| Biographical Non-Fiction posted June 21, 2020 | Chapters: |
...43 44 -45- 46... 
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Beginning of a new year in our new home.
A chapter in the book Remembering Yesterday
Life in Our New Home
by BethShelby
As 1969 passed from history and 1970 came into being, we were beginning to adjust to the changes that had taken place in our life. The past year had been an interesting period in history. We had witnessed Neal Armstrong take man’s first step on the moon. Richard Nixon had been elected our president with Spiro Agnew as his running mate. He had vowed to dismantle the welfare state that had existed under Lyndon Johnson. We had witnessed counter-culture clashes, riots, and anti-war protests. The stock-market average stood at 800. The average salary in the US was under $9,000 per year. We had high hopes for this being a better year all around.
We had an extremely cold winter in January with snow and huge icicles hanging off of our house. School was closed, and so was our work for a couple of days. In Jackson, other than a few flakes, a big snow was rare. The kids were excited. They put together makeshift sleds out of whatever they could find and had so much fun sliding down the dip from the front of our house to the driveway. Carol decided she wanted to knock some of the three foot long icicles from the roof of our house. She found a long slender piece of wood with a nail sticking in the end and aimed it for an icicle. She missed and came down instead on the top of Don’s head as he stood below the icicle. Our poor son got hit on his head so many times, it is amazing he survived his childhood. This time, he could blame someone else rather then himself for the accident.
During his childhood, Don was plagued with a nervous stomach. If he was distressed in any way, he would get an almost unbearable pain in the center of his stomach. One particular night, his cries of pain were especially alarming. On this occasion, I'm not sure if it was nerves or the fact that he always ate too fast. It could have been a combination of things, but we became concerned enough that we decided he needed to go to the emergency room. I stayed with the girls while you drove him into Jackson to the hospital. The doctor checked him out and couldn’t find a problem. He said he would give him something to ease the pain. I wish I knew what drug he was given, because for the next four hours after he got home, we were up trying to get him to settle down. He acted as though he was possessed. He was bouncing off the walls. No more pain but it was hours before he wore himself down to the point that anyone could sleep.
Carol turned nine in February. We let her invite a couple of kids from the church school over for a sleepover. The two girls that came were another pair of twins. They were actually closer to Christi and Don’s age, but they all got along well together. I think Christi was a little jealous, because they seemed to enjoy playing more active games with Carol and Don than playing Barbie dolls with her.
I let the kids have the run of the lower part of the house. When I went down to see what they were up to, I found they had used a whole skein of knitting thread for some game they were playing. There was so much thread crisscrossing from one piece of furniture to the next that it was impossible to walk through the room. One of the kids was hiding inside my clothes dryer. I should have known better. Kids need supervision at all times, especially when you get some fresh minds around to dream up ways to drive the adults crazy.
-------------------
We got a unexpectied call from your sister Maxine saying that your Dad was in the Baptist hospital in Jackson suffering with a heart problem. It was surprising that he had been brought to Jackson since there were closer hospitals at Meridian, Newton and Bay Springs. We went to see him that night. He seemed in good spirits, but he was hooked up to all sorts of monitors. The doctors suspected that he had suffered a mild heart attack. Your family came out to the house and had a meal with us. After a couple of days, your dad was sent back home on medication.
-----------------
At my work, Loraine came up with an outing that involved both Maggie and me. She said she knew about a black lady that was supposed to be a really good fortune teller. She wanted to go, but she wanted us to go with her. I felt uneasy about going, because I was always taught to believe the Bible said we shouldn't get information in this way. Even if it turned out to be true, the source might not be something one needed to deal with.
Maggie said, “Oh, come on. It'll be fun. We don’t have to take it seriously.” I’d done it once before at a Halloween party, and some of it was eerily accurate. I thought about it and decided to go. I didn't want to be a prig, and I seldom went on outings with girlfriends.
We went on a Sunday afternoon to a run-down old house in a seedy part of Jackson. Loraine brought a purse she thought she might swap for the reading, but the lady wanted cash. She only charged three dollars each for a reading. She took us one at a time, and later we compared notes.
When it was my turn, she shuffled an ordinary pack of playing cards and had me cut the deck. She laid some cards out on the table and told me there would be some changes coming soon. She also said, “You is married to a good man. You is lucky. He loves you, and he ain’t never gonna leave you. I sees five chilren’ in yo' life. How many you got now?
I wanted to say ’You're the fortune-teller. You tell me', but instead I said ”three.” I didn’t mention the first one who died. I’m not planning on having more children. I’m afraid you’re wrong there, lady.
“Well dey gonna be five in all.” She laid more cards on the table. “Dey’s an old man what’s family in yo' life. He be sick. He ain’t gon'na make it.” Hmm..that could be Evan’s dad. He’s been sick, but we're hoping he’ll be all right.
"Dey’s a black-headed woman what comes to yo' house sometime. She thank mo' highly of yo' husband than she do of you.” Well Shirley is the only black-headed woman that’s ever been to our house. She did date Evan before he dated me. But she married his brother. Surely she doesn’t still care about my husband. Surely I'm not believing any of this garbage.
She laid out more cards. “You gonna be movin’ away from dis' state pretty soon. Dat’s all de cards say today.” Uh-uhh... Don’t think so. We just got moved into our new house. I can't see us moving any time soon.
When we got back in the car, we compared notes, and she had told all three of us that we had changes coming in our lives. She had also told all of us that in the next couple of years, we would be moving out of the state. Since we were all born in Mississippi and had never thought of moving, we had a good laugh about that. She told Loraine she had a lot of men in her life, but not to marry any of them, because it would end in divorce. We couldn't help but admit she was probably accurate there. The three marriages Loraine had already had all ended in divorce.
She told Maggie she would have another baby and that her husband wouldn't be with her very much longer. Maggie asked why, and she told her he might have to die. None of us thought our fortunes were that accurate, but mine had been the best of the three. She did say I had a good man, and I couldn't argue with that.
As 1969 passed from history and 1970 came into being, we were beginning to adjust to the changes that had taken place in our life. The past year had been an interesting period in history. We had witnessed Neal Armstrong take man’s first step on the moon. Richard Nixon had been elected our president with Spiro Agnew as his running mate. He had vowed to dismantle the welfare state that had existed under Lyndon Johnson. We had witnessed counter-culture clashes, riots, and anti-war protests. The stock-market average stood at 800. The average salary in the US was under $9,000 per year. We had high hopes for this being a better year all around.
We had an extremely cold winter in January with snow and huge icicles hanging off of our house. School was closed, and so was our work for a couple of days. In Jackson, other than a few flakes, a big snow was rare. The kids were excited. They put together makeshift sleds out of whatever they could find and had so much fun sliding down the dip from the front of our house to the driveway. Carol decided she wanted to knock some of the three foot long icicles from the roof of our house. She found a long slender piece of wood with a nail sticking in the end and aimed it for an icicle. She missed and came down instead on the top of Don’s head as he stood below the icicle. Our poor son got hit on his head so many times, it is amazing he survived his childhood. This time, he could blame someone else rather then himself for the accident.
During his childhood, Don was plagued with a nervous stomach. If he was distressed in any way, he would get an almost unbearable pain in the center of his stomach. One particular night, his cries of pain were especially alarming. On this occasion, I'm not sure if it was nerves or the fact that he always ate too fast. It could have been a combination of things, but we became concerned enough that we decided he needed to go to the emergency room. I stayed with the girls while you drove him into Jackson to the hospital. The doctor checked him out and couldn’t find a problem. He said he would give him something to ease the pain. I wish I knew what drug he was given, because for the next four hours after he got home, we were up trying to get him to settle down. He acted as though he was possessed. He was bouncing off the walls. No more pain but it was hours before he wore himself down to the point that anyone could sleep.
Carol turned nine in February. We let her invite a couple of kids from the church school over for a sleepover. The two girls that came were another pair of twins. They were actually closer to Christi and Don’s age, but they all got along well together. I think Christi was a little jealous, because they seemed to enjoy playing more active games with Carol and Don than playing Barbie dolls with her.
I let the kids have the run of the lower part of the house. When I went down to see what they were up to, I found they had used a whole skein of knitting thread for some game they were playing. There was so much thread crisscrossing from one piece of furniture to the next that it was impossible to walk through the room. One of the kids was hiding inside my clothes dryer. I should have known better. Kids need supervision at all times, especially when you get some fresh minds around to dream up ways to drive the adults crazy.
-------------------
We got a unexpectied call from your sister Maxine saying that your Dad was in the Baptist hospital in Jackson suffering with a heart problem. It was surprising that he had been brought to Jackson since there were closer hospitals at Meridian, Newton and Bay Springs. We went to see him that night. He seemed in good spirits, but he was hooked up to all sorts of monitors. The doctors suspected that he had suffered a mild heart attack. Your family came out to the house and had a meal with us. After a couple of days, your dad was sent back home on medication.
-----------------
At my work, Loraine came up with an outing that involved both Maggie and me. She said she knew about a black lady that was supposed to be a really good fortune teller. She wanted to go, but she wanted us to go with her. I felt uneasy about going, because I was always taught to believe the Bible said we shouldn't get information in this way. Even if it turned out to be true, the source might not be something one needed to deal with.
Maggie said, “Oh, come on. It'll be fun. We don’t have to take it seriously.” I’d done it once before at a Halloween party, and some of it was eerily accurate. I thought about it and decided to go. I didn't want to be a prig, and I seldom went on outings with girlfriends.
We went on a Sunday afternoon to a run-down old house in a seedy part of Jackson. Loraine brought a purse she thought she might swap for the reading, but the lady wanted cash. She only charged three dollars each for a reading. She took us one at a time, and later we compared notes.
When it was my turn, she shuffled an ordinary pack of playing cards and had me cut the deck. She laid some cards out on the table and told me there would be some changes coming soon. She also said, “You is married to a good man. You is lucky. He loves you, and he ain’t never gonna leave you. I sees five chilren’ in yo' life. How many you got now?
I wanted to say ’You're the fortune-teller. You tell me', but instead I said ”three.” I didn’t mention the first one who died. I’m not planning on having more children. I’m afraid you’re wrong there, lady.
“Well dey gonna be five in all.” She laid more cards on the table. “Dey’s an old man what’s family in yo' life. He be sick. He ain’t gon'na make it.” Hmm..that could be Evan’s dad. He’s been sick, but we're hoping he’ll be all right.
"Dey’s a black-headed woman what comes to yo' house sometime. She thank mo' highly of yo' husband than she do of you.” Well Shirley is the only black-headed woman that’s ever been to our house. She did date Evan before he dated me. But she married his brother. Surely she doesn’t still care about my husband. Surely I'm not believing any of this garbage.
She laid out more cards. “You gonna be movin’ away from dis' state pretty soon. Dat’s all de cards say today.” Uh-uhh... Don’t think so. We just got moved into our new house. I can't see us moving any time soon.
When we got back in the car, we compared notes, and she had told all three of us that we had changes coming in our lives. She had also told all of us that in the next couple of years, we would be moving out of the state. Since we were all born in Mississippi and had never thought of moving, we had a good laugh about that. She told Loraine she had a lot of men in her life, but not to marry any of them, because it would end in divorce. We couldn't help but admit she was probably accurate there. The three marriages Loraine had already had all ended in divorce.
She told Maggie she would have another baby and that her husband wouldn't be with her very much longer. Maggie asked why, and she told her he might have to die. None of us thought our fortunes were that accurate, but mine had been the best of the three. She did say I had a good man, and I couldn't argue with that.
We had an extremely cold winter in January with snow and huge icicles hanging off of our house. School was closed, and so was our work for a couple of days. In Jackson, other than a few flakes, a big snow was rare. The kids were excited. They put together makeshift sleds out of whatever they could find and had so much fun sliding down the dip from the front of our house to the driveway. Carol decided she wanted to knock some of the three foot long icicles from the roof of our house. She found a long slender piece of wood with a nail sticking in the end and aimed it for an icicle. She missed and came down instead on the top of Don’s head as he stood below the icicle. Our poor son got hit on his head so many times, it is amazing he survived his childhood. This time, he could blame someone else rather then himself for the accident.
During his childhood, Don was plagued with a nervous stomach. If he was distressed in any way, he would get an almost unbearable pain in the center of his stomach. One particular night, his cries of pain were especially alarming. On this occasion, I'm not sure if it was nerves or the fact that he always ate too fast. It could have been a combination of things, but we became concerned enough that we decided he needed to go to the emergency room. I stayed with the girls while you drove him into Jackson to the hospital. The doctor checked him out and couldn’t find a problem. He said he would give him something to ease the pain. I wish I knew what drug he was given, because for the next four hours after he got home, we were up trying to get him to settle down. He acted as though he was possessed. He was bouncing off the walls. No more pain but it was hours before he wore himself down to the point that anyone could sleep.
Carol turned nine in February. We let her invite a couple of kids from the church school over for a sleepover. The two girls that came were another pair of twins. They were actually closer to Christi and Don’s age, but they all got along well together. I think Christi was a little jealous, because they seemed to enjoy playing more active games with Carol and Don than playing Barbie dolls with her.
I let the kids have the run of the lower part of the house. When I went down to see what they were up to, I found they had used a whole skein of knitting thread for some game they were playing. There was so much thread crisscrossing from one piece of furniture to the next that it was impossible to walk through the room. One of the kids was hiding inside my clothes dryer. I should have known better. Kids need supervision at all times, especially when you get some fresh minds around to dream up ways to drive the adults crazy.
-------------------
We got a unexpectied call from your sister Maxine saying that your Dad was in the Baptist hospital in Jackson suffering with a heart problem. It was surprising that he had been brought to Jackson since there were closer hospitals at Meridian, Newton and Bay Springs. We went to see him that night. He seemed in good spirits, but he was hooked up to all sorts of monitors. The doctors suspected that he had suffered a mild heart attack. Your family came out to the house and had a meal with us. After a couple of days, your dad was sent back home on medication.
-----------------
At my work, Loraine came up with an outing that involved both Maggie and me. She said she knew about a black lady that was supposed to be a really good fortune teller. She wanted to go, but she wanted us to go with her. I felt uneasy about going, because I was always taught to believe the Bible said we shouldn't get information in this way. Even if it turned out to be true, the source might not be something one needed to deal with.
Maggie said, “Oh, come on. It'll be fun. We don’t have to take it seriously.” I’d done it once before at a Halloween party, and some of it was eerily accurate. I thought about it and decided to go. I didn't want to be a prig, and I seldom went on outings with girlfriends.
We went on a Sunday afternoon to a run-down old house in a seedy part of Jackson. Loraine brought a purse she thought she might swap for the reading, but the lady wanted cash. She only charged three dollars each for a reading. She took us one at a time, and later we compared notes.
When it was my turn, she shuffled an ordinary pack of playing cards and had me cut the deck. She laid some cards out on the table and told me there would be some changes coming soon. She also said, “You is married to a good man. You is lucky. He loves you, and he ain’t never gonna leave you. I sees five chilren’ in yo' life. How many you got now?
I wanted to say ’You're the fortune-teller. You tell me', but instead I said ”three.” I didn’t mention the first one who died. I’m not planning on having more children. I’m afraid you’re wrong there, lady.
“Well dey gonna be five in all.” She laid more cards on the table. “Dey’s an old man what’s family in yo' life. He be sick. He ain’t gon'na make it.” Hmm..that could be Evan’s dad. He’s been sick, but we're hoping he’ll be all right.
"Dey’s a black-headed woman what comes to yo' house sometime. She thank mo' highly of yo' husband than she do of you.” Well Shirley is the only black-headed woman that’s ever been to our house. She did date Evan before he dated me. But she married his brother. Surely she doesn’t still care about my husband. Surely I'm not believing any of this garbage.
She laid out more cards. “You gonna be movin’ away from dis' state pretty soon. Dat’s all de cards say today.” Uh-uhh... Don’t think so. We just got moved into our new house. I can't see us moving any time soon.
When we got back in the car, we compared notes, and she had told all three of us that we had changes coming in our lives. She had also told all of us that in the next couple of years, we would be moving out of the state. Since we were all born in Mississippi and had never thought of moving, we had a good laugh about that. She told Loraine she had a lot of men in her life, but not to marry any of them, because it would end in divorce. We couldn't help but admit she was probably accurate there. The three marriages Loraine had already had all ended in divorce.
She told Maggie she would have another baby and that her husband wouldn't be with her very much longer. Maggie asked why, and she told her he might have to die. None of us thought our fortunes were that accurate, but mine had been the best of the three. She did say I had a good man, and I couldn't argue with that.
 Recognized |
I'm continuing to recall memories of life with my deceased husband 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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