June 25, 2007

• Growing Children Eating Dog Food in the City of Angels & a High School Reunion of Sorts

   

  What a great weekend!  It was absolutely gorgeous here in LA, and the dogs and I spent nearly the whole time outside.  I also got a very generous gift from Tyson which caught me by surprise.  Thanks for that Tyson, and thanks for lunch too.  You’re going to make some some girl very lucky some day!

   

  

   

  Unfortunately my cousin Darlene’s husband Dave is back in the hospital.  This time he’s in intensive care and on a ventilator.  Please think good thoughts for him!  I was looking back at some pictures of my extended family down here in Southern California (My aunt and uncle have 3 kids, their kids have 8 kids and their kids have 4 kids!).  And all those kids are really growing up!  To wit:

  

  2004

  

  2007

  What a difference 3 years makes!!

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  I’m dog-sitting for Garbo & Ruby this week and I swear these dogs eat better than I do!  For those of you old enough to remember who Dick Van Patten is, he starred in a long running 70′s TV show called Eight is Enough, about a family with 8 children.  A bit of trivia; halfway thru the first season, the actress who played the mother of the 8 kids, died of cancer.  Her name was Diana Hyland, and at the time she was “dating” a young up and coming teen heartthrob named John Travolta, who was 18 years her junior.  (It was all a front as we know today.  The “heartthrob” was actually gay, and Diana was playing the role Kelly Preston plays today)

   

  Anyway, I digress.   Dick Van Patten is apparently now in the dog food business, and his food looks and smells pretty darn good I must admit.  Who knew dogs liked carrots and potatoes!!  Though when I read this, I kind of felt a little sick:

  Van Patten was in the news in early December 2005 for lending his name to Natural Balance, a line of high-end dog food that is intended to be indistinguishable from stews and other dishes (or table scraps) that are normally intended for human consumption. He has demonstrated this by eating, on at least one occasion, his own brand of dog food in tandem with some pet.

   

  

   

  Garbo & Ruby are enjoying this particular brand which is called Chinese Takeout w/ Sauce.  Nice touch with the hat Dick!

   

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  The following is an email correspondence with a girl I went to high school with 25 years ago.  She found me after my mother made on online comment on a local Chicago paper’s obituary website.  It is indeed a small world! (I actually found her in my old high school year book and took a picture (see below), to be fair though, I’m posting this extremely nerdy profle picture of me from the early 80′s.  You gotta love the 80′s and feathered hair!)

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  Carey,

   

  I think I knew you Way Back When? Were you, perhaps, an SHS Saxon back in the early-to-mid-80s??
  If so, it’s quite strange how the randomness of the universe is not so random. If not — cheers!!

  Posted 6/16/2007 1:23 AM by misshope01
  

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  Hi, Hope (?),
  
  Yes indeed, I was a Saxon, though I barely even remembered that reference! LOL. I have scoured your Livejournal in hopes of finding clues to your identity. All I have found however, is that:
  You’re an excellent writer, succinct and to the point (unlike myself, who can drone on for pages and keep digressing…kind of like I’m doing now ). Sylvia (Plath) would be proud.
  You hate Alabama (not much of a clue I guess. If you loved Alabama, that would certainly narrow the field!).
  You wear glasses.
  Your husband’s (?) name is John.
  You’re a Cure fan and went to Smith College (as opposed to a Smith’s fan who went to Cure College).
  You’re not homophobic (Thank God).
  You like mashed potatoes (a true Chicagoan).
  You used to work in the Sear’s Tower.
  You love iPods, recipes, Anderson Cooper (I met him and his partner last year, great guy), the color pink, not going to Florida, Sex & The City, Harry Potter, Paris and Sylvia Plath among others.

  So, basically, I’m clueless. I guess I’m one of those adults who have trouble remembering things, though my life is far from monotonous. I suspect more likely however, that I likely blocked out most of what I remember from high school. It was a miserable 4 years for me. Barely any friends. Nerdy little asthmatic boy…a true geek. LOL.

  College was my real time to shine, and shine I did. Away from the ties of family and an environment that squashed my individuality, I excelled in making friends and building the persona I have today.

  At any rate, please clue me in as to who you are. Don’t be offended if I don’t remember you more than vaguely. The only real friend I had in high school was a girl named Shana Reardon. Many of her friends were always very nice to me, as I was her friend, but I didn’t know them that well, and certainly didn’t keep the same company (She was a cheerleader and her brother a football player….you remember how that goes). Maybe my memory is fooling me. I was fairly close to some other girls, Natalie Barnes, Sandy (the last name escapes me) and quite a few from “Adaptive” P.E. LOL. You’ll have to jar my memory.

  So how on earth did you stumble across my blog anyway? The universe is indeed a strange place. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve run into people in the most unlikely locations: on a train in Istanbul, an airport in Australia or Times Square in New York. At any rate, thanks for writing. I’m curious to know more. I hope you have a great weekend. Stay cool and dry if that’s possible in hell. LOL

  Ciao,
  Carey
  

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  Hi Carey,

  Back in high school, I knew you from BOTH adaptive PE (but I’d forgotten that until you mentioned it) and from chemistry class (and, maybe even — did your family go to St. Marcelline’s?) Mr. Loh? What a crazy-ass way to teach chemistry — do you remember him throwing scissors to us from the front of the room (as people dove under their desks!) My friend’s daughters go to Hoffman, and he still teaches there.

  I remember you for disparate reasons — you were nice, and funny in the very non-high-school way I appreciated, and — the memory jarring reason — I loved your name! I thought it was very cool, and as a wordsmith, then and now, I saw many possibilities. I was a geek in high school — I came to SHS my junior year, so I never quite made it into the “in” crowd (or, that which I aspired to: the “in” crowd of smart people.) I was on the fringe of that social group, but very involved in extracurricular activities (but only the geeky ones.) I think I was a year behind you — I graduated in 84.

  Speaking of names, my name is Melissa *****, but people in high school knew me as Missy (and, forgive them, my family still calls me that.) I don’t expect you to remember me at all — your name jarred my memory, that memory led me to recall a face, and a voice, actually — and here we are. Worry not, though, I’m NOT a stalker: I just have a very detailed memory for lots of unrelated information. I like to think it’s what has led me to be a writer, especially if you believe the old adage that we write what we know. But, I tend to remember most everything — my siblings call me Rainman — at least, with the PhD behind me, some of the less useful memories have now been replaced by poetry!!

  I live in Alabama (as you know) but I’ve only been here since March: I was in academic administration at the U of C for the year before that, and I worked in marketing for a private equity firm off-and-on while I was in grad school (hence, the Sears Tower reference. I did love that office!!) I was the first person in my family to go to college: I went to Smith when I was 29 and graduated when I was 32, with a degree in English, and I got my doctorate in English this year from Emory University in Atlanta. Like you, high school was NOT my thing, but I’ve found a place in the world that makes me very happy.

  I’m in Alabama for an assistant professorship at a cute little college, which starts in the fall, but that came about because my British boyfriend is a professor locally — and he can’t move without getting a new job or being deported, and he is in a ridiculously specialized academic field. Needless to say, when he told me a year ago that he was moving to the U.S., this was NOT what I expected. After we both get tenure, we will depart the South QUICKLY.

  From what I’ve read in your blog, you appear to have a wonderful and interesting life — I’m glad to know that. As elitist as it may sound, I am always quite pleased to learn that people have escaped the northwest suburbs. My mom and sister still live there, and I always run into people I know in Dominick’s, and it startles me when they have never left the immediate area, really, except for college. Wider horizons are invigorating and humbling. Plus, since you were kind and smart, I’m glad to know that you’re living a full life, and enjoying it along the way.

  Now, here’s the story of how I found you: remember as you read it that I am not a stalker, and that I do research as a big part of my job, plus I am entertained by the internet. Here we go:

  1. I talked to my mom on Friday night, and she told me that a friend of hers had died — the woman who led her rosary group (my mom is 82 and a widow, living in a senior citizen apartment building, so her scope is fairly limited these days.)
  2. After my boyfriend (who is traveling) called me at 2:50 a.m. to see if I had called him — and woke me out of a dead sleep — I was too awake to go back to sleep right away. So, I went to the computer to amuse my self until I was sleepy again.
  3. I went to the Daily Herald website to look for this woman’s obituary. I wanted to leave a note in the online guestbook for her children, letting them know how much their mother had meant to my mother.
  4. There was an entry in the guest book from a woman with your last name, which jogged my memory (again, I loved your name) who mentioned that her sons had also known this woman as a bus driver. Thus, the way my brain works, I thought of you, and I wondered “What has he been up to for 25 years?”
  5. SO, I googled you, and it was very cool when I found your blog, because it was interesting and engaging. And here we are.

  If you’d like to commiserate further on all things Saxon, or the wonders of Chicago, or anything else, please email me.

  Otherwise, I’ll keep an eye out for you the next time I’m in Times Square, or an airport in Australia (or if I ever manage to get myself onto a train in Istanbul!!)

  Best,
  Melissa
  

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  Hi Melissa,

  I’m finally getting a chance to respond to your email with the attention it deserves.  As you’ll see from the attached photo, I have now put a face with a name, LOL, and I’m happy to say that yes, I do remember you (Low blow with the picture I know…I pray you don’t still have your yearbook!). 

  

  Though, unlike you, I didn’t remember Chemistry and Mr. Loh (until you reminded me), but did remember the dreaded Adaptive P.E.  I don’t remember which was more demeaning the shuffleboard, or bowling with rubber balls!

  As I read your email to my mother, I was struck by how kind your words were.  It makes me feel good to know that someone remembers me in that way from all those years ago.  My family did go to St. Marcelline’s as well.  My mother taught confirmation there, and my father was in the Holy Name Society (which now that I think about it was little more than an excuse for the men to get away from the women and drink.  God love the Catholics!)   

  Your Post Saxon period (sounds like the Middle Ages!) has been quite accomplished!  My best friend Daniel got his Masters in English from EIU, and is now teaching high school.  I wish I would have had the guts to have a major like that…but it was the “Greed is good” 80′s and I became a boring business finance major like many others.  I must say however, it has treated me well.  During high school I worked at Heritage Bank.  I even went back there to work for 2 summers in college.  It was a great proving ground for me, and to this day my primary checking account is there!

  After college, I worked at First American Bank in Evanston, until I was hired away by a software firm that made software the bank used.  When I started with that company, I was the 50th employee, when I left 13 years later, there were 5000.  Needless to say I got in on the ground floor and took off from there.  That job afforded me many things, namely the means to travel the world many times over.  I traveled so much in fact that from 1997 to 2001 I didn’t even have a home.  I would work during the week and on Fridays if I was on the East coast I’d fly to Paris or London and if I was on the west coast I’d fly to Tokyo or Hong Kong.  I loved it.

  I finally left that job after 9/11 (travel was no longer fun to me) and settled with a small software company here in California.  I work from home and travel only once every couple of months which is great.  It was a perfect transition for me starting over with a small company and helping it grow and I’m really loving it.

  The day before I got your message, my Mom had told me that Mrs. Ward, my old bus driver had died.  She didn’t tell me she had gone on to the Herald’s website and left a message.  Isn’t it funny how things happen!?  I told my Mom about it and she had a good laugh.  She lives with my brother now.  My parents got divorced after high school and my Dad remarried and moved to Texas (you thought Alabama was bad!).  My Mom has M.S. but is doing well.  I don’t know if you read about my recent email correspondence with my 4th grade teacher on my website, but it’s pretty neat to have this kind of thing happen twice in as many weeks!

  It was really nice to hear from you.  I’m sorry we don’t live closer to each other!  If you’re ever in Southern California, I would love seeing you and meeting your boyfriend.  The “Hotel Careyfornia” has become quite a popular destination since I moved here 5 years ago.  Please keep me posted on your jobs and moves.  Thanks again for the kind words and fond memories!

  Carey
  

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  • 1:45 am
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