Everyone asks us where we want to live when we hang up our keys. Or what area we like the best. (Actually those two questions are really quite different. What area we like the best might not be what we are looking for when we decided to stay in one place. For example, we really like Utah for all the hiking, the color, the slot canyons, the the off-roads, etc. But - we think it is a bit too cold for what we want to live in. Great to visit but not where we want to live.)
Our answer to the second is always that we don’t know: we haven’t been everywhere, we haven’t seen all areas and we need to explore more. We have liked most of the areas that we have visited and have found lots to do and enjoy. We are on what Gary calls a ‘buffet’ tour of the US. But instead of baked beans or potato salad, we’ve got Florida and other states to explore. We’ve been exploring in the Desert Southwest for a while, now it’s time for Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. Who knows where we might end up?
What can you say about seeing an old friend for the first time in 45 years? Hey, we all look the same? Nah - we obviously don’t. But that’s what we’ve done this week. On Thursday we saw Jo who was my house-mate for 2 years in Warwick RI when we both taught at Vets HS there in 1969 and 1970, Jo in the PE department and I in the History department. Then on Saturday we visited with Barb who was my ‘partner in crime’ in developing a World History curriculum in a NH High School for 7 years from 1978 - 1985.
I had mostly lost track of both since we left New England in 1985 but, knowing we were coming out this way this winter and spring, I made a real attempt to find them so I could see them again. Thanks to the Internet, they were not too hard to find. I sent them our Christmas letter and said that we were heading out this way and to call or e-mail us so we could meet up. Now, the only hard part was that both have homes in New England and in Florida so I didn’t know what address to use. Oh, yeah, why not send the letter to both? Got that.
And, this week was the big week. I had a great time renewing old friendships, catching up on 30 - 40 years of living and just enjoying the friendships I had. Gary? Well, he knew both of them and had a great time too. He can fit in anywhere and make friends. Luckily there was so much more to talk about than just memories of the past although that was fun.
It’s amazing how little I remember of those days so long ago. Little bits and snippets. Barb is still the fast talking New Yawker that she was then. She grew up in Brooklyn and I was always intrigued by the fact that she really went to a school named PS 38. I have read about schools named that but never really thought that a school could be named PS 38. I thought they had names like Lincoln, Duncomb, Hawley but, no, her’s was PS 38. Cute. Finding a World History curriculum that was non-existent and materials that were ancient, she and I alternated between units finding materials, worksheets, maps, whatever we thought would enliven the lessons and finally we had a curriculum. We continued to refine it for the years that we were there. We worked well together and had a lot of fun bouncing ideas off of each other for the 7 years that we were there. She left the same summer I did, she for a new baby and I for new pastures in Minnesota.
Jo and I lived together for 2 years while I was teaching in Warwick, Rhode Island. I had rented a house on Narragansett Bay with marvelous views out of the windows lining the front of the house but needed a house-mate to help defray the costs. I can’t remember how Jo and I linked up but we did and lived there for 2 school years. It was a summer house owned by a family named DeBellis and we had to leave in June, when school was out. That was fine with me, I had plans to work in a Girl Scout camp on Catalina Island ’26 Miles Across the Sea’ from Los Angeles. Jo traveled over the summers. Rosie is on the left and Jo is on the right here.
I remember the views out the windows, especially since I sat at the kitchen table as I was correcting papers and developing lesson plans. Jo remembers - that I cooked a lot of onions. Huh? Yep, that’s what she remembers. One life lesson I learned from Jo was to save half of everything you made. On the way home from school on Friday, we’d stop at the bank: one week we’d deposit our checks into our savings accounts and the other week we’d deposit it into checking. Worked for us and I lived by that principal - usually. I’ll have to admit that I did stray. Then I left to go back to school for my Masters and Jo found another house mate. After I got my Masters, Gary had gotten out of the Navy, we had married and had moved to New Hampshire closer to his job.
They had a beautiful house and a friendly alligator in their landscaping. Our first alligator in Florida and it was fake.
Both Jo and Barb have recently gotten married. Barb married Bob, who she met 13 years ago through an online matchmaking service. They dated for 5 years and finally got married with her ex- escorting her down the aisle. They also conned him into helping them move. Good for them. Jo and Rosie dated or 35 years and, when Rhode Island legalized gay marriage, they got married.
What a fool I was not to keep in touch with these two after I enjoyed them so much and had so much fun with them. However, Gary and I moved back to Iowa, opened 2 video stores, and got involved with life in our new location - and I lost touch. That’s why this week was so special and I plan to keep in touch better now. In fact, since they both have homes in New England where we are headed, I plan to see both of the later this summer, too.
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