First Love

 If you'll recall I never really had a boyfriend throughout high school and most of college.  Also, you need to know I was very interested in foreign places with my deepest desire to travel to Europe but especially England.  I'd taken German in high school  because I thought that would help me reach the goal of going to Europe.  If I had taken French or Spanish, my parents would have said, "Go to Canada" or "Go to Mexico" but German. . . .I needed to go to Europe to learn fluency.  I wasn't particularly interested in Germany, but I did have interest in going to Switzerland (home of Heidi) and Austria. (home of Sound of Music).

But, my heart was in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. I loved British history (you have no idea how excited I was to learn that I descend from my favorite Scottish kings and my favorite English Queen---Eleanor of Aquitaine).  I read English literature:  the Brontes, Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy, Graham Greene.  My favorites novels were about the legendary King Arthur and Camelot. (I have an entire book shelf of King Arthur books) Although I majored in German, I also majored in English:  English literature and English language were my real loves. 

My good friend Ed (one of my high school "brothers") and I belonged to a group at church called The Searchers (my sister Jane and Grandpa's brother Tom also belonged).  We had a house on the church property where we met, studied, partied and practically lived in the summers when we were home from college.  It was a group of about 30-50 from all religious backgrounds. We did have one regular meeting with an outside speaker during the week which everyone attended.  

I walked into the meeting that evening and saw that Ed had brought someone new---a very cute blond young man who was busy taking in all of the chaos and joy before the meeting.  He was smiling as his eyes darted from person to person.  I liked that smile.  Ed saw me and  raised his hand that I needed to come over.  He introduced me to Tony. . . .an exchange student from England working at McDonnell-Douglas (Boeing) for the summer. I sat right down next to Tony and eagerly started chatting with him until the meeting began.

I was 19: the summer between my sophomore and junior years of college.  Tony was maybe 20, a student at Birmingham University and a "co-op" with Rolls-Royce Aviation.  That meant he was a student but also worked at Rolls-Royce---a little like an internship.  (Grandpa was a co-op at McDonnell Douglas as was Ed).  Tony didn't drive, but he lived in an apartment, so I assume Ed drove him everywhere he needed to go.  Ed was certainly our "chauffeur" most of the summer with the exception of one date.

Just before I was to leave to go back to college, Tony asked me to go the Muny Opera to see Camelot (my favorite musical) about King Arthur.  He'd received tickets to the McDonnell box seats.  It was the perfect date!  We had dinner at Fox and Hounds at Cheshire Inn---about the most English setting anywhere in St. Louis. Then we went to the Muny with the best seats!  After all of my years sitting in the "cheap" seats, I had never dreamed I'd be escorted to the box seats of one of the biggest companies in St. Louis.  Ed did not drive.. .. I think I might have driven although a limo was not out of the question.  OK, a horse and carriage would have been perfect, but I'm pretty sure that did not happen. Although it was "magical" sitting with Tony in box seats watching Camelot, I also discovered that seats that close were too close.  I remember thinking, "I can count the nose hairs of the conductor".  But I digress.

After Camelot, we just sat in the car outside his apartment and talked and talked.  I left for college soon after and then, got one of the most disappointing phone calls I'd ever received.  We only had one phone on our entire floor in my dorm, so someone had to get me for the phone call.  They were grinning but wouldn't tell me why.  Ah, the English accent. Tony was calling from the New York City airport--no easy task back then.  He was on a pay phone, putting coins in every few minutes.    When I got on, I knew it was him talking but I didn't understand anything he said.  While I never had any trouble with his accent in person, over the phone in 1966. ....I couldn't understand him.  I was so frustrated, I remember going down the hall of my dorm crying---a combination of him leaving but also my frustration at not being able to understand him. 

I only heard from him one more time---a Christmas card that just had his name. .. .

So, recently I began to wonder what happened to Tony.  I googled "Tony Edwards, RAF" (Royal Air Force) and was surprised at how quickly he popped up photos and all.   He was every bit as successful as I knew he would be.  He had a very successful career in aviation engineering and even was awarded a medal by Prince Phillip (Duke of Edinburgh).  He was on at least 16 boards.  This link will take you to a page where you need to scroll down to find Tony, but it details his career.  I don't think my 19 year old self would have been surprised at his success at all:  I had high standards.

But meanwhile, meeting Tony planted a seed in my brain and a new goal:  exchange student. And now I knew my "type": intelligent, warm, successful, good looking  and. . . . .not an American.

Working Girl

 

I had my first job at about 9 years old----it was a job of necessity, but not because I needed money. I only had one craft that I thoroughly enjoyed---making potholders on a loom with pre-made loops.  I loved making them and creating new designs, new color combinations, but I had given them to all the grandparents, aunts and my mom, but  I still had a surplus. So Mom suggested I try selling them door-to-door.  It was not a successful business:  I don't think I sold many.  My ego was shattered that strangers were not interested in all of my beautiful potholders.  But, I must have sold enough to try a different door-to-door job next.

My next job at about 10 was selling Christmas cards door to door.  I had samples that they could choose from and I would order them.  I had a sample case and looked very professional opening the case with all of the samples.  I learned to compliment them on their choices, suggest a font, shake hands and wait until I could deliver them.  I felt so grown up.  That was easier to do because it wasn't my creations that people were turning down, but someone else's Christmas cards.  But, that was a pretty seasonal job. 

Also at 10, I had something else to keep me busy---my baby brother Jim.  I mothered him, entertained him, played with him.  That lead to my next job: babysitter. My first job at about 11 or 12 was my cousin Cheryl.  My aunt and uncle were playing cards at a neighbor's house, but they were comfortable with me watching Cheryl because I had experience with Jim.  I babysat  off and on even through college.  My college babysitting jobs were more challenging---babysitting strangers' children in hotels and motels. Because of my life guard training, I could safely take their kids to the unguarded pool.  But the hotel rooms were pretty confining after swimming and when the kids went to sleep, the lights and tv were off.  Before cell phones, I was left with nothing to do but curl up in a hotel chair until the parents got back.

My first job with taxes being taken out began at 15 and ended at 20: lifeguarding and teaching swim lessons  at our private swim club.  It was a great job. In addition to my family being members, many principals of the schools and players on the Cardinal baseball team belonged. My bosses were often coaches from my high school.  I worked with a lot of fun people from my high school and a neighboring one.  But it was grueling on hot, crowded days.  When we were off the stands, our job also included, checking people in, checking their clothes in with giant mesh bags, cleaning the restrooms and the snack area.  Other than the fun people I worked with, I loved swimming after hours when the pool had closed having it all to ourselves.  But it was a boring job most of the time, with too much cleaning.  However, sitting all day observing people, I did became an expert at relationships, body language and getting to understand people which was a great asset for me as a teacher later on.

I didn't work a job during the school year in high school because I had too many activities.  But when I went away to college, I decided to try a few jobs on campus:  tutoring, food service and mail distribution.  Tutoring was probably my least favorite because I never felt like I really helped them much.  To get a B.A. degree some students had to have foreign language to graduate.  Some of those poor people had a very difficult time learning a foreign language in college. I would work with them, they knew the material, but somehow they would fail the tests.  I finally suggested to one student that he have a good stiff drink before testing to to relax him. .. .that didn't work either. When they failed, I failed.

I had two jobs in food service: working on the food line of a dining room and managing a snack bar.  Working on the food line was humbling.  First, we had to wear aprons and hair nets--such a nerdy look ---not the image I wanted in Greek Housing (fraternities and sororities all ate at the same dining room).  Second, despite the apron, I ruined my clothes hauling large vats of food to the line.  The worst was a giant vat of tomato soup that I jiggled too much resulting in it splashing me so badly, that I had to go home and change clothes. I'd ruined my nicest sweater.  The only benefits to the job were socializing with friends who came through the line and the paycheck.

When the job (still in Greek Housing) of managing the snack bar came up, I jumped on the opportunity to get off the food line. There were several advantages:  it wasn't ever terribly busy and friends could drop by.  Also, there was a juke box with popular music that made the hours go by quickly.  I had to prepare some food like hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill, but mostly I was selling bags of snacks and getting soft drinks.  I had to clean the place up when we closed which was probably the only negative about the job.

But my favorite job was "mail clerk". The building that had the snack bar and dining room, also had the mail room.  It served eight dormitories of Independents and Greeks. It had mail slots on 3 sides with a door for me to enter on the 4th side.  I'd take the bags of mail and put them in the mail box slots in my own little room.  I felt like I was spreading joy each time I put a letter or post card in someone's mailbox.  I looked forward to the happy faces.  What I hadn't counted on were the sad faces when someone had no mail.  This was during Viet Nam.  Many had brothers, friends, boy friends who were overseas.  When they didn't get a letter, they often thought the worst.  And, then there were the ones who had a boyfriend or girlfriend at home that no one knew about but the mail clerk.  They'd be out dating, partying, enjoying the single life when the mail clerk knew. .. .. .

The most fun college job was "Go-go" dancing.  Several of us started out dancing for  a Casino night our sorority hosted.  We made very short red dresses with black fringe.  With our white go-go boots we danced in cages around the "casino".  It was so popular, we were called on to re-create those dances for several events in the community for which we were paid.  I loved grinning and telling people I'd become a professional dancer!

As a teenager, a job's a job---it's not usually part of your life time goals.  It's great when you can find something you enjoy doing and get paid to do it. But, that's not usually the case.  I enjoyed making pot holders and would probably still be here with my little loom, if I thought they were marketable.  So finding joy in a job that pays is gold but that's not usually a teenager's life.  On down the road when you are in a job that's your career, you'll look back on those teenage jobs and think, "I'm having a bad day but it's not nearly as bad as cleaning up vomit on the pool deck".  And, sometimes, like one of Leah's friends, you discover that mowing lawns is what you enjoy and you form a successful landscaping company.

Bucket List Part 1

A few weeks ago I was talking to a friend about Bucket Lists.  She said, "So, you actually made one?"  I replied, "I made one and I documented it in a scrapbook."  Yes, I'm that kind of nerd.

It began on a drive to Jacksonville, IL Jan. 1, 2000---I started writing things down.  I included things I'd already done because I figure I'd already lived most of my life.  Later, I decided to make a mini scrap book.  I lost steam in 2007 about when I started blogging.

1. Ride the KATY Trail.  

Although we started riding in 1995, a flood washed out the trail and postponed progress until the next year.  We rode on weekends, parking our car at a trail head, riding about 10 miles and then riding back.  The following weekend, we'd go to the next trail head.    225 miles X 2= 450 miles.  We earned a patch and a T-shirt for filling out our "passport"---a millennium  project sponsored by the state of Missouri.

2.  See the Grand Canyon.  

March 2003, Jane and Richard took us to the Grand Canyon---brrr!  We had a blizzard heading out.  I'm reading a book for a reading promotion at our school.

3.  Get a VW Bug

4. Have a car with a sunroof

5. Buy a new car

Actually my first car was a Camaro S.S. 1968 (in photo for #15).  My first sunroof was on my Rabbit (VW 1980) But this was my first bug, was new and had a sunroof!

6.  See a whale in the wild.

This is one of many humpback whales we saw on our Alaskan Cruise June. 2002.

7. Go through the Chunnel

July 1, 2000 Paris to London (downtown to downtown).  I loved the Eurostar---a fast train, a foot rest, table with a clip, reclining seats.  A window would have been nice, but as you can tell, there wasn't much to see in the Chunnel (goes under the English Channel)

8. Eat salmon in Scotland

Port Appian July 2000

9. Eat in an outdoor cafe in Paris.  

Bonus points for Latin Quarter June 2000

10. See Stonehenge (June 6, 1985)

11. Visit a Mormon Temple

Before the Temple was ordained, we were able to get tickets for the tour.  Mom, Dad, Vera Nelson and we all went.  It was beautiful.  This was 1998 I think.

12. Ski the Alps

1967---Helga Kreitmeier and I took ski lesson every weekend---not wussy American lessons---we had to pack our own slopes.  Usually we had to side step up, but this photo was one of our rare rides with a lift.

13. Eat Baked Alaska

Bonus points for eating it in Alaska 2002

14. Buy a house in Kirkwood

15. Buy an old house and fix it up.

We replaced the roof, put in central air conditioning and rehabbed every room of the house in 2 years.  It had 4 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, 2 car garage, all masonry, copper gutters, wooden floors, marble window sills and aluminum windows.  After a lot of work, we had a lovely home.  In the living room, we replaced the carpet, tore off walnut wood panels, painted and replaced the curtains.  You can see the improvement at bottom.  It was a great house when we got done---just in time for us to move to Pittsburgh.

16. Live in one place for over 4 years.

After our move to Pittsburgh, we moved again 3 years later.  I just wanted to live in a house long enough to pick an apple off my apple trees.  We bought this house in August 1978.  We will soon mark our 40th anniversary here!

17. Get a Bachelor's Degree

18. Get a Master's Degree plus 40 hours

Bachelor of Science at S. E. Mo. State 1968 with double major:  English and German
Master's Degree at UMSL 1996 in Elementary Reading.  Both of those degrees and the 40 hours certified me K-12 in English, German, Reading, English as Second Language  and 6-9 in Social Studies.

19. Visit King Arthur sites.

Since Kathy Suessdorf Blevins introduced me to Once and Future King, I have been obsessed with King Arthur legends.  So in 1985, we visited most of the sites associated with King Arthur.  Rachel (in pink) at Tintagel and Rebecca (in blue) at Gastonbury.  As you can see the girls shared my excitement!

Tri Delta Gathering

The second Tri Delta Gathering in 2 months!  The last one had mostly friends who were younger than I was---this one was mostly friends who were. . . .ahead of me in school.  But this group included former roommates, mentors, pledge trainer, Big Sister and a lot of laughs.  People came from 4 states with at least one car from Cape.  Loved connecting and being with these ladies!  Those in attendance were (maiden names only):  Murph Masterson, Nancy Niehaus, Vicki Aufdenberg, Nancy Bray, Sue Bohnsack, Barb Renz, Vicky Altemeyer, Julie Feldmeier, Carolyn Patrick, Sharon Sievers, Jane Campbell, Linda Lee, Julie Evans, Lydia Bunch (she managed to avoid my photos---but trust me she looks just the same) and myself.

We've agreed we must do this more often---maybe even go to Cape!  Hope more can come the next time!

Summer Visitors

 This has been a busy summer for us---we have had a lot of visitors come in from out of town.  First, my sister and her husband came in and we were able to visit our aunt in her new place of residence.

Then Rebecca and Roman came in for a visit----a visit to Mo. Botanical Garden with the Lego exhibit was a must.

Christi, Pam, Karen

 Not all visitors stayed with us.  One of our college sorority sisters came to town so a group of us met for lunch.

Karen, Me, Patti, Sue, Christi, Pam.  Cheryl, Laura, Robbie, Sharon

Cheryl, Sue, Laura

Then, the Rachel's family came to town for a neighborhood wedding (Click here).  Our 4th was quiet, but we will soon be getting into the second wave of visits and visitors.  That's the nature of summer---people breaking out of hibernations, getting out while the getting is good.  We have been blessed with a cool summer this year which has certainly made these visits more enjoyable.

It's True: I'm a Dancer

The Urban Dictionary says of my name: A beautiful and talented young women who is capable of singing, dancing, and looking great. Jaclyns are known to be tall, kindhearted, and extremely witty.I'm on the end on the right and my cousins Steve and Bob are in the middle.

I'll be the first to admit I'm neither tall nor young, but I used to be a good dancer. The program above goes with the photo.
My cousins and I took dance lessons in St. Louis at what was a very good studio---I know one girl went on to have her own television show where she danced and sang (her name was NOT Jaclyn). Judy Heitman (the daughter of the owners) was in dance club with me in college.
This was the "Lazy Mary and Lazy Johnny" number. . . Between that time and high school, we couldn't really afford dance lessons, but I never stopped dancing. When I wanted to try out for the modern dance club in high school, we were very fortunate that my mother's good friend was Lillian Krupinski who had a dance studio in her home. She gave me a few lessons to "brush up", I auditioned and made the dance club.

After being in the Terpsichore Dance Club in high school, I also auditioned and made Terpsichore in college too.
As an adult, I still dance. . . when reading a book which described the Charleston, I demonstrated the dance for my students (yes, I did pull a muscle). Just this week, I was subbing and the students didn't like the assignment we were working on. I asked if it would help if I tap danced. . .

But, my favorite is when my grandson Eli presses the button on the Fisher-Price Mayflower causing it to play a sailor's song and he says, "Dance, Grandma, dance!"