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Greetings, fellow Total E'ers,
What I recall most vividly
about the end of my time in UWP, is the feeling, each day,
that I couldn't put one foot in front of the other without
a written itinerary! Seriously, I had to make a list for myself,
like our cast itineraries, with each day broken down into
arrival times, and activities to do� the habit had become
so strong over the course of our year-long tour. And what
I found, very quickly, was that my lists were pathetic. I
mean, just to fill up a piece of paper, I had to write down
mundane, day-to-day stuff, so that there was enough to make
the day look, somehow, full. It was pretty funny�
I wonder if any of you had
a similar experience�
Eventually, thank goodness,
I stopped needing those lists. The new rhythms of college
life took over, and filled up each day. I changed majors,
and colleges a few times, finally finishing with a BS in Speech
and Language Pathology. Then, got a teaching credential, and
in '85 started teaching full-time.
In '87 I married my college
sweetheart, and we settled in the town where I was teaching.
In '91 we had our son, Joseph. During those years I was busy
being a mom, teaching, and doing community theatre work, acting,
choreographing and directing. It was a full and happy life.
Then, in '95, my husband surprised
me one evening by coming home from work and announcing that
he was leaving. Within a couple of weeks he had, in fact,
moved out. I sold the house and cars and moved Joe and me
into an apartment and then entered into a numb and hollow
period of time.
For the next three years,
I changed schools and towns three times, trying to get away
from memories and trying to find a place where the geography
or the activity or the air quality or something would reawaken
me. Joseph and I grew very close as we went through these
years together.
In '96, a friend hooked me
up with a rock band that needed a singer. That became a source
of joy for me, and also an outlet for emotions and creative
energy.
Also in '96, a research team
came to my classroom to study my methods of teaching writing.
One of the researchers was Rick Hansen. Over the next year
and half the research group would meet for follow-up studies,
and Rick and I would always enjoy seeing each other and talking
about teaching.
By '97 I was doing the dating
thing---ugh. Joseph was quite the guy during this time. He
was very protective of me, and made it clear to everyone that
we were "a package deal." His little instincts about people
have been my guide over the years, and I must say, he is always
right in his first impressions of others!
By '98, one of the people
I was dating was Rick, who lived 3 hours away in Fresno. Rick
and Joe were getting to be buddies, and Rick would drive up
for things like Joe's little league games and school plays
and such. One evening, we were all out at a restaurant, when
Joe suddenly said, "So, are you gonna marry us or what?" Rick
and I laughed in embarrassment, but once again Joseph's instincts
were right on.
In October '99 Rick and I married
in the backyard of the home we bought here in Fresno. Joe
and I moved here, since Rick's job at the university is a
very good one.
So here we are, living in an
old house on a wide street in the middle of the Central Valley�Rick's
oldest daughter is married and expecting her first child,
and his two youngest daughters are up in Seattle going to
college�Joe is in 6th grade at the Arts Magnet school, which
is where I teach now.
We enjoy the day-to-day, even
the mundane, of life. Our daily itineraries are probably very
similar to all of yours, and our challenges, too: aging parents,
ill relatives, avoiding debt, paying for college tuitions,
keeping the weeds down, managing a house, finding balance.
What I value most about my
year in Total-E: the wonderful, unique, outstanding people
we had in our cast; the opportunity to travel to all those
places; the stuff I learned from host family life, and; the
times over the last 23 years when I've gotten to see people
from our cast. It's always a joy!
Thanks so much to Jodi and
Kelley for running this website.
Love to you all!
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Karen on PR in 1981 -- Hornell, New
York
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Karen, Rick, Joe
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