I’ve been thinking about Mrs. Strauss.

Margaret Strauss was a intelligent woman with common sense and a spartan style in both speech and design.
A formidable force in my narrow young world, her friends called her ‘Lady’,a gift from her Papa after the early demise of her mother.  She carried that name throughout her life but I never called her anything but Mrs. Strauss, no matter how old we both became.

She and I first became acquainted when my mother went to work at her daycare center.  Childless, widowed, a retired school teacher as well as former legal secretary, she decided to open a daycare where children would be properly cared for as well as started on the right road to learning.  Forever into a project, She purchased and renovated a house across from the local grade school for her dream of the perfect early learning environment. She also lived in the house directly behind the school, her way of being close .  The whole deal was revolutionary in our small Texas town and quickly drew many parents wanting an alternative to the norm of daycare as they knew it.
The Carousel Child Care Center was open for many years, but I think ultimately she lost too much money just trying to do it right.
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