Two Kids and Counting



Terry with Dog Dusty

After  getting married at the age of 18, buying our first car off the showroom floor at 19, having our first baby at 21, buying our first house at 22 and adding a second baby at age 23 time was moving fast and furious. 

Our baby girl, Terry  (who later went by Sam, then Tracy, then Tes), had walked at nine months and refused to talk 'baby talk.' So it wasn't surprising that she graduated from high school and entered college at the age of 16 and then moved into a rental house with two college girlfriends.  She arrived on earth with red hair and has always shown a temperament that matches the color.  Wouldn't you know she excels in writing, painting, gardening, and anything else she puts her busy mind to.  And, besides filling her empty nest with rescued dogs, she and hubby are adoring grandparents.        

Randy

Our son, Randy (who now goes by JR), was born with a 'crew-cut.'  He took his time walking, as it was easier to just climb and crawl everywhere,  wherever he could get into mischief.  One day, while I was outside hanging up the wash, 'JR' found that using his little kid wood hammer made a great sound while banging on the window, especially when it began to crack.  He looked so innocent sitting there when I finally reached the culprit.  I then stored the hammer and wood peg-board on the high self in his closet. 

For days following,  he escorted each and every visitor to his room, pointed to the closet door and demanded they retrieve his favorite toy.  It was finally retrieved and only the wood pegs were pounded from then on.  He too is a writer, traveler and expert gardener.  Spent some time in the Peace Corps and even lived in Haiti for a year in the '70s helping build an orphanage.  So he has lots of his own stories to write about.        

After my first five years of marriage and well settled into the 'Mommy' role I delighted in keeping my home and kids in order: and set about joining the local woman's organizations. I became President of each group just by not keeping my ideas to my self.  I had learned to sew from my mother and a sewing class in high school so clothes for the kids and casual shirts for 'JD'.  I did  put off the ironing as long as I could.  Can't tell you how many times I had to re-wash and re-roll sprinkled clothes before they were finally ironed.  This was probably the first sore spot in our marriage.  The shirt 'JD' wanted to wear seemed to never be hanging in his closet.


A Family Photo, Early '60s (photo by Tes)

In addition to buying a new car every year due to exciting model changes, we added a painted-to-match trailer so mountain camping became our favorite family getaway.  That was until a neighbor moved in next door who was an avid hunter.  Now 'JD' added a Jeep and hunting rifles to his gear along with  fishing equipment. He often went fishing with his two older brothers and his Uncle Lawrence.  'JD' had become a top mold-maker and Matel Toys were already insisting he personally create their mold for years to come.  JD could well afford all his material desires which included a new 20'X40' in-the-ground swimming pool. Then he added the ultimate, first the "Jon-Dee", then "Jon-Dee II" and "Jon-Dee III" with each boat bigger than the former.  

Johanna was also the best grandmother possible.  Always eager to baby-sit for an evening or a weekend.  She worked five days a week at the orange packing house in Claremont where she learned the Mexican language from fellow workers.  They delighted in teaching her naughty things to say.  When she found out their trick she made it clear that as a Christian she was only eager to learn polite words.  From that time on they obliged and she became quite fluent.  Of course her first language was Danish and she taught her grandchildren to count in Danish early on. An absolute perfect mother-in-law whom I loved dearly.          

With Johanna available to stay over with our kids, we naturally enjoyed many fishing and hunting outings with friends and family.  And, we became ardent boaters along the California coast as well as back and forth to Catalina.  More stories, some funny and some not so funny.