Saturday, August 29, 2009

Finally A Break!

My efforts to secure a job with an income that would allow Jane to stay home and care for Maggie during her formative years, was on going but with little success.  I knew that being able to spend time with my newborn was really special and I took advantage of it!  We watched Sesame Street, played games, read books and tried to learn how to use the potty.  I felt wonderful when she referred to Jane and I as DaDaMaMa!

As the winter came to it's end and the snow melted it was time for me to go into the fenced back yard and scoop up the dog poop that had been buried in snow for months.  Yes, two dogs leave a lot of debris over a three month period of time.  Jane had gone shopping so I put Maggie down for a nap in her downstairs nursery, which also served as a laundry room.  I wrapped towels around my face, got out some jumbo plastic bags and a shovel and started to clear the yard.  The task was so daunting that I re-thought my approach.  I decided that the job would go a lot faster if I used the garden hose to move the excrement up against the fence and then shoveled it into the bags!  I was sure this method would shorten my dirty task.                      

I  picked up the hose, turned on the water and began moving the unspeakable mess.  Suddenly the water pressure dropped and I looked to see if there was a crimp in the hose, not finding any I shut the water off but the sound of running water continued!  I went into the house and followed the noise downstairs to the nursery where water was pouring through the ceiling!  There was Maggie sound asleep in a room that was quickly filling with water.  I looked up at the ceiling and noticed that the light fixture above her bed was full of water, looking much like a little gold fish bowl!  I grabbed the baby, who looked at me with some alarm and ran back upstairs hauling her around the outside of the building looking for the shut off valve.  By the time I found it I was exhausted and Maggie was not happy.  As it turned out the hose was attached to the spicket all winter and water in the hose froze and cause the pipe to break.                                                                          

By the time Jane returned Maggie had calmed down and I was looking at the bank book to see if we could afford to pay for the repairs!  Then I returned to the miserable job in the back yard and filled many large trash bags and hauled them to the complexes dumpster  Not being very scientific and feeling buoyant over having finished this miserable job, I never stopped to consider what many large black plastic bags filled with dog excrement might smell like by the time the garbage people came three days later!  Everyone in the complex except us, couldn't figure out what that awful odor was.  Needless to say we didn't offer an explanation!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Away We Go!

It was a daunting task facing the move to Denver without a job and totting our little newborn and the family dog, Blanch.  We adopted Blanch shortly after the wedding and she was a wonderful dog, part Spitz with a touch of Beagle.  Blanch had a beautiful white coat, thus the name, but unfortunately she shed quite a bit.  Jane and I took a trip with some friends a couple of years before. They rode in her new car and Jane, Blanch and I followed in our little Dodge wagon, which had no air conditioning.  The plan was to head to Colorado and on  the way drop off our dog with my buddies folks in Kansas.  Every time we stopped along the way Jane and I would get out of the car in a cloud of white hair, which not only swirled around us but stuck to our hot sweaty
skin!

It wasn't easy saying goodbye to our friends in St. Louis, but I learned a long time before that people generally grow during stressful times.  That was certainly the case when I left New Jersey at eighteen and flew to Denver, never having been further west than eastern Pennsylvania, or when I moved to St. Louis alone to start my career.  This adventure would prove to be as meaningful and important to my personal growth as any of the others.

The trip went well and it was nice to be back in the Mile High City, the place where Jane and I met in 1967. Of course I worked feverously to find a job that would support my new family.  I signed up with a company that consulted with those who were in the process of changing their career paths.  The method included making contact with people in a field in which you were interested and not asking for a job, but asking for advice on how to get into that field.  My big problem was I had no idea what I wanted to do with myself and didn't have the luxury of spending a lot of time in therapy to figure it out!  Although I worked with my consultant and followed his direction I also attacked the problem the old fashioned way, tearing through the want ads and sending out letters and resumes.  Month's went by with no interviews and then finally I was asked to meet with the reccruiter of a national cafeteria company who wanted me to join their manager training program.  If it wasn't for the fact that I couldn't see myself wearing a hair net and that the job paid exactly what I was making as a teacher, I probably would have accepted the position!

Our friend who was so gracious to allow us to stay in his condominium asked for little in return.  He was a teacher in a federal prison and had a small catering business, which Jane and I would help out with when he got a job.  I think he stepped up his marketing when he knew we were there to help because suddenly things got busy.  The biggest event was the Puram Ball, a Jewish event held after The Day of Attonment.  Not being Jewish, neither Jane nor I had any idea what might be on the menu, but it all had to be prepared in a kosher kitchen.  The day before the event we all worked like dogs preparing the next days meal in his temples kitchen.  We were making some sort of tuna casserole as the main dish and lots of other side dishes.  The tuna mixture was being cooked in a couple of large pots, thank god our friend was responsible for that part of the days chores! Suddenly we smelled a scorched pot smell and low and behold the tuna blob was burning on the bottom of that giant pot.  Once we got it off the heat and poured it into large aluminum baking dishes we held our breath while the cook tasted the concoction.  We could tell by the corkscrew expression on his face that we had a problem.  He began doctoring the tuna casserole with every condiment and spice he could find to no avail, it still tasted burned!

The three of us had a wrestless night but had little time to worry as the event was planned for eight o'clock and we had lots of work to do!  We had rented Grants Mansion in downtown Denver for the event and arrived several hours early to set up our heating closets and set the tables.  Everything seemed to be going well until I checked on the tuna casserole which was still stone cold!  It was after six when we discovered that we had blown several fuses in the old mansion and had no clue how to replace them, or even where they were!  After a number of calls we located the maintenance company who dispatched a worker to resolve the problem.  By the time he arrived we had less than an hour to get the food warm but the equipment wasn't designed for a quick heat up.  By eight o'clock we had a house full of people who had been fasting all day and were not going to take our excuse for cold tuna casserole very well.  Nonetheless, we forged on and served the food as quickly as possible.  I think we escaped mayhem because the attendees were so hungry!  Jane and I chuckled a bit about the fact that after all the doctoring of the food we doubted it was still kosher!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Good Morning Old Man

It is amazing to wake up one morning and find that you have reached an age that you always considered to be "old"! That recently happened to me, which for some would be a sad moment but much to my amazement I spent my birthday recollecting things that I had experienced often times smiling or even having a laugh!
My birth, at Overlook Hospital in Summit, New Jersey, on June 22,1949, was the first fact of my life that made me smile on my sixtieth birthday. Not that I was aware at the time but later found out that Myrl Streep was also born on June 22, 1949, and was also born at Overlook Hospital! I've taken much pleasure over the years telling that story, always adding at the end that I slept with the beautiful Myrl Streep! This year I got my comeuppance after relating the story to my favorite Barista at Starbucks who said, "Who's that?".

After graduation from the University of Denver in 1971, with my B.A. in Political Science and a minor in Education, I took a position teaching History in a suburban Junior High School outside of St. Louis, MO. During my eight year tenure I earned my Master's in Secondary School Administration. I loved teaching, it was hard work but with wonderful rewards. There are few professions where a person can stand in front of thirty-two fifteen year olds' and realize that you have captured their imaginations and challenged their minds. Unfortunately, even after eight years experience,, a Master's Degree and three merit raises I was only earning $15,000 a year. My wife earned another $10,000, and we were making ends meet. Then Jane said, over a glass of wine, that she was concerned about her biological clock, being 29, she thought it was time to start a family. I agreed and we were both looking forward to the next chapter in our seven year marriage. As the conversation continued she explained that she thought it would be best if we raised our family as our parents did. Dad went to work and Mom stayed home to care for the children! It didn't take long for me to do the math and figure something had to give!

After much soul searching we decided to sell our little house, take the profits and relocate to Denver, where a good friend from college had a condominium we could live in until I found a better paying job. Our little girl Maggie was born on August 8, 1978, and soon thereafter I resigned my position and put the house on the market. We had purchased the house four years earlier in Richmond Heights outside St. Louis. It was an old place and not in good shape, but at a price tag of $13,000 Jane could borrow enough from the Credit Union, under the guise of purchasing furniture, to make the down payment! Neither of us are handy types but we were young and worked hard cleaning the place up and painting everywhere. It was intersting to watch the other neighbors, all seniors, start to take a new interest in their own homes. Things improved and as a result we made a profit of $48,000!