I can't believe I've already posted 99 times since I began 112 days ago on January 31, 2007. As is the tradition in blogland to post 100 things about yourself on the 100th post here goes. These are somewhat in chronological order but not entirely as I inserted various things as I thought of them. Some of them you'll know if you've been following my blog. Some of them are new.
1. I'm a Christmas baby.
2. When I was young I thought my parents should have named me "Carole" for Christmas Carole.
3. I was named after my paternal grandmother who died before I was born.
4. They almost named me Henrietta after my father, Henry. I am SO thankful they did not.
Sorry to any of you Henrietta's out there!
5. I was a forceps birth baby and had convulsions and almost died at birth.
6. I have no middle name. Since getting married I have always used my maiden name as my middle name.
7. My maternal grandparents lived in Missouri and I only saw them about 4 or 5 times in my life.
8. On one visit when I was very young I was out with my grandfather looking at the horses. One of the colts kicked me in the right chest.
9. I loved school and made very good grades but got D's & one F in Deportment because I talked too much!!!
10. I took piano lessons for 6 years and loved to play, especially classical music.
11. While many parents have to force their children to practice it was just the opposite with me. Many times my mother would say, "Susan, pleeeeese get off the piano!".
12. I took tap, ballet and toe for 3 years.
13. I met my forever friend, Joan, in the 2nd grade. She was 7 and I was 6.
14. I once had a horse run away with me when I was about 13-14. I had gone to the store to get ice cream at my sister's in Taos. When I finally got off I was still clinching the brown paper bag.....the ice cream had dropped out and splattered way before that.
15. I was on the National Honor Society.
16. For my final piano recital I played Edvar Grieg's Concerto in A Minor. I cannot play it today.
17. I started school at age 5 and skipped a grade so I graduated at age 16.
18. My sister was 12 years older than I. When she married they lived in Taos, NM and ran a dairy. I always got to spend time with them during summer and Christmas and loved it.
19. I remember by sister and brother-in-law sponsoring a displaced family from Hungary after the war.
20. When I was in the 7th grade I fell in love with Eddie. He was the first boy to ever kiss me.
21. Growing up there was a Spanish family who lived right behind us. They had a boy named Alonzo a year younger than I. He could not speak English. I could not speak Spanish. He learned English from me.
22. One of my life time regrets is that I did not learn to speak Spanish as a child growing up in Santa Fe, NM.
23. Alonzo and I were dear friends. I lost track of him and am so sorry. It would thrill me to pieces to relocate him. Alonzo Martinez from Santa Fe, NM contact me!!!!!!
24. When I was in grade school the "Freedom Train" come to Santa Fe and my father took Joan and I to see it. The only thing I really remember about it was seeing the original Declaration of Independence and the train itself.
25. The carnival would come to town each year and set up just out side the city limits. It was a big occasion and the whole town would come out to ride.
26. For as gutsy and adventurous a child as I was I never cared for any carnival ride that got far off the ground. About all I would ride was the tilt-t-whirl and the swings.
27. When I was about 7 I went to town with my father one evening when he had some work to do in the office. While he was working I went to The La Fonda hotel to play. I lost track of the time. When I came to his office my father had left, looking for me, and the office was locked. I was walking down the street crying and walked past the taxi stand. The taxi stand owner recognized me, called my mother and took me home. (You have to remember this was the 40's and a VERY different world from what we live in now.)
28. Continuing the above....my father had called the police and reported me missing and they were broadcasting over the radio about my being missing. My father did not call my mother and tell her! One of her friends heard the report on the radio and called to comfort her about her missing Susan!! Who had now been properly spanked and put to bed. (Boy, did my dad get it when he got home!!! He was in more trouble than I was :o)
29. I met my high school sweetheart when I was in the 9th grade. He was a junior.
30. I got engaged when I was 15 years old.
31. I married when I was 16 years old.
32. I had my first daughter, Suzette, 12 days before my 17th birthday.
33. I had my second daughter, Jacque, 3 days before my 18th birthday
34.. In December, 1956, just prior to my 19th birthday, I had major chest surgery and a calcium deposit tumor the size of a baseball removed from my right chest. The Dr. believed this was from the kick I received as a child from the colt.
35. They x-rayed that area for 5 years before giving me a clean bill of health.
36. I was divorced when I was barely 20 years old. Suffice it to say I got complete and total custody of my 2 girls who were 2 & 3 years old.
37. Joan and I use to walk from grade school to downtown and then my father would take us home when he left work at 5.
38. My father would give us money every day and we would go to Woolsworth, sit on bar stools at the counter, and order either butterscotch sundaes or ham salad sandwiches on toast.
39. We would play around town during that 2 hour period: on the Plaza, in the band stand. at the La Fonda Hotel riding up and down the elevators, The Palace of the Governors, the Library, The Art Museum, etc.
40. One day while we were in the restroom at the Art Museum they closed up the museum. When we came out we found ourselves locked in. I called my father who had to call the museum director to come and let us out.
41. I accompanied the choir at Glorietta Baptist Assembly one Easter Sunrise Service.
42. September 24, 1956 - I WAS BORN AGAIN AT THE ALTAR AT BEREAN BAPTIST CHURCH IN ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO. I HAVE NEVER BEEN THE SAME.
43. I was church pianist in several of the small baptist churches we attended.
44. I met Mickey on February 29, 1958. Yes, it was a leap year.
45. We met at the home of mutual friends in Santa Fe, NM. He had come down from Colorado Springs for the weekend and the girls and I had come up from Albuquerque to spend the weekend with my parents.
46. The following day my mother, the girls and I were sitting in a doughnut shop when he walked by the window. He saw us and came in, sat down and met my mother and my girls.
47. The following Friday when I came in from work he called and told me he was in Albuquerque and staying with our mutual friends, Jane & Buzz.
48. That evening we went on our first "date" to a drive-in movie. It was me, my two girls, Jane & Buzz, their infant son, and Mickey. 7 of us.
49. The next morning (Saturday) Jane called me to tell me Mickey said, "You're the girl he's going to marry". I thought and said, "Who does he think he is?"
50. Mickey never returned to Colorado Springs & lived with Jane & Buzz until we married.
Are you still hanging in here with me?
51. When Mickey was going to buy my engagement ring I wanted to go with him to pick it out. He said, "No. It's my gift to you and I'll select it myself". I cried and begged and cried some more (that had always worked with my father!!) it did not work with Mickey. I learned right then who was going to be the boss in this family and it wasn't going to be me!!!
52. He bought me a MUCH nicer and more expensive ring than I would have selected.
53. I think Mickey fell as in love with Suzette &
Jacque as much as he did their mother :o) A big selling point to this young mother!!! Most of our "dating" involved taking the girls to various places. I did hire a baby sitter for a few "real" dates.
54. We decided to go to Flagstaff, AZ to get married and then to
Las Vagas for our honeymoon.
55. We wrote to the County Clerks office in Flagstaff telling them our intentions and asking what documentation we needed to brings, would we need blood tests, etc.
56. We arrived in Flagstaff and checked into our hotel rooms. Yes, plural!
57. The next morning we went to get our Marriage License to find out there was a 3 day waiting period for the blood tests.
NO!!! I cried, we pleaded and told them they had not mentioned to us any waiting period when they had written us back. They waived the 3 day waiting period.
58. We were married in the First Baptist Church in
Flaggstaff, AZ October 4, 1958. Exactly 7 months and 4 days after first meeting.
59. We spent our wedding night at the El
Tavor Hotel on the rim of the Grand Canyon and drove to
Las Vagas the next day and stayed in the Star Dust Hotel.
60. I was a cheerleader in Junior High.
61. In high school I was named the girl with the prettiest hands. I have nice long fingers and have always been blessed with nice nails.
62. When we were leaving to get married my parents came to pick up the girls and take them to Santa Fe while we were gone. They brought me a gift.....it was an electric blanket along with this comment from my mother, "Don't you think this would be better than getting married again so soon?"!! As you can tell, they did not think what I was doing was the wisest choice I'd ever made. They were so, so wrong.
63. During WWII they had a Japanese Prison Camp in Santa Fe. I remember going out by it with my father and seeing the men standing behind the fences looking out. It made me very sad.64. My mother and dad were involved in prison ministry and I would go with them. My dad would go with the other men to the mens section and mother and I would go with the oother woman to the womans section.65. The prison was within the city limits at that time. One day my dad and I were driving downthe street and I saw a prisoner in his black & white striped outfi.. They had taken a manhole cover off and this prisoner was being put down there. I got so upset and started crying because I thought they were punishing him and going to put the cover back on. My father explained thathe was just on a work crew.66. When Dewey was running for president he came to Santa Fe campaigning. Mother, Dad, Joan & I went out the 2
nd story window of my dads office on to the first story of the next building and watched the parade as they went by. Joan & I were so excited because he was in a convertible. We had never seen a convertible.
67. Mickey began working for Greyhound as a bus driver in 1960.
68. Mickey legally adopted Suzette &
Jacque and the decree was dated and official January 18, 1960.
69. In 1961 Greyhound transferred Mickey to Denver. We rented for one year and then purchased a brand new home in Thornton, a suburb North of Denver, on Mickey's GI Bill. $99 down and $116 a month. We wondered at the time if we could afford it.
70. Mickey had to go to Denver immediately and the girls and I had to stay in Albuquerque until the house sold.
71. My parents drove us to Denver and we stayed in a hotel. While there President Dwight D.
Eisenhower and his entourage came to the hotel (I don't remember the name). We all stood at our upper story window and watched them come in.
72. I remember the "I Like Ike" and other campaign buttons of that era. Wish I'd hung on to them!!!
73. The first election I ever voted in was 1960 when John F. Kennedy was elected. I did not vote for him. My friend, Beverly, and I and our 4 children stood in line, outside in the cold, for hours to vote. I was 23 years old.
74. In 1964 they transferred Mickey to Tulsa. We moved to Tulsa March 1, 1964. I was 5 1/2 months pregnant with our first son.
75. Just before our Thornton house sold I painted one of the bedrooms with a 3" brush. Mickey was already in Tulsa working.
76. I HATED Tulsa when we first moved here. I was not use to the humidity and heat. The first time we went to the grocery store I turned a corner and there was an entire isle of bug spray. I said, "This sure must be a buggy place"! In NM you might have a 3' area of bug spray. I wrote home and told my parents, "If I ever doubted there was a hell I don't now because God has moved me smack dab in the middle of it".
77. Suzette started school in Albuquerque at age 5 where the cut-off date to be 6 was 12-31. When we got to Denver the cut-off date was 9-30. Although the girls are only 1 year and 12 days apart in age they were 2 years apart in school because of that difference in the cut-off date.
78. David was born 6-22-64. He had red hair. Suzette had brown hair and
Jacque blond hair. When the nurse handed him to me I said, "Where did he get the red hair?". She looked at me rather funny. It wasn't until later that I found out Mickey had brothers with red hair. Mickey has black hair.
79. I had gone for the regular check-up and they decided they were going to induce labor and told me to go get my things and check into the hospital. We left, picked up the girls, went home, fixed lunch, ate, got my stuff together, took the girls to the family that was going to keep them and then went to the hospital. When we walked in it was "WHERE have you been. We've been waiting for you". I didn't know there was any big hurry.
80. Several times after moving to Tulsa the girls would come home and ask, "Do we have any Indian blood in us"? Of course the answer was "no". I think they felt inferior because so many of the class mates were some part Indian. The school would take a census because they got extra funds from the government for anyone with I think it was 1/64
th Indian blood!!!
81. I went to work for Oral Robert Evangelistic Assn. in1966. It was in a solid marble building near down town. I was hired as a payroll clerk, then moved into an accounting position, and ended up being Executive Secretary to the VP of Finance. While in payroll I realized the Executive Secretaries made the top female wages and set my goal for that position.
82. The year enrollment began for Oral Roberts University they took us out of the accounting department to do the registration. I am very proud of the fact I participated in enrolling the first 300 students. Now it is a huge University with students from around the world.
83. The 5 of us, Mickey, Suzette,
Jacque, David & I, were in attendance when Billy Graham dedicated
ORU.
84. Greyhound was going to transfer Mickey to Springfield, Missouri. We decided we did not want to be transferred all over the country. By then the girls were getting involved in school, sports and activities and we wanted them to be able to attend the same schools with the same friends. Mickey quit Greyhound.
85. When we came to Tulsa we rented a house for 1 year and then bought a home just 4 blocks from where we were renting. We lived in that home for 11 years.
86. Marc, our second son, and last child was born August 2, 1969. While I was in the hospital I watched 5 year old David on TV on a local show called "Romper Room".
87. In 1974 Mickey won an all-expense-paid trip for two to
Alcapulo, Mexico as a leading new car salesman in Oklahoma.
88. On July 4, 1976 (Bi-Centennial) Mickey and I opened our Real Estate firm,
JJ Realty. We eventually had 12 associates working for us. One of my regrets in life is my father never lived to see me in his beloved business. He would have been so proud. My mother was.
89. My mother moved from Santa Fe to Tulsa in 1973 one year after my father died. She bought her own home but later, as her health was failing, moved in and lived with us a number of years.
90. In 1979 we were invited by some friends to go to the International Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque. We had no interest, or knowledge, about hot air balloons but being from NM and Albuquerque where we went almost annually anyway we said "sure".
91 Our first glimpse of a hot air balloon is what they call the dawn patrol. They put up just a few balloons right at sun rise. When we saw that first balloon light up like a light bulb in the sky we were so excited.
92 We returned from the Fiesta and Mickey began training for his Hot Air Balloon Pilot License and we ordered a balloon!!! When it arrived on May 19, 1980 we named her "Suzy Blue".
93. When Marc was 14 he began taking lessons for his Pilot License and had a big write-up in the Tulsa World as the youngest student pilot ever in Tulsa.
94. One of the people who flew in "Suzy Blue" is Anthony Mason. He worked for one of the local TV stations and took the ride and reported about it. Anthony Mason is now a news reporter on one of the 3 national TV networks. (Can't remember but I think it's CBS).
95. The local morning radio celebraty of the day, John Ehrling did an actual morning broadcast from "Suzy Blue" live.
96. "Suzy Blue" was the 3rd hot air balloon in Tulsa. The 3 of us, all close friends, were featured on the cover of The Tulsa Magazine.
97. We got a lot of attention every time we would fly. We would look down and it would kind of be like Pied Piper with all the children (cars) following.
98. In 1976 we purchased another home. A red brick colonial 3 bedroom, 2 bath on 1 1/3 acre with a circle drive. The girls said, "Why didn't you own a big nice home like this when we were home?" We replied, "Because we couldn't afford it then."
99. We closed
JJ Realty the end of 1983 and March 1, 1984 moved to Albuquerque to take my ill mother back to New Mexico.
100. 1984-85 was the worse time of our entire 25 years of marriage. There were many extenuating circumstances: money pressure, problems with our oldest son, my mother so ill, problems within the marriage itself. We came very close to divorce. I just wanted to walk away but that hold Jesus had on me said, "No, that's not an option." I'm so thankful we worked it out.
Are you tired? I am!!! If you've managed to stay with me this long I thank you.
Sorry to leave this on this note with us just getting to 1985.
When you are as old as I am you have a LOT of history and a lot to tell.
I guess I'll have to say like Paul Harvey, "Stay tuned for the rest of the story!".
IT'S GOOD!!!!
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