John was born on August 3, 1968 which seemed
to be very appropriate Since Mom was born on
August 1st, Dad on August 2nd, and Dad's
brother Richard on August 4th. John somehow
was the missing link to the August birthday
sequence.
It was obvious that he preferred those
activities over schoolwork. He managed (as
many children seem to do) to do just enough
to
squeak by.
I would never want to relive those years
again. (Thinking out loud) I wonder if the
Good Lord gives us children to raise as
a test to see what our endurance levels must
be.
I remember the day that after another
struggle
to get John out of bed to clean his room one
morning, he said to me that he had had enough
of our telling him when to get up and what to
do and that he was going to join the Air
Force. Now this didn't seem to make much
sense to me, since it was 10:00 in the
morning
and his room was cluttered with socks hanging
from the lamp shades, clothes wherever they
landed (well - you can get the
picture).
Well off he went, to protect his family. You
can imagine the grins on our faces when we
realized that John was now getting up at 5:00
A.M. in the dark, rushing to get his bunk and
his area spick and span, his clothes neatly
hung and his underwear and socks in neat
little rolls in his foot locker, shoes
shined,
and John - ready for
inspection - SIR"!!
hee
hee.
Actually he did quite well. He matured
rapidly, married Valerie a lovely young woman
he dated for a couple of years here at home.
He eventually left the Air Force in the
spring
of 1996 and found a job in North Carolina,
where he works for a major manufacturer of
modular homes as a sales
representative.
We are proud of John. He and Valerie became
parents to Matthew on July 7,
1997, and I get a certain pleasure with the
feeling that Matthew will be
trying out
John's
patience as he did ours
(Poor
Valerie).
Because of the distance we are lucky if we
get
to see them but a couple of times a
year.
He is the family shepherd though. He must
call a few times a week, along with calling
his sisters who are here, and his two
brothers
that live in Virginia.
He is very much a free spirit, and rides the
winds. We wish that he and his two brothers
were living closer to us, but perhaps in
time.
We miss John, Valerie, and Matthew, and love
them very much.
John's
Main Interests
