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Mostly, until 1972 when Sam retired from the Navy, we traveled, and had kids. And the kids and I were always waiting on him to come in from some long deployment or another. It seemed like everytime his ship would come in, we got pregnant again. (Get it? Our ship came in pretty regularly)?But after 4, we decided that was enough.
We have the best children in the world. I take most of the credit, yessiree, because I raised them mostly by myself while their dad was at sea 10 months (avg) out of every year with the Navy.
Of course I always said I would take the blame for anything wrong about them. Fortunately, and not so surprisingly, no one could ever find anything wrong with them. Just great, good Christian, church going children and it passed on to our grandchildren. Wonderful kids, all. I am just so very proud of them all. And I feel truly blessed by God to have received these blessings from Him. My husband and children and grandchildren.
Doesn't look like we will get any great grandchildren. At least not in our lifetime.
That 27 yr old, Ashley, is a school teacher and she maintains that she WILL BE an 'old maid' school teacher. No, she isn't named for Ashley High School. There is a river down here called the Ashley River, and it supposedly meets up with the Cooper River to form the Atlantic Ocean. Yes, these people down here are just that vain. They're proud of their city. (I think that the rivers are named for someone from centuries ago named Ashley Cooper. I'll have to research that more. My memory just isn't that sharp anymore. I'll update that someday.)
So far our Ashley hasn't found anyone good enough to marry. We keep hoping she'll find the right fella someday. And maybe she, or one of the younger ones, will provide us with a great grandchild. Not likely, though, in OUR LIFETIME.
Oh well, we're too old to be babysitting for them, so it's probably just as well.
I've had a lot of sicknesses during the last 6 or 7 years, but God has seen fit to keep me on earth a while longer. I keep telling all of my family and friends that He is just not finished with me. I need to be a lot better person for Him to bring me into HIS home. But there will be a wonderful home for me up there, when God is ready for me.
I retired from the Naval Base down here in Charleston, (27 miles from where we live) in 1993, and since then I started my own Tax Consultation and Preparation business, after having worked part time, after work and on weekends, for H&R Block for 20 yrs. I gave that up 2 years ago after becoming too sick to continue. However, after several hospitalizations, and times spent in a nursing home, I am now recovered, and I intend to slowly get back into it.
It's too late this year for me to contract with my prior software company, and so I will just do them on the internet. I've had several of my old clients call me so far during the past month, to ask if I would do their taxes, and I decided that I will be able to do that. If it works out, then I will contract with the same software company as before. It's a wonderful program.
So happens that it's established and owned by these wonderful, Christian, mountain folks, from Franklin, NC, which is my husband's hometown. However, I met him in Gastonia, at Eagles' Dime Store when he was transitioning from 3 yrs in Korea, Guam, Philipines, & Japan to a new ship in San Diego CA. He and his Navy buddy came in the store one day to visit with his friend's friend. Who also was my friend. He asked her to find a date for "Peek" as they called one another in the Navy. So she asked me to go out on a double date with her and "Sonny". When he introduced me to Sam, he said "This is Peek". I swore that he said "Pete" and so that's what I called Sam for several days until he finally told me his name was "Sam". I had never heard of calling someone by his last name. It seemed rude to me. Lesson learned!
His parents were living in Gastonia at the time, and he was home for Christmas. We met on January 5, 1956, and married on July 16, 1956. I had turned 17 on January 27th. He turned 21 on May 17th. I married an old man. I continued school until we decided I should be with him at his new duty station, but I enrolled in a GED program, and they said I could write to my school for a diploma which they would send to me. BUT, I guess I didn't learn a whole lot, because when I sent off my GED diploma, it was for Vickie Peek, and so I promptly got it back with a letter stating that they didn't have any records of a Vickie Peek attending Frank L. Ashley High School. I was too embarrassed to fix it. To write a letter of explanation and apology and stating my school name there as being Vickie Wilson. Dummy me! I've always regretted that.
It was such a nostalgic time when we went to the 50th Ashley High School reunion and had supper at Dino's, almost at the exact spot we met. I worked at the very first counter as one came into the store from Main St. It was the cosmetics counter. What a wonderful experience.
And yes, we spent many an evening over at RO's eating slawburgers, sans meat patty, for me, and hot dogs for him. His favorite food at the time, and for years to come, was hotdogs. It's now more like steak. Well, as for me, I don't eat much meat. Not that I'm a vegetarian, although I do like, and prefer vegetables, steamed. I will eat some meat.
Along with doing tax consult and preparation, I decided to take up tole painting. So I took painting lessons for several years. Again, until I got too sick to hold onto a paint brush. I couldn't even write, much less paint. For the first time in years, I did tackle painting this Christmas, when I painted a rooster on an old pickle jar for my hairdresser. (My advice to tole painters out there, or for anyone who thinks he/she might want to do tole painting, hang on to any glass jars, bottles, or anything made out of glass. They're disappearing fast. Everything comes in plastic anymore. Especially mayonnaise containers. I've painted boocoos of stuff on mayonnaise jars. Really cute stuff.)
My hairdresser's kitchen motif is roosters.
I do some crafts. Nothing extravagant, but simple things that I can do, and enjoy. Like decouppage, and scrapbooking. I also collect recipes, and have tomes of binders full. And magazines. Food Network is my favorite show and magazine.
That's all for now. If I think of something later on, I will update, again.
