewing a flag." Georgie was successful. He was so successful our leaders decided to do something to always remember his great contributions to our country. They placed his picture on the One Dollar Bill. Now when ever we see a dollar we always remember our "number one" hero.

V.W. thought that was a pretty good story as the kids were interested. Too interested! One of them asked "Who was the number two hero?" I started praying that my lady friend would finish shopping soon. I tried to suppress the kids desire to hear another yarn, but I yielded to their demands.

I told them about "Tommy" Jefferson and how he was also a big hero. My memory is not clear on all those things he did so I "winged it." I told the kids that Tommy " Jay" was also a good guy, but, unlike George, he didn't have a boat or a horse. Tom had only one item of value - An H/P desktop computer. It was fully equipped with word processing and lots of storage.

Using his writing skills Tommie wrote about all sorts of things (God, I don't remember them). I think he did the "Bill of Rights," and a couple other books. While doing this he got a couple of people very angry with him. They argued, and argued, and argued. Eventually most of them found common ground and united for a common good.

Tom didn't always agree with his contemporaries, but he valued opposing opinions and truly understood the value of debate. Driven by a desire to appear on our currency, He entered the line below into his book entitled "Cool Sayings:"

"The freedom of opinion and the reasonable maintenance of it is not a crime and ought not to occasion injury." --Thomas Jefferson , 1801.

TJ's plan worked. Jefferson got his picture on the Two Dollar Bill. Those kids fell asleep, and that lady is in my driveway. Hope the kids like the story especially the one who contributed the name "Washinghands."