| Biographical Non-Fiction posted August 1, 2021 | Chapters: |
...130 131 -132- 133... 
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1993 gets off to a bad start.
A chapter in the book Remembering Yesterday
A Year of Discontent
by BethShelby
For new readers, who may not have read my author notes, this is written in a conversational way as I talk to my deceased husband. When I refer to someone just as "you" this means I am addressing my husband, Evan.
February through April of 1993 was proving to be a rough time, not only for our family, but a historically troubling time for our country as well. On February 26th, we were all shocked to learn that a truck bomb had exploded under the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York, killing six and injuring over 1000 people. Muslim terrorist trained at an Al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan turned out to be the ones responsible.
On February 28th, ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) agents stormed the compound of the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas. The standoff resulted in the death of four ATF agents and six members of the Davidians led by cult leader, David Koresh, who claimed to be anointed by God to establish David’s kingdom in Palestine. This was the beginning of a siege which ended April 19, when ATF agents, again, attempted to enter the compound. A few of the members had chosen to leave. The compound caught fire, and many of the members committed suicide or died in the fire. In the aftermath, seventy-six bodies were recovered, including twenty children.
In March, in Milwaukie, Wisconsin, the worst waterborne bacterial infection ever known in this country took place due to contamination at a water treatment facility, making over 400,000 people ill and resulting in the death of over a hundred.
*******
Christi and Connie seemed to be getting along pretty well in their apartment setup. It was hard for us to believe, because they fought constantly at home. Connie liked the idea of living away from home and paying her own way. She seemed afraid to antagonize Christi, because she was afraid Christi would kick her out and let her boyfriend, Denny, move in instead. Christi was still doing massages in our house, since she didn’t have room in her apartment for the massage table. This idea didn't sit well with us, but like Connie, antagonizing Christi led to high stress for us as well. In addition, she was incapable of budgeting enough money to meet her expenses. By allowing her to do massages, her income increased, meaning she would be asking us for less each month to cover her portion of the rent.
*********
You had finally gotten our place in the country ready to rent and turned it over to a Realtor to handle, since we were living out of the area. A family named Dodson, who had five or six children, moved in. At least with it rented, we didn’t need to worry about making regular trips to check on it. They signed a year's lease. The first month's rent came in right on time, giving us reason to hope we had made the right decision.
On March the 12th, we had what Chattanooga called the storm of the century. Downtown Chattanooga got 21 inches of snow. Flat roofs collapsed, and trees on hillsides fell like an atomic explosion had occurred. Connie was visiting a friend, whose home was on a high mountain, and she was forced to spend the night there. It was impossible to get a car down the steep drive, so she hiked down the following day. The storm struck on the weekend, but by Monday, there was still no way I could get out to go to work, and neither could Christi and Connie. Mother called and was excited, because they had gotten a record snowfall in Mississippi as well. Most of the states in the Southeastern U.S. broke records, and as we began to get news, it appeared that over 100 people had died as a result. Florida was experiencing extreme flooding.
*********
Connie was constantly worried about losing her job. She'd had little success keeping jobs for long periods in the past, and she was afraid losing this one might mean moving back home. She began baby-sitting for the owner of her company’s daughter, hoping that might have some influence on her ability to hold the job. Connie met a lot of people at the apartment complex, and she was never without some guy friends coming over and staying late into the night.
Neither Christi, nor Connie, had paid a pet deposit, but Connie had a parakeet and some fish, and Christi wanted a pet. I wanted her to take her kitten, but she was convinced it would run away. She decided to take our Himalayan, Tiffany, because she was used to being a house cat. Tiffany didn’t appreciate the move. She was a very shy cat and she found a place to hide immediately.
Denny brought a big couch over to their apartment and started sleeping over while he looked for work. One night at one a.m., Christi called me screaming that Denny had let Tiffany out. I think she disturbed everyone's sleep in the huge complex, screaming about that cat running away. Denny threatened to hit her if she didn’t shut up. He finally got in his car and left. After about five days, the cat was finally located and recaptured. By that time, she was half starved and full of ticks. She didn't like Denny at all, and often chose something he had left lying around as her place to defecate rather than the litter box.
*********
In April, we decided we might take a trip to Florida to visit Carol and Glen, but when we called Carol to tell her, she seemed stressed. She said it wouldn’t be a good time for us to come. She said she would be coming home soon. We knew she and Glen had been fighting a lot lately. He hated it because she was paying tithes to the church, rather than putting the money on the many debts they had. Carol had seemed unhappy for a while, so we were a bit concerned.
On the 12th of April while I was at work, you got a call from Carol, telling you she was on her way home. We were surprised, because she always gave us more notice before she came. When I got home from work, Connie was over, and the three of you were sitting around the dining table talking. Carol said, “Now that you're all here, I have something I need to tell you.” It was apparent she was on the verge of tears.
She said Glen had come in from a fishing trip with a friend and told her he wanted a divorce. She had cried and pleaded, but nothing would change his mind. She suggested a trial separation or marriage counseling, but he wouldn’t agree to that either. He just wanted a divorce as quickly as he could get it, and he didn’t think they should get any lawyers involved. After almost nine stormy years, this was still a tremendous blow to our daughter, who didn't believe in divorce.
You and I were dumbfounded and outraged, because Carol was so willing to let him keep almost everything, other than a small car and waterbed. We begged her to get a lawyer, but she was shocked at our reaction. With tears flowing like the floodgates had opened, we backed off.
Some days start out so ordinary, and end in such a way, you just know things have changed forever. There would be time enough to talk more when things settled down. For that moment, we all needed time to process this news.
Evan is 63 and a retired drafting supervisor from Chevron Oil.
Beth is 54 and has had a variety of jobs. She is presently working with a local printing company.
Carol is 30, a nurse at Florida Hospital in Orlando. She is married and living in Florida.
Glen Egolf is Carol’s husband. He is 27 and soon will get his nursing degree from Southern College in Orlando.
Don is a twin. He is 29 and he will be graduating Life Chiropractic College in the Spring.
Christi is Don’s twin. She is working as a receptionist at a chemical plant and doing massages on the side.
Kimberly Dye is Don’s wife. She is a nurse working in Atlanta near Don's school.
Connie is our youngest daughter. She is nineteen. She is taking time off from her second year in college.
Lenny was Connie's boyfriend. They have just broken up. He is a junior in college.
Denny is Christi's boyfriend. He is between jobs.
For new readers, who may not have read my author notes, this is written in a conversational way as I talk to my deceased husband. When I refer to someone just as "you" this means I am addressing my husband, Evan.
February through April of 1993 was proving to be a rough time, not only for our family, but a historically troubling time for our country as well. On February 26th, we were all shocked to learn that a truck bomb had exploded under the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York, killing six and injuring over 1000 people. Muslim terrorist trained at an Al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan turned out to be the ones responsible.
On February 28th, ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) agents stormed the compound of the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas. The standoff resulted in the death of four ATF agents and six members of the Davidians led by cult leader, David Koresh, who claimed to be anointed by God to establish David’s kingdom in Palestine. This was the beginning of a siege which ended April 19, when ATF agents, again, attempted to enter the compound. A few of the members had chosen to leave. The compound caught fire, and many of the members committed suicide or died in the fire. In the aftermath, seventy-six bodies were recovered, including twenty children.
In March, in Milwaukie, Wisconsin, the worst waterborne bacterial infection ever known in this country took place due to contamination at a water treatment facility, making over 400,000 people ill and resulting in the death of over a hundred.
*******
Christi and Connie seemed to be getting along pretty well in their apartment setup. It was hard for us to believe, because they fought constantly at home. Connie liked the idea of living away from home and paying her own way. She seemed afraid to antagonize Christi, because she was afraid Christi would kick her out and let her boyfriend, Denny, move in instead. Christi was still doing massages in our house, since she didn’t have room in her apartment for the massage table. This idea didn't sit well with us, but like Connie, antagonizing Christi led to high stress for us as well. In addition, she was incapable of budgeting enough money to meet her expenses. By allowing her to do massages, her income increased, meaning she would be asking us for less each month to cover her portion of the rent.
*********
You had finally gotten our place in the country ready to rent and turned it over to a Realtor to handle, since we were living out of the area. A family named Dodson, who had five or six children, moved in. At least with it rented, we didn’t need to worry about making regular trips to check on it. They signed a year's lease. The first month's rent came in right on time, giving us reason to hope we had made the right decision.
On March the 12th, we had what Chattanooga called the storm of the century. Downtown Chattanooga got 21 inches of snow. Flat roofs collapsed, and trees on hillsides fell like an atomic explosion had occurred. Connie was visiting a friend, whose home was on a high mountain, and she was forced to spend the night there. It was impossible to get a car down the steep drive, so she hiked down the following day. The storm struck on the weekend, but by Monday, there was still no way I could get out to go to work, and neither could Christi and Connie. Mother called and was excited, because they had gotten a record snowfall in Mississippi as well. Most of the states in the Southeastern U.S. broke records, and as we began to get news, it appeared that over 100 people had died as a result. Florida was experiencing extreme flooding.
*********
Connie was constantly worried about losing her job. She'd had little success keeping jobs for long periods in the past, and she was afraid losing this one might mean moving back home. She began baby-sitting for the owner of her company’s daughter, hoping that might have some influence on her ability to hold the job. Connie met a lot of people at the apartment complex, and she was never without some guy friends coming over and staying late into the night.
Neither Christi, nor Connie, had paid a pet deposit, but Connie had a parakeet and some fish, and Christi wanted a pet. I wanted her to take her kitten, but she was convinced it would run away. She decided to take our Himalayan, Tiffany, because she was used to being a house cat. Tiffany didn’t appreciate the move. She was a very shy cat and she found a place to hide immediately.
Denny brought a big couch over to their apartment and started sleeping over while he looked for work. One night at one a.m., Christi called me screaming that Denny had let Tiffany out. I think she disturbed everyone's sleep in the huge complex, screaming about that cat running away. Denny threatened to hit her if she didn’t shut up. He finally got in his car and left. After about five days, the cat was finally located and recaptured. By that time, she was half starved and full of ticks. She didn't like Denny at all, and often chose something he had left lying around as her place to defecate rather than the litter box.
*********
In April, we decided we might take a trip to Florida to visit Carol and Glen, but when we called Carol to tell her, she seemed stressed. She said it wouldn’t be a good time for us to come. She said she would be coming home soon. We knew she and Glen had been fighting a lot lately. He hated it because she was paying tithes to the church, rather than putting the money on the many debts they had. Carol had seemed unhappy for a while, so we were a bit concerned.
On the 12th of April while I was at work, you got a call from Carol, telling you she was on her way home. We were surprised, because she always gave us more notice before she came. When I got home from work, Connie was over, and the three of you were sitting around the dining table talking. Carol said, “Now that you're all here, I have something I need to tell you.” It was apparent she was on the verge of tears.
She said Glen had come in from a fishing trip with a friend and told her he wanted a divorce. She had cried and pleaded, but nothing would change his mind. She suggested a trial separation or marriage counseling, but he wouldn’t agree to that either. He just wanted a divorce as quickly as he could get it, and he didn’t think they should get any lawyers involved. After almost nine stormy years, this was still a tremendous blow to our daughter, who didn't believe in divorce.
You and I were dumbfounded and outraged, because Carol was so willing to let him keep almost everything, other than a small car and waterbed. We begged her to get a lawyer, but she was shocked at our reaction. With tears flowing like the floodgates had opened, we backed off.
Some days start out so ordinary, and end in such a way, you just know things have changed forever. There would be time enough to talk more when things settled down. For that moment, we all needed time to process this news.
Evan is 63 and a retired drafting supervisor from Chevron Oil.
Beth is 54 and has had a variety of jobs. She is presently working with a local printing company.
Carol is 30, a nurse at Florida Hospital in Orlando. She is married and living in Florida.
Glen Egolf is Carol’s husband. He is 27 and soon will get his nursing degree from Southern College in Orlando.
Don is a twin. He is 29 and he will be graduating Life Chiropractic College in the Spring.
Christi is Don’s twin. She is working as a receptionist at a chemical plant and doing massages on the side.
Kimberly Dye is Don’s wife. She is a nurse working in Atlanta near Don's school.
Connie is our youngest daughter. She is nineteen. She is taking time off from her second year in college.
Lenny was Connie's boyfriend. They have just broken up. He is a junior in college.
Denny is Christi's boyfriend. He is between jobs.
February through April of 1993 was proving to be a rough time, not only for our family, but a historically troubling time for our country as well. On February 26th, we were all shocked to learn that a truck bomb had exploded under the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York, killing six and injuring over 1000 people. Muslim terrorist trained at an Al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan turned out to be the ones responsible.
On February 28th, ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) agents stormed the compound of the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas. The standoff resulted in the death of four ATF agents and six members of the Davidians led by cult leader, David Koresh, who claimed to be anointed by God to establish David’s kingdom in Palestine. This was the beginning of a siege which ended April 19, when ATF agents, again, attempted to enter the compound. A few of the members had chosen to leave. The compound caught fire, and many of the members committed suicide or died in the fire. In the aftermath, seventy-six bodies were recovered, including twenty children.
In March, in Milwaukie, Wisconsin, the worst waterborne bacterial infection ever known in this country took place due to contamination at a water treatment facility, making over 400,000 people ill and resulting in the death of over a hundred.
*******
Christi and Connie seemed to be getting along pretty well in their apartment setup. It was hard for us to believe, because they fought constantly at home. Connie liked the idea of living away from home and paying her own way. She seemed afraid to antagonize Christi, because she was afraid Christi would kick her out and let her boyfriend, Denny, move in instead. Christi was still doing massages in our house, since she didn’t have room in her apartment for the massage table. This idea didn't sit well with us, but like Connie, antagonizing Christi led to high stress for us as well. In addition, she was incapable of budgeting enough money to meet her expenses. By allowing her to do massages, her income increased, meaning she would be asking us for less each month to cover her portion of the rent.
*********
You had finally gotten our place in the country ready to rent and turned it over to a Realtor to handle, since we were living out of the area. A family named Dodson, who had five or six children, moved in. At least with it rented, we didn’t need to worry about making regular trips to check on it. They signed a year's lease. The first month's rent came in right on time, giving us reason to hope we had made the right decision.
On March the 12th, we had what Chattanooga called the storm of the century. Downtown Chattanooga got 21 inches of snow. Flat roofs collapsed, and trees on hillsides fell like an atomic explosion had occurred. Connie was visiting a friend, whose home was on a high mountain, and she was forced to spend the night there. It was impossible to get a car down the steep drive, so she hiked down the following day. The storm struck on the weekend, but by Monday, there was still no way I could get out to go to work, and neither could Christi and Connie. Mother called and was excited, because they had gotten a record snowfall in Mississippi as well. Most of the states in the Southeastern U.S. broke records, and as we began to get news, it appeared that over 100 people had died as a result. Florida was experiencing extreme flooding.
*********
Connie was constantly worried about losing her job. She'd had little success keeping jobs for long periods in the past, and she was afraid losing this one might mean moving back home. She began baby-sitting for the owner of her company’s daughter, hoping that might have some influence on her ability to hold the job. Connie met a lot of people at the apartment complex, and she was never without some guy friends coming over and staying late into the night.
Neither Christi, nor Connie, had paid a pet deposit, but Connie had a parakeet and some fish, and Christi wanted a pet. I wanted her to take her kitten, but she was convinced it would run away. She decided to take our Himalayan, Tiffany, because she was used to being a house cat. Tiffany didn’t appreciate the move. She was a very shy cat and she found a place to hide immediately.
Denny brought a big couch over to their apartment and started sleeping over while he looked for work. One night at one a.m., Christi called me screaming that Denny had let Tiffany out. I think she disturbed everyone's sleep in the huge complex, screaming about that cat running away. Denny threatened to hit her if she didn’t shut up. He finally got in his car and left. After about five days, the cat was finally located and recaptured. By that time, she was half starved and full of ticks. She didn't like Denny at all, and often chose something he had left lying around as her place to defecate rather than the litter box.
*********
In April, we decided we might take a trip to Florida to visit Carol and Glen, but when we called Carol to tell her, she seemed stressed. She said it wouldn’t be a good time for us to come. She said she would be coming home soon. We knew she and Glen had been fighting a lot lately. He hated it because she was paying tithes to the church, rather than putting the money on the many debts they had. Carol had seemed unhappy for a while, so we were a bit concerned.
On the 12th of April while I was at work, you got a call from Carol, telling you she was on her way home. We were surprised, because she always gave us more notice before she came. When I got home from work, Connie was over, and the three of you were sitting around the dining table talking. Carol said, “Now that you're all here, I have something I need to tell you.” It was apparent she was on the verge of tears.
She said Glen had come in from a fishing trip with a friend and told her he wanted a divorce. She had cried and pleaded, but nothing would change his mind. She suggested a trial separation or marriage counseling, but he wouldn’t agree to that either. He just wanted a divorce as quickly as he could get it, and he didn’t think they should get any lawyers involved. After almost nine stormy years, this was still a tremendous blow to our daughter, who didn't believe in divorce.
You and I were dumbfounded and outraged, because Carol was so willing to let him keep almost everything, other than a small car and waterbed. We begged her to get a lawyer, but she was shocked at our reaction. With tears flowing like the floodgates had opened, we backed off.
Some days start out so ordinary, and end in such a way, you just know things have changed forever. There would be time enough to talk more when things settled down. For that moment, we all needed time to process this news.
Evan is 63 and a retired drafting supervisor from Chevron Oil.
Beth is 54 and has had a variety of jobs. She is presently working with a local printing company.
Carol is 30, a nurse at Florida Hospital in Orlando. She is married and living in Florida.
Glen Egolf is Carol’s husband. He is 27 and soon will get his nursing degree from Southern College in Orlando.
Don is a twin. He is 29 and he will be graduating Life Chiropractic College in the Spring.
Christi is Don’s twin. She is working as a receptionist at a chemical plant and doing massages on the side.
Kimberly Dye is Don’s wife. She is a nurse working in Atlanta near Don's school.
Connie is our youngest daughter. She is nineteen. She is taking time off from her second year in college.
Lenny was Connie's boyfriend. They have just broken up. He is a junior in college.
Denny is Christi's boyfriend. He is between jobs.
 Recognized |
I'm continuing to recall memories of life with my deceased husband, Evan, as if I am talking aloud to him. I'm doing this because I want my children to know us as we knew each other and not just as their parents.
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