A little ditty 'bout ma mama

My mother can be described as a capable, strong and intelligent woman.  If I had 
known her as a child, I would have realized very quickly that she is also a witty child 
prone to outburst of sarcastic humor at inappropriate times.   Her sense of humor got her 
into trouble many times during her school years.  Let me describe one such event.     The 
year was 1947 and “school” was a one-room school house.  Kids in the remote hills of 
Chemung county, New York, walked to school in any kind of weather and knew enough not to 
complain.  The teacher was a strict lady with no patience for nonsense.   Each day the 
teacher would languish over the history lesson forcing the students to sit longer than my 
mother thought necessary.    My mother, being an impetuous child, never understood the 
need for long and tedious lessons.   During one extended history lesson my mother looked 
at the clock and realized that the school day would be ending in five minutes.    
Thinking that was cause for celebration, my mother promptly began singing a popular song 
of the 40’s with the lines, “only five minutes more.”    Unfortunately, the teacher was 
not in a celebratory mood and held the class after school an extra thirty minutes.    The 
irony is that my mother later became a teacher.  My mom made teaching fun and interesting 
while still maintaining the respect of the class.  The humor and enthusiasm that had 
gotten my mom into trouble during her youth was now channeled into a positive outlet.   
However, at the end of the day, the school could hear her singing “only five minutes 
more.”