Comments:
On the name deal - after I left Ontario I started using my parents' last name instead of "Gant" my birth father's (who was killed in WWII when his bomber went down in the north Atlantic while in transit to England). I was about 3 months old. Since I was the only grandchild of his parents, I kept that name through high school.
After my divorce and after Kevin graduated from high school the boys both announced they were changing their last name to my maiden name since my dad and brothers had been more a dad to them than theirs so when Todd was home on leave between Monterrey and Heidelberg, we went to court and all three changed - the judge asked them if I were pressuring them and they said, "NO, we're pressuring her!"
Todd got out of the Army after daddy had a bad tractor accident in 1998 and he and Bear live in one end of the large underground house the folks built in the early 80s. They share a kitchen. Usually Todd (or I) cook and Daddy does KP - he doesn't think anyone else can put the dishes in the dishwasher exactly "so" and we have an agreement that when he can't remember where something goes he leaves it on the counter and I make a final sweep before I go to bed at night and put away all the stuff he couldn't. He is pretty cheerful about his loss of short term memory - God is good.
Bob: We aren't getting older, just everyone else!
This was a great idea, Terry!!
In the 60s I worked at the state senate all four regular legislature sessions and two special ones - those while going to school. First in the capital building to hear that JFK had been shot. One of the senators' wives called me.
Then got married and in 1969 moved to Texas - my parents and brothers and baby sister we adopted had come the previous year. Had two different large ranches, my husband and I ran a feed store, I worked for the welfare dept, then we moved to Terrell which is just E of Dallas and ran a 60 unit motel or maybe I should say it ran us - lots of nights I had 2 to 4 hours sleep. As soon as a room was vacated we redid it and usually rerented it. Took the occupancy from 6% to about 99%. We were the only motel from west of Ft. Worth to 15 miles E of Dallas if people were on the interstate - I even had ladies help me cleaning rooms at midnight to get their families a place to put the kids to bed!!
Went from there to College Station so John could get his Ph.D. in animal nutrition. I worked for the director of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station - best job I ever had. He had been a Col in AF - was a veterinarian - in 50s he and others experimented with effects of G-forces by putting electrodes on a bear and sending it down hills on skis in New Mexico - he said it always helped to have a few drinks under their belts before they started - ha! Really great guy. After John graduated we moved back to Longview and Daddy, who was working in real estate, found us a 40 acre farm that had two broiler houses on it so we were in the chicken business. John was suffering from latent PTSD and couldn't do the work - nor would he see a doctor. Daddy took over the chickens finally to prevent our losing the contract and we divorced in 1986. He went back to Oregon and pretty much ignored the boys which is why they were so vehement about changing their last name. I went back to college while working full time and finished my degree, taught three years (no discipline!) and went back to doing secretarial/adm asst work in law, real estate, oil and gas and finally medical transcription. I can remember how hard it was for Terry to hit one key when we took typing because his fingers were so large. I made nearly all of my family support money throughout my life of being the support based on the one year of typing from Miss Root. I could type 140 wpm when I stopped working (can't now although I took a test last fall and typed in the high 80s which isn't bad for how long I've been away from it). Even when I taught I typed all my handouts. Its funny what later matters (after high school) and what doesn't! Now they only teach typing for one semester - when my sister graduated from college she typed 22 wpm at her job interview and was hired with the express provision that her typing skills improve immediately. She called me and I told her to get a book, encyclopedia, magazine, whatever, and sit down and start typing slowly and steadily without stopping - gradually increasing her speed. She did and has her skills up amazingly now. After I had to stop working in 1996, I started taking photography at the local Jr. college - I love developing black and white pictures from film. Then digital cameras hit and now its all automated - still like to take film pictures in black and white and develop them. Also joined a jr. college sponsored community chorus and love that. We do lighter stuff in the fall semester and a serious Mass or other work in the spring, complete with small orchestra.