| Biographical Non-Fiction posted February 9, 2022 | Chapters: |
...146 147 -148- 149... 
|
  |
I attend a class reunion and other Shelby news.
A chapter in the book Remembering Yesterday
Forty Years Is a Long Time
by BethShelby
.png)
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.
It was a tremendous relief to have the jury trial behind me. In spite of the fact, I was convinced the rest of the jury members were against me, I found that I’d made a couple of friends. Two of the ladies called me at home and wanted to make plans to get together again. They even admitted they weren’t totally convinced we should have voted guilty for the student’s charges. It was a little late for those thoughts.
When the temporary agency found out my jury duty was over, they sent me out on an assignment. I met some likeable people on this job. However, it involved being on my feet all day and standing in one position for long periods. At the end of the day, I had swollen ankles and went home too exhausted to do much else. I really needed to shop for a dress.
I was trying to get ready for my 40th class reunion which would be held in the banquet hall of the newly renovated old train depot in my hometown of Newton. My mom was acting as if she would be embarrassed if I came to the reunion and failed to look like a big success in life. She wanted me to be well-dressed, have my hair styled and my body back as slim as it had been in high school. Mom had a certain amount of pride which she had failed to pass on to me. I hated to embarrass her, but I doubted if my friends had been all that successful. Among my classmates, there were several teachers, a principal, an engineer, a detective, a funeral home director, a nurse, a social worker, several farmers, and many housewives. The jury duty had played havoc with my diet. Mom was making me paranoid about even going.
******
In May, Connie was out of college for the summer, and her grades were good. She was still living in the apartment with Carol and working at the Home Goods store. She was counting on her boyfriend, Charlie to move here as soon as the blueberry season was over on his parents’ property.
Christi was dating a guy named Kevin. She loved his personality and enjoyed his company, but although he was her age, his skin had sun damage which made him look older. Christi always managed to find some minor imperfection that ruined everything for her. After all she had done to screw things up with Matt, when he found out about Kevin, suddenly he was in love with her again. We were beginning to think he was as messed up as she was. He had started calling her again. Matt was better looking, so her dramas were starting again. This usually meant she'd soon lose both of them.
*******
The class reunion was on Mother’s Day weekend. You and I and Christi went down to stay with Mom and Dad. Connie went with us, and we took her a little farther down into Mississippi to a town where Charlie planned to meet her. By the time we got to Newton, it was almost time for the reunion. It started at four in the afternoon, but the banquet wasn't until that night.
My graduating class was one of the smallest with only thirty-five graduates, but over half had started first grade with me, so we were a close-knit group. There were more than twice that many who came for the reunion. Almost all of our graduating class was there, and many who attended brought their mates. I hadn’t been able to persuade you to go. Students who had been with us in tenth and eleventh grade, but didn’t graduate were invited. Our school principal attended and some of our teachers came as well.
I hadn’t seen some of my classmates since high school and I had trouble recognizing most of them, including students I’d seen more recently. Recognizing faces was always a problem for me. The embarrassing thing was that they all seemed to know who I was. I had attended the 10th and the 20th-year reunions, but had missed the30th-year reunion. That had been the year of our house fire in New Orleans, and we were in the process of trying to move back into our renovated house.
I wasn’t prepared to see some of my friends looking so much older. In my mind, they had remained teenagers. The reunion committee had hired a band to entertain us. Jo Ann, a classmate I’d known since third grade and one who had been a high school rival, did a monologue. She said she had always wanted to do one, but never got the chance, because I was the one who got to do all the speaking roles and won the leads in all the class plays. She said it was because I got to take “Expression” lessons, and her daddy said he wasn’t going to pay anyone to make his kids do more talking.
Jo Ann confessed she had always envied me. She was pretty and popular and her family lived in the largest house in town. The truth was I had been envious of her. She said she had dreamed of winning the lead in the senior play, but when I got the part, she refused to take a supporting role. Then, she came to the play and was amazed at my performance and realized why they had picked me. I was flattered but very surprised.
******
While in Newton, we visited with your brother, Rhomus and sister, Helen. Neither of them was doing so well. Helen was depressed because she was alone, and Jimmy was talking of putting his mother in an assisted living facility. A housing project had been built beside her property, and her neighborhood was no longer safe.
Rhomus was frustrated because he hadn’t been called back to work on an engineering project. Both he and Helen were concerned about our nephew, Gary’s wife Cindy, who was dying of brain cancer. Cindy was still in her twenties. She had been Gary's high school sweetheart. For the last two years, she had gone through cancer treatments, but she’d suffered a stroke and was bedridden. Your sister, Maxine was trying to care for her while Gary worked, and it was too much for her.
In spite of being happy I'd decided to attend the class reunion, we both came away from Newton feeling depressed after hearing everyone's troubles. Leaving Mom and Dad was part of the problem. Dad was continuing to have bowel problems and was falling often. He was using a walker to get around, and Mom's health wasn’t good. She wasn’t able to be taking care of him and the house. They had a large yard and Mom insisted it be well manicured at all times. They had no intention of hiring anyone to do the work. I knew with summer just starting, she would be out with the lawn mower doing all that work herself.
The trip back to Chattanooga was uneventful. Connie was unusually quiet. We didn’t know if she and Charlie were having problems or if she was just tired. Soon both girls fell asleep in the back seat.
I’ve heard hindsight is twenty-twenty. I wonder if it would have made a difference, if only we had known the problems which lay in store within the next two months, which would change our lives in an unexpected way. On the other hand, maybe it is a good thing we don’t have the ability to see the future.
This is Us:
Evan is 66 and a retired drafting supervisor from Chevron Oil.
Beth is 57 and has had a variety of jobs. She is presently working temporary jobs.
Carol is 32, recently divorced, and a nurse, working at a hospital in Chattanooga and living in an apartment.
Don is a twin. He is 31, a recent graduate of Life Chiropractic College
Christi is Don’s twin. She is working as a receptionist at a chemical company and doing massages on the side.
Kimberly s Don’s wife. She is a nurse working in Atlanta.
Lauren Elizabeth Jane Shelby is Don and Kimberly's new baby (8 mos.)
Connie is our youngest daughter. She is twenty-one. She and a junior in college.
Charlie is Connie's boyfriend who lives in South Mississippi.
Rhomus, Helen, Maxine are Evan's siblings, Gary is Maxine's son, Cindy is his wife.
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.
It was a tremendous relief to have the jury trial behind me. In spite of the fact, I was convinced the rest of the jury members were against me, I found that I’d made a couple of friends. Two of the ladies called me at home and wanted to make plans to get together again. They even admitted they weren’t totally convinced we should have voted guilty for the student’s charges. It was a little late for those thoughts.
When the temporary agency found out my jury duty was over, they sent me out on an assignment. I met some likeable people on this job. However, it involved being on my feet all day and standing in one position for long periods. At the end of the day, I had swollen ankles and went home too exhausted to do much else. I really needed to shop for a dress.
I was trying to get ready for my 40th class reunion which would be held in the banquet hall of the newly renovated old train depot in my hometown of Newton. My mom was acting as if she would be embarrassed if I came to the reunion and failed to look like a big success in life. She wanted me to be well-dressed, have my hair styled and my body back as slim as it had been in high school. Mom had a certain amount of pride which she had failed to pass on to me. I hated to embarrass her, but I doubted if my friends had been all that successful. Among my classmates, there were several teachers, a principal, an engineer, a detective, a funeral home director, a nurse, a social worker, several farmers, and many housewives. The jury duty had played havoc with my diet. Mom was making me paranoid about even going.
******
In May, Connie was out of college for the summer, and her grades were good. She was still living in the apartment with Carol and working at the Home Goods store. She was counting on her boyfriend, Charlie to move here as soon as the blueberry season was over on his parents’ property.
Christi was dating a guy named Kevin. She loved his personality and enjoyed his company, but although he was her age, his skin had sun damage which made him look older. Christi always managed to find some minor imperfection that ruined everything for her. After all she had done to screw things up with Matt, when he found out about Kevin, suddenly he was in love with her again. We were beginning to think he was as messed up as she was. He had started calling her again. Matt was better looking, so her dramas were starting again. This usually meant she'd soon lose both of them.
*******
The class reunion was on Mother’s Day weekend. You and I and Christi went down to stay with Mom and Dad. Connie went with us, and we took her a little farther down into Mississippi to a town where Charlie planned to meet her. By the time we got to Newton, it was almost time for the reunion. It started at four in the afternoon, but the banquet wasn't until that night.
My graduating class was one of the smallest with only thirty-five graduates, but over half had started first grade with me, so we were a close-knit group. There were more than twice that many who came for the reunion. Almost all of our graduating class was there, and many who attended brought their mates. I hadn’t been able to persuade you to go. Students who had been with us in tenth and eleventh grade, but didn’t graduate were invited. Our school principal attended and some of our teachers came as well.
I hadn’t seen some of my classmates since high school and I had trouble recognizing most of them, including students I’d seen more recently. Recognizing faces was always a problem for me. The embarrassing thing was that they all seemed to know who I was. I had attended the 10th and the 20th-year reunions, but had missed the30th-year reunion. That had been the year of our house fire in New Orleans, and we were in the process of trying to move back into our renovated house.
I wasn’t prepared to see some of my friends looking so much older. In my mind, they had remained teenagers. The reunion committee had hired a band to entertain us. Jo Ann, a classmate I’d known since third grade and one who had been a high school rival, did a monologue. She said she had always wanted to do one, but never got the chance, because I was the one who got to do all the speaking roles and won the leads in all the class plays. She said it was because I got to take “Expression” lessons, and her daddy said he wasn’t going to pay anyone to make his kids do more talking.
Jo Ann confessed she had always envied me. She was pretty and popular and her family lived in the largest house in town. The truth was I had been envious of her. She said she had dreamed of winning the lead in the senior play, but when I got the part, she refused to take a supporting role. Then, she came to the play and was amazed at my performance and realized why they had picked me. I was flattered but very surprised.
******
While in Newton, we visited with your brother, Rhomus and sister, Helen. Neither of them was doing so well. Helen was depressed because she was alone, and Jimmy was talking of putting his mother in an assisted living facility. A housing project had been built beside her property, and her neighborhood was no longer safe.
Rhomus was frustrated because he hadn’t been called back to work on an engineering project. Both he and Helen were concerned about our nephew, Gary’s wife Cindy, who was dying of brain cancer. Cindy was still in her twenties. She had been Gary's high school sweetheart. For the last two years, she had gone through cancer treatments, but she’d suffered a stroke and was bedridden. Your sister, Maxine was trying to care for her while Gary worked, and it was too much for her.
In spite of being happy I'd decided to attend the class reunion, we both came away from Newton feeling depressed after hearing everyone's troubles. Leaving Mom and Dad was part of the problem. Dad was continuing to have bowel problems and was falling often. He was using a walker to get around, and Mom's health wasn’t good. She wasn’t able to be taking care of him and the house. They had a large yard and Mom insisted it be well manicured at all times. They had no intention of hiring anyone to do the work. I knew with summer just starting, she would be out with the lawn mower doing all that work herself.
The trip back to Chattanooga was uneventful. Connie was unusually quiet. We didn’t know if she and Charlie were having problems or if she was just tired. Soon both girls fell asleep in the back seat.
I’ve heard hindsight is twenty-twenty. I wonder if it would have made a difference, if only we had known the problems which lay in store within the next two months, which would change our lives in an unexpected way. On the other hand, maybe it is a good thing we don’t have the ability to see the future.
This is Us:
Evan is 66 and a retired drafting supervisor from Chevron Oil.
Beth is 57 and has had a variety of jobs. She is presently working temporary jobs.
Carol is 32, recently divorced, and a nurse, working at a hospital in Chattanooga and living in an apartment.
Don is a twin. He is 31, a recent graduate of Life Chiropractic College
Christi is Don’s twin. She is working as a receptionist at a chemical company and doing massages on the side.
Kimberly s Don’s wife. She is a nurse working in Atlanta.
Lauren Elizabeth Jane Shelby is Don and Kimberly's new baby (8 mos.)
Connie is our youngest daughter. She is twenty-one. She and a junior in college.
Charlie is Connie's boyfriend who lives in South Mississippi.
Rhomus, Helen, Maxine are Evan's siblings, Gary is Maxine's son, Cindy is his wife.
It was a tremendous relief to have the jury trial behind me. In spite of the fact, I was convinced the rest of the jury members were against me, I found that I’d made a couple of friends. Two of the ladies called me at home and wanted to make plans to get together again. They even admitted they weren’t totally convinced we should have voted guilty for the student’s charges. It was a little late for those thoughts.
When the temporary agency found out my jury duty was over, they sent me out on an assignment. I met some likeable people on this job. However, it involved being on my feet all day and standing in one position for long periods. At the end of the day, I had swollen ankles and went home too exhausted to do much else. I really needed to shop for a dress.
I was trying to get ready for my 40th class reunion which would be held in the banquet hall of the newly renovated old train depot in my hometown of Newton. My mom was acting as if she would be embarrassed if I came to the reunion and failed to look like a big success in life. She wanted me to be well-dressed, have my hair styled and my body back as slim as it had been in high school. Mom had a certain amount of pride which she had failed to pass on to me. I hated to embarrass her, but I doubted if my friends had been all that successful. Among my classmates, there were several teachers, a principal, an engineer, a detective, a funeral home director, a nurse, a social worker, several farmers, and many housewives. The jury duty had played havoc with my diet. Mom was making me paranoid about even going.
******
In May, Connie was out of college for the summer, and her grades were good. She was still living in the apartment with Carol and working at the Home Goods store. She was counting on her boyfriend, Charlie to move here as soon as the blueberry season was over on his parents’ property.
Christi was dating a guy named Kevin. She loved his personality and enjoyed his company, but although he was her age, his skin had sun damage which made him look older. Christi always managed to find some minor imperfection that ruined everything for her. After all she had done to screw things up with Matt, when he found out about Kevin, suddenly he was in love with her again. We were beginning to think he was as messed up as she was. He had started calling her again. Matt was better looking, so her dramas were starting again. This usually meant she'd soon lose both of them.
*******
The class reunion was on Mother’s Day weekend. You and I and Christi went down to stay with Mom and Dad. Connie went with us, and we took her a little farther down into Mississippi to a town where Charlie planned to meet her. By the time we got to Newton, it was almost time for the reunion. It started at four in the afternoon, but the banquet wasn't until that night.
My graduating class was one of the smallest with only thirty-five graduates, but over half had started first grade with me, so we were a close-knit group. There were more than twice that many who came for the reunion. Almost all of our graduating class was there, and many who attended brought their mates. I hadn’t been able to persuade you to go. Students who had been with us in tenth and eleventh grade, but didn’t graduate were invited. Our school principal attended and some of our teachers came as well.
I hadn’t seen some of my classmates since high school and I had trouble recognizing most of them, including students I’d seen more recently. Recognizing faces was always a problem for me. The embarrassing thing was that they all seemed to know who I was. I had attended the 10th and the 20th-year reunions, but had missed the30th-year reunion. That had been the year of our house fire in New Orleans, and we were in the process of trying to move back into our renovated house.
I wasn’t prepared to see some of my friends looking so much older. In my mind, they had remained teenagers. The reunion committee had hired a band to entertain us. Jo Ann, a classmate I’d known since third grade and one who had been a high school rival, did a monologue. She said she had always wanted to do one, but never got the chance, because I was the one who got to do all the speaking roles and won the leads in all the class plays. She said it was because I got to take “Expression” lessons, and her daddy said he wasn’t going to pay anyone to make his kids do more talking.
Jo Ann confessed she had always envied me. She was pretty and popular and her family lived in the largest house in town. The truth was I had been envious of her. She said she had dreamed of winning the lead in the senior play, but when I got the part, she refused to take a supporting role. Then, she came to the play and was amazed at my performance and realized why they had picked me. I was flattered but very surprised.
******
While in Newton, we visited with your brother, Rhomus and sister, Helen. Neither of them was doing so well. Helen was depressed because she was alone, and Jimmy was talking of putting his mother in an assisted living facility. A housing project had been built beside her property, and her neighborhood was no longer safe.
Rhomus was frustrated because he hadn’t been called back to work on an engineering project. Both he and Helen were concerned about our nephew, Gary’s wife Cindy, who was dying of brain cancer. Cindy was still in her twenties. She had been Gary's high school sweetheart. For the last two years, she had gone through cancer treatments, but she’d suffered a stroke and was bedridden. Your sister, Maxine was trying to care for her while Gary worked, and it was too much for her.
In spite of being happy I'd decided to attend the class reunion, we both came away from Newton feeling depressed after hearing everyone's troubles. Leaving Mom and Dad was part of the problem. Dad was continuing to have bowel problems and was falling often. He was using a walker to get around, and Mom's health wasn’t good. She wasn’t able to be taking care of him and the house. They had a large yard and Mom insisted it be well manicured at all times. They had no intention of hiring anyone to do the work. I knew with summer just starting, she would be out with the lawn mower doing all that work herself.
The trip back to Chattanooga was uneventful. Connie was unusually quiet. We didn’t know if she and Charlie were having problems or if she was just tired. Soon both girls fell asleep in the back seat.
I’ve heard hindsight is twenty-twenty. I wonder if it would have made a difference, if only we had known the problems which lay in store within the next two months, which would change our lives in an unexpected way. On the other hand, maybe it is a good thing we don’t have the ability to see the future.
This is Us:
Evan is 66 and a retired drafting supervisor from Chevron Oil.
Beth is 57 and has had a variety of jobs. She is presently working temporary jobs.
Carol is 32, recently divorced, and a nurse, working at a hospital in Chattanooga and living in an apartment.
Don is a twin. He is 31, a recent graduate of Life Chiropractic College
Christi is Don’s twin. She is working as a receptionist at a chemical company and doing massages on the side.
Kimberly s Don’s wife. She is a nurse working in Atlanta.
Lauren Elizabeth Jane Shelby is Don and Kimberly's new baby (8 mos.)
Connie is our youngest daughter. She is twenty-one. She and a junior in college.
Charlie is Connie's boyfriend who lives in South Mississippi.
Rhomus, Helen, Maxine are Evan's siblings, Gary is Maxine's son, Cindy is his wife.
 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.
Pays
one point
and 2 member cents. 
You need to login or register to write reviews. It's quick! We only ask four questions to new members.
© Copyright 2024. BethShelby All rights reserved.
BethShelby has granted FanStory.com, its affiliates and its syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.
