Saturday, I’ll be another year older. I’ve survived three serious illnesses and continue to be in pretty good health. Ken will take me out to supper at Josef’s in Rockford to celebrate.
I have so many things to be thankful for starting with my husband. We’ve raised three children and cared for Linda all of her life. Lisa and Kurt lead the lives they have chosen. Our grandchildren, Katelyn and Jacob, are successful adults. Daughter-in-law, Sandy, and grandson-in-law, Sean, joined this family.
As I look back, it seems things have fallen into place according to a grand design. Two events during my sophomore year in high school set the course for the rest of my life. I was taking a typing class in preparation for an office job after graduation. My folks gave me a Royal portable typewriter for Christmas. I never figured out why they purchased a gift that cost over a hundred dollars. It was the first time they bought an item on time and made monthly payments to a store in Beloit.
Three months later, Kenny and I attended the Future Homemakers of America dance in the Durand High School gym. My parents decided I was finally old enough to date him. In 1959, the two of us were married.
Ten years later, I became a freelance reporter for the Rockford Morning Star because I owned a typewriter. I’ve continued to write newspaper and magazine articles at home.
Earlier this year, Adelaide Books, an independent New York firm, published my memoir about our seven-year courtship, “The View from a Midwest Ferris Wheel.” It’s available from Amazon in Kindle and paperback.
For years, my mantra has been, “Today we’re okay,” I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but I am not a worrier. We’ll handle it. In the meantime, I’ll celebrate every chance I get.
In retrospect, has your life seemed to follow a pattern?
Has my life followed a pattern, she asks!! Not one that I would have predicted when I was young. I can say that every situation that I have been in, I haven’t sat back and accepted what happened without giving it some thought about what I wanted next to improve my life. For example, when Karl talked of retiring to North Carolina, I decided that the south was not for me & I left Karl to come back to Wisconsin for my Master’s Degree. When Dale and Bill died, I went out to find another companion to share my life. I didn’t just sit & mope.
I also made the best out of my secretarial job though I really wanted to be teaching. I accumulated a pension from Madison Public Schools, and money from husbands along the way so my senior years are comfortable.
I guess God made the rather unusual pattern for my life, and I have adapted & added to it.