Delano Herald Journal

Serving the communities of Delano, Loretto, Montrose, MN, and the surrounding area

Sue Fink’s Imagine That Column, 6/8/98



I saw a novel idea at a cousin’s graduation party last
Sunday.

The inside walls of the family garage had been painted
white. Markers were set out on tables so that friends and relatives of
the graduate could write messages of congratulations. This is the first
time I can recall a parent encouraging children to write on the wall.

Signing your name on a broad expanse of wall just seems
to be irresistible to young children. My own children have done this several
times. I have always thought that they should realize that when they sign
their name, I will have a pretty good idea who left the message. Of course,
a truly clever child would write a siblings name, so that they would get
the blame instead.

It would be a rare parent who has not found the artwork
of a budding Picasso scrawled somewhere in their house. We have had our
share of pencil and crayon sketches here and there.

Our house was built around the turn of the century, and
we have been remodeling it for the 29 years that we have lived in it. We
have changed the rooms around a few times. We have torn out the old walls
and put in sheetrock. Then we covered the sheetrock with paneling.

When we got tired of the dark paneling in the living room
and took that out, we found some of the “original artwork”, too.
I took a picture of it to show our three oldest children what they did when
they were younger.

When I looked at their drawings in the corner, I remembered
that the couch had been placed kitty-corner there. It was the perfect place
to draw, undetected by Mom and Dad.

The ultimate prize for writing on the wall has to go to
my younger brother, Keith. He loved to write his name. He had a particular
fondness for the white wall in the hallway. Keith was finally told by Mother,
“I don’t want to see anyone write on these walls with crayon again.”
And he didn’t.

The next time I came over to visit, Mother showed me Keith’s
latest handiwork. Printed neatly on the wall was the name Keith, in bright
red nail polish.

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