| Biographical Non-Fiction posted February 18, 2021 | Chapters: |
...101 102 -103- 104... 
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We make some changes on our property.
A chapter in the book Remembering Yesterday
New House, New Projects
by BethShelby
| Background We live in a house we just bought in Chattanooga. Beth and Evan are the parents. Don and Christi, twins age 26.and Connie age 14 live in the house. Don's new girlfriend is Kimberly. |
For new readers, who may not have read my author notes, this is written in a conversational way as I talk to my deceased husband. When I refer to someone just as "you" this means I am addressing my husband, Evan.
School started back for the second semester in January 1988. Don enrolled at Chattanooga State in order to take some courses he needed before going to Chiropractic College. Connie went back to Collegedale Academy. I made an appointment with her teachers to find out how she was doing. That is when I learned that Connie had intercepted her teacher’s messages to me, and that she had changed a couple of grades on her report card. For the first time, I realized she had also skipped school a number of times. We were both very upset with her. She would no longer be able to get to the mail because now it would come directly to our house.
We had a serious talk with Connie and took away some of her privileges. She was angry and reacted like a teenage brat. It was the first time one of our children had uttered the words, "I hate you!' She added, "I can't wait to leave home." She ran to her room in tears. I knew she didn't mean it, but it hurt that she dared to say it. I wondered if we had let her have too much freedom.
********
Christi got a job working as a receptionist for a Japanese chemical company. I found a temporary job doing art work and putting a catalogue together for a shooting supply company. It became your job to drive Connie to school and back each day. She was sullen and didn’t want to talk to us, but you kept trying to get through to her. You were pleased on days you were able to make her laugh. Most of her clothes in those days came from the Gap. They sold a lot of unisex clothes; most of them were loose and didn't look very feminine. It was the style she preferred, but you didn't care for her taste, and you thought she looked out of place around the other students. The girl she chose to hang around with was another student who was often in trouble.
While Connie was in school, you had enough free time to buy the material for a 5-foot chainlink fence and start your fencing project. The little boys next door must not have wanted their play area fenced off, because they started hiding behind bushes and throwing rocks at you. You told them to stop doing that, before someone got hurt. Their parents found out what they were doing and made them come over and apologize. They were very embarrassed to have to do that, but their parents were determined that their children be respectful of their neighbors.
It wasn’t long until still another project was underway. Our stairway to the second floor led in three directions. On the second landing, there was a wall on the left that we soon realized was not an outside wall. We figured that it led to a space over our extra large, double garage. Since there was no pull-down ladder to get to a storage space over the garage, you decided it was wasted space and wanted to see what it looked like. This meant cutting a hole through the drywall by the landing.
When you flashed a light into the area, you realized there was wasted space enough to have another large room. We really didn’t need more room, but you didn’t like wasted space. The floor for the area started about three feet higher than the landing, so you got out your drafting tools and designed a way to make three steps going toward the space, and began opening up another room. We had a small hall leading to the three steps up to the new room, and five steps leading up to the balcony on the right. Along with the sunken great room, we had a multi-level house.
This turned out to be a fun project for everyone. Since Connie was interested in decorating, we put her in charge of the colors and decor. She chose black and white tile, around a 12 X 12 square of black carpet. I found a large, custom-made window at a salvage company that worked well for the back wall. This would be our first window that faced the west. This gave us a view of Lookout Mountain and the city in the distance. Now we had a house with a great view. Don did all the work turning the space into a room while you continued working on the fence.
We all loved the new room. The main problem was that it was not as close to a bathroom as the other rooms were. Now that we had five bedrooms, we had a guest room as well. Connie slept in the new room. Mom was anxious to see our new house, so she came up to visit for a week. Mom loved the house and she had always wanted to live in Tennessee. She didn’t see us quite as often as she had when we lived nearer. Given that she was now seventy-five and Dad was eighty, having us visit them so often probably made more work for her than she needed.
*********
Without us realizing it, Kimberly had started coming over late at night, sneaking around to the back of the house, and climbing through Don’s window. You learned about this one night when you knocked on Don’s door to ask him something, and found he was reluctant to open it. That is when you decided that it was time to put Kokomo in his house on the back deck, which was beside Don’s window. The next time Kimberly came over, she came to the front door. She informed us that Kokomo was a vicious animal and that we needed to put him down.
Kokomo was still a puppy and very much in the gnawing stage. He liked being outside, but he had soon eaten the roof off his house. You repaired it with much stronger material. All doggy toys were chewed to shreds within a day or so. At times when he was allowed inside, he went searching for shoes. How he managed to get them outside without us noticing is beyond me. It was only after we noticed that one of our shoes was missing, that we realized what was happening. By the time we went outside to look, there was usually only a sole left to find.
*******
On Easter morning, Kimberly shocked us by arriving wearing a tight white body suit and net hose. She had a big cotton tail pinned to her rear. She was wearing long rabbit ears and was carrying an Easter basket filled with chocolates for Don. She looked more like a Playboy bunny than an Easter bunny.
Don was always trying to come up with creative and romantic things to do when they were together. One day, he suggested that they get up early in the morning, and go over to Lookout Mountain and watch the sunrise. Their destination was Sunset rock. It never occurred to either of them that Sunset Rock was on the west side of the mountain and they wouldn’t see the sun come over from the east side until after nine in the morning. We all got a good chuckle out of that.
*******
We still had our property in Mississippi, and you had continued to sell timber from time to time. Since it was now twice as far away as it had been when we lived in New Orleans, it wasn’t practical to keep it for weekends and vacations. You and Don had stored the furniture in order to rent the place unfurnished, when a pastor’s family had contacted us about renting it. They only lived there about three months. Someone in the community had started a silly rumor that the place was haunted. This was likely because no one had ever lived there full time. This made the pastor’s wife so nervous, she was afraid to live there.
After the couple moved out, another family with five children rented it. We didn’t charge a lot since it was country property and the family didn’t have a lot to spend on rent. Still, until we made a decision about what to do with it, the rental added a bit to our monthly income. You were still five years away from the minimum age to draw your Social Security.
School started back for the second semester in January 1988. Don enrolled at Chattanooga State in order to take some courses he needed before going to Chiropractic College. Connie went back to Collegedale Academy. I made an appointment with her teachers to find out how she was doing. That is when I learned that Connie had intercepted her teacher’s messages to me, and that she had changed a couple of grades on her report card. For the first time, I realized she had also skipped school a number of times. We were both very upset with her. She would no longer be able to get to the mail because now it would come directly to our house.
We had a serious talk with Connie and took away some of her privileges. She was angry and reacted like a teenage brat. It was the first time one of our children had uttered the words, "I hate you!' She added, "I can't wait to leave home." She ran to her room in tears. I knew she didn't mean it, but it hurt that she dared to say it. I wondered if we had let her have too much freedom.
********
Christi got a job working as a receptionist for a Japanese chemical company. I found a temporary job doing art work and putting a catalogue together for a shooting supply company. It became your job to drive Connie to school and back each day. She was sullen and didn’t want to talk to us, but you kept trying to get through to her. You were pleased on days you were able to make her laugh. Most of her clothes in those days came from the Gap. They sold a lot of unisex clothes; most of them were loose and didn't look very feminine. It was the style she preferred, but you didn't care for her taste, and you thought she looked out of place around the other students. The girl she chose to hang around with was another student who was often in trouble.
While Connie was in school, you had enough free time to buy the material for a 5-foot chainlink fence and start your fencing project. The little boys next door must not have wanted their play area fenced off, because they started hiding behind bushes and throwing rocks at you. You told them to stop doing that, before someone got hurt. Their parents found out what they were doing and made them come over and apologize. They were very embarrassed to have to do that, but their parents were determined that their children be respectful of their neighbors.
It wasn’t long until still another project was underway. Our stairway to the second floor led in three directions. On the second landing, there was a wall on the left that we soon realized was not an outside wall. We figured that it led to a space over our extra large, double garage. Since there was no pull-down ladder to get to a storage space over the garage, you decided it was wasted space and wanted to see what it looked like. This meant cutting a hole through the drywall by the landing.
When you flashed a light into the area, you realized there was wasted space enough to have another large room. We really didn’t need more room, but you didn’t like wasted space. The floor for the area started about three feet higher than the landing, so you got out your drafting tools and designed a way to make three steps going toward the space, and began opening up another room. We had a small hall leading to the three steps up to the new room, and five steps leading up to the balcony on the right. Along with the sunken great room, we had a multi-level house.
This turned out to be a fun project for everyone. Since Connie was interested in decorating, we put her in charge of the colors and decor. She chose black and white tile, around a 12 X 12 square of black carpet. I found a large, custom-made window at a salvage company that worked well for the back wall. This would be our first window that faced the west. This gave us a view of Lookout Mountain and the city in the distance. Now we had a house with a great view. Don did all the work turning the space into a room while you continued working on the fence.
We all loved the new room. The main problem was that it was not as close to a bathroom as the other rooms were. Now that we had five bedrooms, we had a guest room as well. Connie slept in the new room. Mom was anxious to see our new house, so she came up to visit for a week. Mom loved the house and she had always wanted to live in Tennessee. She didn’t see us quite as often as she had when we lived nearer. Given that she was now seventy-five and Dad was eighty, having us visit them so often probably made more work for her than she needed.
*********
Without us realizing it, Kimberly had started coming over late at night, sneaking around to the back of the house, and climbing through Don’s window. You learned about this one night when you knocked on Don’s door to ask him something, and found he was reluctant to open it. That is when you decided that it was time to put Kokomo in his house on the back deck, which was beside Don’s window. The next time Kimberly came over, she came to the front door. She informed us that Kokomo was a vicious animal and that we needed to put him down.
Kokomo was still a puppy and very much in the gnawing stage. He liked being outside, but he had soon eaten the roof off his house. You repaired it with much stronger material. All doggy toys were chewed to shreds within a day or so. At times when he was allowed inside, he went searching for shoes. How he managed to get them outside without us noticing is beyond me. It was only after we noticed that one of our shoes was missing, that we realized what was happening. By the time we went outside to look, there was usually only a sole left to find.
*******
On Easter morning, Kimberly shocked us by arriving wearing a tight white body suit and net hose. She had a big cotton tail pinned to her rear. She was wearing long rabbit ears and was carrying an Easter basket filled with chocolates for Don. She looked more like a Playboy bunny than an Easter bunny.
Don was always trying to come up with creative and romantic things to do when they were together. One day, he suggested that they get up early in the morning, and go over to Lookout Mountain and watch the sunrise. Their destination was Sunset rock. It never occurred to either of them that Sunset Rock was on the west side of the mountain and they wouldn’t see the sun come over from the east side until after nine in the morning. We all got a good chuckle out of that.
*******
We still had our property in Mississippi, and you had continued to sell timber from time to time. Since it was now twice as far away as it had been when we lived in New Orleans, it wasn’t practical to keep it for weekends and vacations. You and Don had stored the furniture in order to rent the place unfurnished, when a pastor’s family had contacted us about renting it. They only lived there about three months. Someone in the community had started a silly rumor that the place was haunted. This was likely because no one had ever lived there full time. This made the pastor’s wife so nervous, she was afraid to live there.
After the couple moved out, another family with five children rented it. We didn’t charge a lot since it was country property and the family didn’t have a lot to spend on rent. Still, until we made a decision about what to do with it, the rental added a bit to our monthly income. You were still five years away from the minimum age to draw your Social Security.
 Recognized |
I'm continuing to recall memories of life with my deceased husband, Evan, as if I am talking aloud to him. I'm doing this because I want my children to know us as we knew each other and not just as their parents.
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