| Biographical Non-Fiction posted February 25, 2021 | Chapters: |
...103 104 -105- 106... 
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Activities and problems for the five of us.
A chapter in the book Remembering Yesterday
Spring and Summer of 1988
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.
It was getting close to April 15, and the deadline for filing our income tax was approaching. In past years, you always started bugging me early in the year, but this year you hadn’t mentioned it. I wondered if you had forgotten. I hated doing it, and I always waited until the last minute anyway. I was starting to think maybe I should say something. Then, you shocked me when you asked me to sign it. For the first time ever, you had decided to read the instructions and do it yourself. This was a load off my mind. You did it every year after that.
I was very busy at work, and I'd learned that I would often have to work overtime to meet deadlines. It was my second week to work, when I got an unpleasant surprise. Connie had mentioned that there was a fire in the girls' bathroom at school. The fire department was called, and the school was evacuated. I had no idea that she was involved, until we got a call from the school saying she was suspended. You had to go and pick her up.
Her story was that she and a friend were in the girls’ bathroom and the friend wanted to melt the end of her eye makeup. She asked Connie to hold a lighter while she lit some paper. The paper was about to burn her hand so she dropped it in the garbage can. Connie claimed they thought the flame was out, when they left and went to chapel. When questioned everyone denied any knowledge of what happened, until the truth came out.
The school board was going to meet to determine if the girls would be expelled, or how long the suspension would last. You were very upset with her, and you told the vice-principal that we couldn’t believe a word she said. It was the middle of the following week before they called. They said Connie could return to school. They charged her a twenty-five dollar fine. She paid it off with babysitting money and jobs she did for us around the house. She cried and admitted she had brought all the trouble on herself, but she claimed that leaving everything she'd ever known behind, when we moved to Tennessee, contributed to her problems.
She wasn’t the only one in trouble. Christi had bounced a bunch of checks with her bank. She kept borrowing money from us and was never able to pay us back. I think her main focus was on finding a special guy. In those days, she was interested in a guy named Mike, who lived in Nashville.
On Mother’s day, Carol and Glen came for a visit. On Sunday we took the van and went to Fall Creek Falls. It is a beautiful area north of us, with a spectactular waterfall. Christi brought Mike, Connie brought a friend from school named Valerie and Carol and Glen came. Don and Kimberly had other plans. On Monday, Carol and Glen had to leave to go back to Florida.
After dating Mike for a while, Christi started having second thoughts. He stayed with us several times when he came down from Nashville, and everyone liked him. Christi went to Nashville to meet his parents. Then, she started finding faults, as she she usually did with guys she dated. She said she liked younger guys, and that it looked like he might be losing his hair. She wasn't sure he was the right personality type for her. Her relationships never lasted very long. She always found a reason to sabotage them.
School was out for the summer, with Connie making terrible grades on everything except P.E. She failed algebra and made several D’s. She wanted to go to public school in the fall. She had met some people who attended the Ooltewah public school, and she thought she would make better grades there. Christi made B’s on the college subjects she took, and Don did well on the courses he took. He needed to take an organic chemistry course in the fall, and he hoped to get into chiropractic college in January.
Connie was getting some babysitting jobs from David Erwin, who was raising his little girl alone. David was someone we knew from New Orleans. He was divorced. Don had worked with him, but I think they may have fallen out over something, because he wasn’t working with him anymore. David acted as though he liked Christi, but I don’t think she was interested.
Two of Don’s friends from high school had been married and were divorced, so Don was having second thoughts about whether he wanted to even date. He started doing a lot of things with his friend, Bruce Gibbons, who he had gone to school with in Mississippi. Bruce lived in Chattanooga now, and he came over often. Sometimes, he spent the night. At one point a friend from New Orleans paid Don to come and sing at his wedding. He did three songs.
In May he decided to break up with Kimberly. She was very upset, and kept coming over to talk to me. She wanted to see if I could help her figure out how to get back with him. By July, they were back together again without me getting involved. They bought season passes to Six Flags in Atlanta. Don entered a contest on the radio and won an all-expense-paid trip to Las Vegas for two, plus $1,000 in spending money. In August, he and Kimberly took the trip. He claimed they didn’t sleep together. Maybe we were naive, but we wanted to believe that.
Chattanooga celebrates Riverbend Festival every year. Riverbend Festival is a week long extravaganza, where music celebrities and comedians perform on various stages. There are many food vendors, and there is a big fireworks show on the river the final night. Since my company printed the tickets, I got free tickets at work, and you and I went a couple of nights. It was hard to find a parking place, but I thought it was a lot of fun.
You got busy trying to make a garden. It wasn’t easy because our yard was filled with rocks that you had to dig out of the ground. You worked so hard that you lost about 17 pounds. You started complaining a lot and worrying about your health. You thought you had a heart problem. At one point, I took you to a walk-in clinic, but they did a thorough exam and couldn’t find anything wrong. I felt like you were overdoing it by digging rocks and stressing out over Connie.
Valerie, Connie’s friend from school, was a bad influence. Valerie was a bit on the wild side, and according to Don, he had heard both Connie and Valerie had bad reputations. That really had you upset. Connie was constantly getting into trouble and having to be grounded. She was angry with us most of the time. Valerie’s parents were going to Florida for a week, and they invited Connie to go. Carol said if we’d let Connie come, she and Glen would pick her up, and she could spend some time with them. We thought Carol might be the influence Connie needed, so we let her go.
We looked into a learning center that was pretty expensive. We thought maybe Connie could make up for some of bad grades she had gotten during the school year. The price for the center was $75 for the initial test,and then $25 per hour after that. A teacher worked, one on one, with the student, and they guaranteed they could help improve a student's grades. The test showed that Connie scored high on reading comprehension, but at about an eighth grade level in math. She started going there once a week.
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 getting close to April 15, and the deadline for filing our income tax was approaching. In past years, you always started bugging me early in the year, but this year you hadn’t mentioned it. I wondered if you had forgotten. I hated doing it, and I always waited until the last minute anyway. I was starting to think maybe I should say something. Then, you shocked me when you asked me to sign it. For the first time ever, you had decided to read the instructions and do it yourself. This was a load off my mind. You did it every year after that.
I was very busy at work, and I'd learned that I would often have to work overtime to meet deadlines. It was my second week to work, when I got an unpleasant surprise. Connie had mentioned that there was a fire in the girls' bathroom at school. The fire department was called, and the school was evacuated. I had no idea that she was involved, until we got a call from the school saying she was suspended. You had to go and pick her up.
Her story was that she and a friend were in the girls’ bathroom and the friend wanted to melt the end of her eye makeup. She asked Connie to hold a lighter while she lit some paper. The paper was about to burn her hand so she dropped it in the garbage can. Connie claimed they thought the flame was out, when they left and went to chapel. When questioned everyone denied any knowledge of what happened, until the truth came out.
The school board was going to meet to determine if the girls would be expelled, or how long the suspension would last. You were very upset with her, and you told the vice-principal that we couldn’t believe a word she said. It was the middle of the following week before they called. They said Connie could return to school. They charged her a twenty-five dollar fine. She paid it off with babysitting money and jobs she did for us around the house. She cried and admitted she had brought all the trouble on herself, but she claimed that leaving everything she'd ever known behind, when we moved to Tennessee, contributed to her problems.
She wasn’t the only one in trouble. Christi had bounced a bunch of checks with her bank. She kept borrowing money from us and was never able to pay us back. I think her main focus was on finding a special guy. In those days, she was interested in a guy named Mike, who lived in Nashville.
On Mother’s day, Carol and Glen came for a visit. On Sunday we took the van and went to Fall Creek Falls. It is a beautiful area north of us, with a spectactular waterfall. Christi brought Mike, Connie brought a friend from school named Valerie and Carol and Glen came. Don and Kimberly had other plans. On Monday, Carol and Glen had to leave to go back to Florida.
After dating Mike for a while, Christi started having second thoughts. He stayed with us several times when he came down from Nashville, and everyone liked him. Christi went to Nashville to meet his parents. Then, she started finding faults, as she she usually did with guys she dated. She said she liked younger guys, and that it looked like he might be losing his hair. She wasn't sure he was the right personality type for her. Her relationships never lasted very long. She always found a reason to sabotage them.
School was out for the summer, with Connie making terrible grades on everything except P.E. She failed algebra and made several D’s. She wanted to go to public school in the fall. She had met some people who attended the Ooltewah public school, and she thought she would make better grades there. Christi made B’s on the college subjects she took, and Don did well on the courses he took. He needed to take an organic chemistry course in the fall, and he hoped to get into chiropractic college in January.
Connie was getting some babysitting jobs from David Erwin, who was raising his little girl alone. David was someone we knew from New Orleans. He was divorced. Don had worked with him, but I think they may have fallen out over something, because he wasn’t working with him anymore. David acted as though he liked Christi, but I don’t think she was interested.
Two of Don’s friends from high school had been married and were divorced, so Don was having second thoughts about whether he wanted to even date. He started doing a lot of things with his friend, Bruce Gibbons, who he had gone to school with in Mississippi. Bruce lived in Chattanooga now, and he came over often. Sometimes, he spent the night. At one point a friend from New Orleans paid Don to come and sing at his wedding. He did three songs.
In May he decided to break up with Kimberly. She was very upset, and kept coming over to talk to me. She wanted to see if I could help her figure out how to get back with him. By July, they were back together again without me getting involved. They bought season passes to Six Flags in Atlanta. Don entered a contest on the radio and won an all-expense-paid trip to Las Vegas for two, plus $1,000 in spending money. In August, he and Kimberly took the trip. He claimed they didn’t sleep together. Maybe we were naive, but we wanted to believe that.
Chattanooga celebrates Riverbend Festival every year. Riverbend Festival is a week long extravaganza, where music celebrities and comedians perform on various stages. There are many food vendors, and there is a big fireworks show on the river the final night. Since my company printed the tickets, I got free tickets at work, and you and I went a couple of nights. It was hard to find a parking place, but I thought it was a lot of fun.
You got busy trying to make a garden. It wasn’t easy because our yard was filled with rocks that you had to dig out of the ground. You worked so hard that you lost about 17 pounds. You started complaining a lot and worrying about your health. You thought you had a heart problem. At one point, I took you to a walk-in clinic, but they did a thorough exam and couldn’t find anything wrong. I felt like you were overdoing it by digging rocks and stressing out over Connie.
Valerie, Connie’s friend from school, was a bad influence. Valerie was a bit on the wild side, and according to Don, he had heard both Connie and Valerie had bad reputations. That really had you upset. Connie was constantly getting into trouble and having to be grounded. She was angry with us most of the time. Valerie’s parents were going to Florida for a week, and they invited Connie to go. Carol said if we’d let Connie come, she and Glen would pick her up, and she could spend some time with them. We thought Carol might be the influence Connie needed, so we let her go.
We looked into a learning center that was pretty expensive. We thought maybe Connie could make up for some of bad grades she had gotten during the school year. The price for the center was $75 for the initial test,and then $25 per hour after that. A teacher worked, one on one, with the student, and they guaranteed they could help improve a student's grades. The test showed that Connie scored high on reading comprehension, but at about an eighth grade level in math. She started going there once a week.
It was getting close to April 15, and the deadline for filing our income tax was approaching. In past years, you always started bugging me early in the year, but this year you hadn’t mentioned it. I wondered if you had forgotten. I hated doing it, and I always waited until the last minute anyway. I was starting to think maybe I should say something. Then, you shocked me when you asked me to sign it. For the first time ever, you had decided to read the instructions and do it yourself. This was a load off my mind. You did it every year after that.
I was very busy at work, and I'd learned that I would often have to work overtime to meet deadlines. It was my second week to work, when I got an unpleasant surprise. Connie had mentioned that there was a fire in the girls' bathroom at school. The fire department was called, and the school was evacuated. I had no idea that she was involved, until we got a call from the school saying she was suspended. You had to go and pick her up.
Her story was that she and a friend were in the girls’ bathroom and the friend wanted to melt the end of her eye makeup. She asked Connie to hold a lighter while she lit some paper. The paper was about to burn her hand so she dropped it in the garbage can. Connie claimed they thought the flame was out, when they left and went to chapel. When questioned everyone denied any knowledge of what happened, until the truth came out.
The school board was going to meet to determine if the girls would be expelled, or how long the suspension would last. You were very upset with her, and you told the vice-principal that we couldn’t believe a word she said. It was the middle of the following week before they called. They said Connie could return to school. They charged her a twenty-five dollar fine. She paid it off with babysitting money and jobs she did for us around the house. She cried and admitted she had brought all the trouble on herself, but she claimed that leaving everything she'd ever known behind, when we moved to Tennessee, contributed to her problems.
She wasn’t the only one in trouble. Christi had bounced a bunch of checks with her bank. She kept borrowing money from us and was never able to pay us back. I think her main focus was on finding a special guy. In those days, she was interested in a guy named Mike, who lived in Nashville.
On Mother’s day, Carol and Glen came for a visit. On Sunday we took the van and went to Fall Creek Falls. It is a beautiful area north of us, with a spectactular waterfall. Christi brought Mike, Connie brought a friend from school named Valerie and Carol and Glen came. Don and Kimberly had other plans. On Monday, Carol and Glen had to leave to go back to Florida.
After dating Mike for a while, Christi started having second thoughts. He stayed with us several times when he came down from Nashville, and everyone liked him. Christi went to Nashville to meet his parents. Then, she started finding faults, as she she usually did with guys she dated. She said she liked younger guys, and that it looked like he might be losing his hair. She wasn't sure he was the right personality type for her. Her relationships never lasted very long. She always found a reason to sabotage them.
School was out for the summer, with Connie making terrible grades on everything except P.E. She failed algebra and made several D’s. She wanted to go to public school in the fall. She had met some people who attended the Ooltewah public school, and she thought she would make better grades there. Christi made B’s on the college subjects she took, and Don did well on the courses he took. He needed to take an organic chemistry course in the fall, and he hoped to get into chiropractic college in January.
Connie was getting some babysitting jobs from David Erwin, who was raising his little girl alone. David was someone we knew from New Orleans. He was divorced. Don had worked with him, but I think they may have fallen out over something, because he wasn’t working with him anymore. David acted as though he liked Christi, but I don’t think she was interested.
Two of Don’s friends from high school had been married and were divorced, so Don was having second thoughts about whether he wanted to even date. He started doing a lot of things with his friend, Bruce Gibbons, who he had gone to school with in Mississippi. Bruce lived in Chattanooga now, and he came over often. Sometimes, he spent the night. At one point a friend from New Orleans paid Don to come and sing at his wedding. He did three songs.
In May he decided to break up with Kimberly. She was very upset, and kept coming over to talk to me. She wanted to see if I could help her figure out how to get back with him. By July, they were back together again without me getting involved. They bought season passes to Six Flags in Atlanta. Don entered a contest on the radio and won an all-expense-paid trip to Las Vegas for two, plus $1,000 in spending money. In August, he and Kimberly took the trip. He claimed they didn’t sleep together. Maybe we were naive, but we wanted to believe that.
Chattanooga celebrates Riverbend Festival every year. Riverbend Festival is a week long extravaganza, where music celebrities and comedians perform on various stages. There are many food vendors, and there is a big fireworks show on the river the final night. Since my company printed the tickets, I got free tickets at work, and you and I went a couple of nights. It was hard to find a parking place, but I thought it was a lot of fun.
You got busy trying to make a garden. It wasn’t easy because our yard was filled with rocks that you had to dig out of the ground. You worked so hard that you lost about 17 pounds. You started complaining a lot and worrying about your health. You thought you had a heart problem. At one point, I took you to a walk-in clinic, but they did a thorough exam and couldn’t find anything wrong. I felt like you were overdoing it by digging rocks and stressing out over Connie.
Valerie, Connie’s friend from school, was a bad influence. Valerie was a bit on the wild side, and according to Don, he had heard both Connie and Valerie had bad reputations. That really had you upset. Connie was constantly getting into trouble and having to be grounded. She was angry with us most of the time. Valerie’s parents were going to Florida for a week, and they invited Connie to go. Carol said if we’d let Connie come, she and Glen would pick her up, and she could spend some time with them. We thought Carol might be the influence Connie needed, so we let her go.
We looked into a learning center that was pretty expensive. We thought maybe Connie could make up for some of bad grades she had gotten during the school year. The price for the center was $75 for the initial test,and then $25 per hour after that. A teacher worked, one on one, with the student, and they guaranteed they could help improve a student's grades. The test showed that Connie scored high on reading comprehension, but at about an eighth grade level in math. She started going there once a week.
 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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