| Biographical Non-Fiction posted October 22, 2022 | Chapters: |
...169 170 -171- 172... 
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1997 is shaping up much the same as 1996
A chapter in the book Remembering Yesterday
Another Year Much Like the Last
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.
Carol started the new year with a desire to get her name changed back to Shelby. When she and Glen got the divorce, she could have done it then with no problem, but she kept hoping they might get back together. Now that he was married and his wife was trying to get pregnant, she’d given up on that idea and decided she needed her maiden name back. She found out if she went through a lawyer, it would be expensive, but there were forms she could pick up and do it herself. She decided to go that route.
Christi found someone at work that had an `84 Mazda RX-7 which she thought was a cute car, so she ended up buying it with some help from you. It was a pretty shade of blue, and the body looked good. It was older than the car she had before which left her stranded, so we were concerned she should have it checked out. The person who sold it to her told her to be sure and watch the oil gauge. Of course, she didn’t bother as long as it ran. She drove around for days with the oil totally depleted. She nearly had a nervous breakdown, when she learned, she’d burned up the motor. You started calling around trying to find out how much it would cost to have the motor rebuilt. Christi didn't have the money, but she had to have a car. She was embarrassed to have to drive our old van.
Don was beginning to get a few loyal clients at the Pollard Clinic, but he got nothing for adjusting Dr. Pollard’s patients. We thought he should have, at least, taken something off the monthly rent which he was having to pay. You and I were getting adjustments from Don which really helped our back and legs. Our insurance paid for the adjustments. However they had to be billed to the Pollard Clinic because Don was afraid if they were billed to Dr. Shelby the insurance might not pay because we had the same last name. Don was still struggling financially, and Kimberly was only working part time. I was keeping Lauren while she worked.
We had wide variations of temperature in January. Several days it was around 70°F for the high. Then it turned extremely cold, and we got snow. Charlie went camping on some mountain with a friend in 8°F temperatures, but he returned vowing he would never do it again. A few days later, the temps felt like spring.
We’d thought Connie had enough hours in her major to graduate. It turned out she still lacked a few. At least, she was being paid for work at the store where she did her internship. She had a fairly long commute to Dalton, Georgia on I-75. She was still driving the rental car because the new one was being repaired from when Charlie wrecked it.
Charlie was having some second thoughts about what he might want to do with his life. Instead of the medical field, he was thinking of becoming a forest ranger. Kids these days waste a lot of time and money in collage because they keep changing their minds about what they want to do. I finished in 3 ½ years without going into debt, but all of our kids have taken their time and gone deeply in debt, with the exception of Carol. She even changed her major.
Remember that huge pine tree, we had in the back yard? It was right in the middle of your garden, and it had died. You decided to have it taken down before you broke up the ground for the garden in the spring. Now that Dad had given you his tiller, you were excited about using it. The price for taking it down was a little more than $200. They ground the stump and made wood chips which we used to mulch around the house. With the tree gone, you had room for a much larger garden.
I got a phone call from my cousin, Joy, in Florida. The last time I’d talked to her was two years before, and she had told me she and her new husband, who was many years older and very wealthy, were building a new house in an exclusive neighborhood in Ponte Vedra near Jacksonville. Joy had divorced her first husband, who was a lawyer, because he was having numerous affairs. She had met her new husband, Del, at the country club and had only known him a few months when he persuaded her to marry him. His wife had only been dead a couple of months.
She had also told me about her youngest daughter, who had damaged her liver by drinking and was in a nursing home. This time, the daughter was better and out of the nursing home. Her husband had told her he wouldn’t have her daughter living there, but she told him if Laura couldn’t live with her then she would have to leave, because her daughter needed her. He finally agreed.
Joy told me she regretted marrying Del. He was extremely stingy and told her not to buy clothes or anything with his money. He gave her a small amount for groceries. She had gone back to work, so she’d have money to travel. She said she would be taking two trips a year to Europe using her own money. She was planning an eighteen-day trip to Italy in October, and she begged me to go with her. It cost over $3,000. I wished I could go, because I’d always hoped to go to Europe. However, I couldn’t leave Dad. I knew you wouldn’t like me leaving either.
I also got a call from a friend from New Orleans who had moved to Chattanooga. Harriet invited us to lunch. You weren’t eager to go because you didn’t really care for Dr. Butler. His wife was the church secretary and a friend of mine. You’d been on the school board with the doctor, and he was very opinionated. Still, we went and had a nice time. They were both retired and John was very friendly and talkative. You decided you liked him better than you thought you did. We couldn’t stay long past lunch because I needed to get back to Dad.
You and I weren’t really sports fans. You played enough football in high school to sustain a shoulder injury, but as far as watching the pros play, we seldom did. You did watch the end of the Superbowl as the Green Bay Packers beat the New England Patriots.
In England, Princess Diana upset the ministers of the UK and the Conservative party by calling for an international ban on land mines. John Major's government was in charge, and it seemed Diana was endorsing the Labor party. She was called a “loose cannon” by her uncompromising stance. She made that one of the major causes which she felt strongly about. During the Korean War when you served in the combat engineers it was one of your jobs to probe for and diffuse those hidden mines which caused so much loss of life and limb.
Dad continued to have a lot of various problems. Some days were better than others, but his appetite was still good. Even though he said he didn't think he'd live much longer, I figured he would be with us a few more years.
-
THIS IS US:
Evan is 68 and a retired drafting supervisor from Chevron Oil.
Beth is 59 and has given up working in the printing field and is home taking care of her disabled father.
Carol is 33, recently divorced, and a nurse, working at a hospital in Chattanooga and living in an apartment.
Don is a twin. He is 33, 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 is Don’s wife. She is a nurse working at a Chattanooga hospital.
Lauren Elizabeth Jane Shelby is Don and Kimberly's baby, age two.
Connie is our youngest daughter. She is twenty-three. She is a senior in college and also working part time.
Charlie is Connie's husband as of June 30, 1996. He works as a lab tech in Memorial Hospital.
-
Joy is a cousin that was a close friend as a teenager. She is back in my life from time to time.
-
John and Harriet Butler are friends from New Orleans who have moved to Chattanooga.
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.
Carol started the new year with a desire to get her name changed back to Shelby. When she and Glen got the divorce, she could have done it then with no problem, but she kept hoping they might get back together. Now that he was married and his wife was trying to get pregnant, she’d given up on that idea and decided she needed her maiden name back. She found out if she went through a lawyer, it would be expensive, but there were forms she could pick up and do it herself. She decided to go that route.
Christi found someone at work that had an `84 Mazda RX-7 which she thought was a cute car, so she ended up buying it with some help from you. It was a pretty shade of blue, and the body looked good. It was older than the car she had before which left her stranded, so we were concerned she should have it checked out. The person who sold it to her told her to be sure and watch the oil gauge. Of course, she didn’t bother as long as it ran. She drove around for days with the oil totally depleted. She nearly had a nervous breakdown, when she learned, she’d burned up the motor. You started calling around trying to find out how much it would cost to have the motor rebuilt. Christi didn't have the money, but she had to have a car. She was embarrassed to have to drive our old van.
Don was beginning to get a few loyal clients at the Pollard Clinic, but he got nothing for adjusting Dr. Pollard’s patients. We thought he should have, at least, taken something off the monthly rent which he was having to pay. You and I were getting adjustments from Don which really helped our back and legs. Our insurance paid for the adjustments. However they had to be billed to the Pollard Clinic because Don was afraid if they were billed to Dr. Shelby the insurance might not pay because we had the same last name. Don was still struggling financially, and Kimberly was only working part time. I was keeping Lauren while she worked.
We had wide variations of temperature in January. Several days it was around 70°F for the high. Then it turned extremely cold, and we got snow. Charlie went camping on some mountain with a friend in 8°F temperatures, but he returned vowing he would never do it again. A few days later, the temps felt like spring.
We’d thought Connie had enough hours in her major to graduate. It turned out she still lacked a few. At least, she was being paid for work at the store where she did her internship. She had a fairly long commute to Dalton, Georgia on I-75. She was still driving the rental car because the new one was being repaired from when Charlie wrecked it.
Charlie was having some second thoughts about what he might want to do with his life. Instead of the medical field, he was thinking of becoming a forest ranger. Kids these days waste a lot of time and money in collage because they keep changing their minds about what they want to do. I finished in 3 ½ years without going into debt, but all of our kids have taken their time and gone deeply in debt, with the exception of Carol. She even changed her major.
Remember that huge pine tree, we had in the back yard? It was right in the middle of your garden, and it had died. You decided to have it taken down before you broke up the ground for the garden in the spring. Now that Dad had given you his tiller, you were excited about using it. The price for taking it down was a little more than $200. They ground the stump and made wood chips which we used to mulch around the house. With the tree gone, you had room for a much larger garden.
I got a phone call from my cousin, Joy, in Florida. The last time I’d talked to her was two years before, and she had told me she and her new husband, who was many years older and very wealthy, were building a new house in an exclusive neighborhood in Ponte Vedra near Jacksonville. Joy had divorced her first husband, who was a lawyer, because he was having numerous affairs. She had met her new husband, Del, at the country club and had only known him a few months when he persuaded her to marry him. His wife had only been dead a couple of months.
She had also told me about her youngest daughter, who had damaged her liver by drinking and was in a nursing home. This time, the daughter was better and out of the nursing home. Her husband had told her he wouldn’t have her daughter living there, but she told him if Laura couldn’t live with her then she would have to leave, because her daughter needed her. He finally agreed.
Joy told me she regretted marrying Del. He was extremely stingy and told her not to buy clothes or anything with his money. He gave her a small amount for groceries. She had gone back to work, so she’d have money to travel. She said she would be taking two trips a year to Europe using her own money. She was planning an eighteen-day trip to Italy in October, and she begged me to go with her. It cost over $3,000. I wished I could go, because I’d always hoped to go to Europe. However, I couldn’t leave Dad. I knew you wouldn’t like me leaving either.
I also got a call from a friend from New Orleans who had moved to Chattanooga. Harriet invited us to lunch. You weren’t eager to go because you didn’t really care for Dr. Butler. His wife was the church secretary and a friend of mine. You’d been on the school board with the doctor, and he was very opinionated. Still, we went and had a nice time. They were both retired and John was very friendly and talkative. You decided you liked him better than you thought you did. We couldn’t stay long past lunch because I needed to get back to Dad.
You and I weren’t really sports fans. You played enough football in high school to sustain a shoulder injury, but as far as watching the pros play, we seldom did. You did watch the end of the Superbowl as the Green Bay Packers beat the New England Patriots.
In England, Princess Diana upset the ministers of the UK and the Conservative party by calling for an international ban on land mines. John Major's government was in charge, and it seemed Diana was endorsing the Labor party. She was called a “loose cannon” by her uncompromising stance. She made that one of the major causes which she felt strongly about. During the Korean War when you served in the combat engineers it was one of your jobs to probe for and diffuse those hidden mines which caused so much loss of life and limb.
Dad continued to have a lot of various problems. Some days were better than others, but his appetite was still good. Even though he said he didn't think he'd live much longer, I figured he would be with us a few more years.
-
THIS IS US:
Evan is 68 and a retired drafting supervisor from Chevron Oil.
Beth is 59 and has given up working in the printing field and is home taking care of her disabled father.
Carol is 33, recently divorced, and a nurse, working at a hospital in Chattanooga and living in an apartment.
Don is a twin. He is 33, 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 is Don’s wife. She is a nurse working at a Chattanooga hospital.
Lauren Elizabeth Jane Shelby is Don and Kimberly's baby, age two.
Connie is our youngest daughter. She is twenty-three. She is a senior in college and also working part time.Charlie is Connie's husband as of June 30, 1996. He works as a lab tech in Memorial Hospital. -
Joy is a cousin that was a close friend as a teenager. She is back in my life from time to time.
-
John and Harriet Butler are friends from New Orleans who have moved to Chattanooga.
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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