Doodah Today
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Hello and welcome to my view of the world. This is the story
of my trip through life. I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on
May 10, 1938. My parents were primarily of German stock,
hardy, hardworking and both very outgoing. My father worked
in construction and we moved a lot during my growing up years,
from Ohio to Texas to Alabama to Indiana and back to Ohio.
When I reached high school they placed me in boarding school
because they wanted me to have some stability in my life.
So, off I went to an all girls' Catholic convent school. I only
now realize how good that was for me, because I certainly
didn't realize it at the time!! Well, I made it through only
the first year of high school there. I just got too homesick
for my family, our horses, and my own bedroom and the privacy
that allowed.
We raised horses for pleasure and show. So, for about 5 years
of my life I broke, trained and showed three and
five gaited show horses around the area where we lived. Horses
were first in my life�.till I fell in love!!
I married at 17 to the guy I was going to spend the rest of
my life with(or so I thought). He worked in construction and
we moved around also, as I had when I lived at home. We had two
sons and were happy as clams. We left Ohio for California
to seek our fortune in 1962. We were dumber than a box of rocks!!
We hardly had any money but made up for it with
determination and dreams. And we did well out there. We settled
down, put the boys in school, got involved in scouts and
PTA.
One weekend we went on a camping trip with friends to Folsom
Lake, CA. We were out on the lake; he was skiing, I was in the
boat, the sun was shining and life was good.. Then he fell,
we turned the boat around,pulled him in and my world fell in
on me. He looked at me, said he loved me, and died in my arms.
Later, (days later) I learned he had a massive heart attack.
He was 32 years old. We had been married just over 10 years.
I had to tell those two little boys daddy wasn't coming home
anymore. The older boy cried and then denied it for a long time.
He was sure if he waited daddy would come back. The younger
boy asked me if he tried really hard and would be a really
good boy, would his daddy come home again. There are no words
to describe the anger, hurt, and the loss. He was the love
of my life, and the boys' hero.
So, we picked up our lives and moved to Los Angeles to start
over and put all the painful memories behind. In my eagerness
to get on with my life I remarried a year later. Only problem
was he didn't like kids. We tried to make it work. For thirteen
years we tried to make it work. Life was busy and one day bled
into another and the time just whizzed by. He was an engineer
with a construction company, so we were transferred all
over the US. I dealt with our problems by not dealing with
them till the proverbial straw broke the camel's back and I
got the divorce I should have gotten long before. Well,
that was that�I dusted off my hands and started all over yet again.
I went to college while my sons were in high school, majoring
in psychology. I chose that major so I could understand
what made folks tick, but mostly what life is all about. Never
did figure all that out!!
The boys left home. I missed them fiercely. We had been through
a lot together and for the most part I grew up with them
as we romped through this life. They both joined the Navy. I
went to work for a large industrial construction company as an
office manager.
After a couple years in their home office I was transferred
from one of their projects to another. It was a fun life. I
got to see the country; to live in different areas and got to
meet lots of people. I was never going to get married again.
I was sure of that�
Only thing was I didn't count on meeting this cute little
red headed engineer in Beulah, North Dakota� He was divorced
and he also was never going to get married again�at least that
is what we told each other. We were good friends for about
a year. It was time for my project to complete and I was due
to be transferred again�.We discovered that we didn't want
to go our separate ways�that we loved each other. So, we
married, I quit my job, and off we went.
We have been married almost 23 years, and I cannot believe how
quickly the time has passed. He is wonderful to my two sons
and I love his son. Life has been good to us. We have lived in
8 states and a foreign country since we have been married.
All in all I have lived in 15 states during my life and have
enjoyed the cultures and lifestyles each has offered.
We are retired and live in Kingston, TN. We settled in east
Tennessee on Watts Bar Lake and built a log home. We wondered
how we could do that after all the years of moving every two years
or so? But spending winters in either Florida, south Texas or Arizona make things a little
easier. It's a tough life, but someone hasta do it. :)
So, I have romped through life, and have had a lot of bumps
along the way. I don't know what I would have changed about it
all, but I do know that when I talk to friends who have lived
in the same place all their lives I wonder what that would
be like. Sometimes I envy their closeness, both physically
and emotionally to their families. I have never had that.
My family is scattered all over the United States.
The only part or the United States I hadn't either lived in,
traveled to or through is the New England region. We got to do that in October 2000. It was incredibly beautiful. The trees were such vivid colors and the days were crisp cool. What a wonderful world we have to explore!
I have had an eventful life. I have met some wonderful people
along the way. I get my self in hot water with my sharp tongue and kidding around sometimes. (For all my bravado I am sometimes too sensitive) I keep working on that, but have pretty much accepted who I am. And that's a good feeling. Life keeps bringing new challenges and opportunities my way. As long as that keeps on, how could I ever ask for more?
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