"Now I lay me down to sleep,
       I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
       If I should die before I wake,
       I pray the Lord my soul to take."

End of prayer, unless you were one of the 5 Rutkoskie kids.  Our Mom added this: 
                             "And if I live for other days,
                             I pray the Lord to guide my ways."      
It's still a great request for anyone, young or old,
to ask of God.
          Mom taught us to pray with both learned, recited prayers and "from the heart" prayers in our own words; except that the "from the heart" prayers were actually in Mom's own words.   Night after night we would kneel by our beds and pray for "the sick and afflicted, the poor and the needy,"  and other multitudes who were included in the phrases taught by our Mom, who cared about everybody. 
          "Please help Daddy get a job" was also a frequent petition -- prayed obediently by five untroubled little children, but inspired by a worried young wife and mother, who needed God's help to pay the bills and put good food on the supper table. 
          One night, my little brother Patty, sister Carol and I were supposedly praying, while in reality we were all laughing and acting up.  Hearing footsteps on the stairs, I, the oldest of the three, quickly snapped to attention (on my knees) and began in the middle of the "Our Father" with
"........Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses........"
I can't remember whether my little ruse worked or not, but I clearly remember my trespass that night.  Mom's lessons on prayer made an impact!
          The best part of nightly prayers at our house was the "Goodnight Song" Mom sang to each of us by name every night.  She made it up herself, and it put us to sleep with the blessing of her love and thoughts of God watching over us in His love, too.  I can feel the happiness again just thinking of being there, a young girl, being cherished in that special way night after night as she sang to me.
          "Goodnight, dear Connie, goodnight.
            May God watch over you tonight.
          I thank Him for keeping you all the day through.
            Goodnight, dear Connie,
            Goodnight to you."

          Goodnight, dear Mom.  Thanks for the sweet memories of you, teaching me to pray.