1987
The New Year rolled around with me still being on crutches and not driving. Connie’s mother had left to go spend New Year’s with Connie’s sister. So, we did not go out that New Year’s Eve.
My Recovery
Connie bought me that computer and when I look back on it now I realize how primitive it was. It had a 5 ½ inch floppy drive but no hard drive.
Connie continued working for Michael and Steve and she would make me something for lunch each evening so it would be much easier on me. As it got toward the end of January, I was able to start driving a little bit but after having both hip replaced, I was taking it very slowly.
EDS was just starting to use a take-home terminal that you could connect to your phone line and dial in. It was being tried out with people on call so they might avoid having to come in during the middle of the night. They brought one to my house and I hooked to up to my phone line to see if it would be ok to use for people working from home. But because the phone line was so slow it did not at that time seem like something that would work.
It was toward the middle of February, that the doctor told me that I could get off the crutches in a few weeks. I asked him when I could go back to work and he said that I could go back whenever I wanted to, so I waited another two weeks before returning. It had been over three months since I had started on crutches. It would be a few years later before the use of the crutches messed up my shoulder.
In March of that year, I went and bought a hard drive for our computer. I remember I got a 10MB hard drive back then which was one of the largest you could get, and it cost me over $300.00.
Back To Work
I had gone back to work not knowing what my assignment would be. I turned over the accounts that I was the System Engineer manager for in October after the largest of them went live after our conversion. It took us almost twice as long as planned to convert the systems and used about twice as much staff as we had originally estimated. So, I was not sure about what I would be doing when I went back.
After I got back the Insurance Division started a big initiative around Quality Assurance and they gave me two teams to manage, one for Life Insurance Products and one for Property and Casualty Products. It was going to be a difficult assignment because I and my team would be the ones determining if a release could go out. Now I could be overridden by the Division Manager and there were times when he did override me. I found the job very stressful because telling a regional Manager their releases were not going out was not a fun thing to do.
A New Car
In late March or early April of that year, we got Connie a new car. She had liked her Sunbird, so she selected a new 1987 Sunbird convertible. It was a wonderful car. I had not been off my crutches long when Connie and I took off one Saturday morning to Tyler Texas which was a lovely day for the drive. We ended up taking I-30 which ran through Terrel Texas and there were some outlet malls on the way. On the return trip, we took some back roads through the country which made for a lovely ride. We ended up in Greenville Texas before heading home.
In May of this year Connie, went to Tennessee for the graduation of her nephew (Larry). She enjoyed the time with her sister and brother-in-law but was glad to get back home.
Changing
That year turned out to be a big change for us. I had never really understood how much my illness was impacting our lives especially Connie’s. It used to be hard for me to get out and do things and when I did, I was in a lot of pain. That all changed after I had recovered from my hip replacement surgery. As hard as it was getting over the surgery it was well worth it for the difference it made in our lives.
I remember Connie, writing the surgeon Dr. Richard E. Jones but everyone called him Dickey. She wrote to him to thank him for giving us a better life, but also because he was so personal and made every patient feel that he took an interest in you. None of his patients called him DR. as he insisted that everyone call him Dickey. He was a big man and had played football for the University of Florida. As great as he treated all his patients if you worked for him you did not want to mess up on one of his patients. He also taught surgery here in Dallas and I was told by doctors I have seen recently that he did part of their training that he was very hard and made sure they could be the best doctors that they could.
The Summer
That summer and fall was a big change for us as I was able to do so much more. While I still was not into running, back riding, and tennis which were some things we had enjoyed earlier in our marriage, we were doing more. I was able to go on longer walks without the pain I had before after walking for a short while. She enjoyed (at least I think) me going to the shopping malls and being able to walk around with her shopping. We saw so many movies at the movie theater that year and we were so happy to be able to enjoy the weekends again. It was nice to ride in the car, walk, go to restaurants, and not be in pain. Working the previous year had taken so much out of me physically that I was not able to do much while I was home. I knew I had to keep working because we needed the insurance and I know how afraid Connie was of me becoming disabled and not being able to work. I think after the hip surgery those fears went away for her and she too was worrying a lot less about those things.
We got a lot of use out of the new convertible that summer as we took a lot of drives on the weekend. I remember going east to Sulphur Springs TX which was about 70 to 75 miles from where we lived. We almost always took our two dogs (Brandy and Misty) with us. There was this one time I remember we decided to take the back roads home and it ended up taking several hours as we went through so many small towns. Most of the time we did not even know which direction we were headed. I remember us going through Paris Texas and we stopped at Sparky’s Burgers for lunch.
Old Sundbird– 1987
Also, that summer, Connie’s sister, brother-in-law, nephew, and niece came to visit. Just as we had done for her nephew we gave the old Pontatic Sunbird, to Connie’s niece Nancy. They drove it back to Tennessee that summer. Several years later she wrecked it, and I think it was at Dollywood. Luckily she was not hurt.
Fall — 1987
In September, we were headed to a movie on Saturday afternoon around 4 pm when I got into an accident. It was not my fault as this group, but I do not remember much about exactly what happened but after the accident, a couple of teenage boys jumped out of the car and headed toward the alley. Connie and I thought they were throwing away drugs but were not sure. Anyway, the policemen ended up giving them a ticket. The driver of the car’s birthday was the same as mine on September 13th.
I do not recall much more about 1987, except now that I was more mobile and it did not hurt to walk, we started going to a lot of movies. We started having fun again as before the surgery it took everything I could do to work and was worn out after that.
During these years there was a TV show that starred Bob Newhart. There were a couple of guys named Daryl who always said hi I am Daryl, and this is my other brother Daryl. Anyway, I worked with another guy named Joel, not directly but we would find times when we were in the same meetings and meeting new people. One of us would always say hi, I am Joel and this is my other brother Joel. That usually broke the ice around new people we met.
1988
I cannot recall much about 1988. I know it had been over a year since my bi-lateral hip replacement and Connie and I were making up for lost time as we were always on the go. During the late 1980s, we became real movie buffs we went to a movie almost every weekend.
IRS
In April of that year, I received a letter from the IRS stating that I had underpaid my Income taxes for 1984. In 1984 General Motors bought EDS and there was a stock swap. We got so much cash for each share of EDS stock and for each share, we also got 1.5 shares of a new GME stock. They provided us with instructions on how to do our income tax for that year. I have always thought I had done my income tax and thought I had done them correctly. I did not see a problem with what I had done and did not want to pay them an extra $1000, which is about what they said I owed. I hired a CPA and he told me I had done the stock transaction correctly, but I had made a mistake on some other investment revenue and I owe the IRS about $70.00. So, he filed an amended return for me. Little did I realize that it would take over 4 years to clear this up? At least it was cleared up in my favor but what an ordeal to go through. Someday I will write about that.
Misty
I believe it was in the fall of 1987 that we noticed that our sheltie Misty eyes were very cloudy. Anyway, I know that in 1988 we were seeing an eye specialist for dogs. Connie did not care much for him. The reason was here he was a veterinarian who specialized in eyes for animals, but you could tell he did not like animals. It was the strangest thing that we had ever seen for a vet. But he was the one that was recommended to us and he was expensive, but we were not sure it was helping.
Spaghetti Warehouse
That summer on a Sunday afternoon, we went to Dallas. We went to an area downtown called the West End that had a lot of restaurants and little stores. There was a new store they called the “Old Spaghetti Warehouse” and we liked the food. It was in a warehouse. They opened more up as the years went on and Connie and I were still going to one in Plano during her last year. They had spaghetti with a chili beer sauce that I loved. Connie tried many different things and loved them all.
EDS – Quality Assurance
I was enjoying managing the Quality Assurance team at the time. I was working for one of the best bosses that I had ever worked for. His name was Frank Wong.
Frank was a manager who believed in taking care of his people. He would take his management team out to a Sunday brunch a few times a year just to get a feel of what they thought was going on in his organization. Frank also thought it was much better to do things to retain employees rather than having them leave and have to train a new person. So, he was exceptionally good at doing things to help employee retention. I know for me in October of 1988, Connie and I were going on a vacation to California. Before I left Frank told me to keep all my receipts and he would have the company paid for the vacation. Which he did. You can read about it under “Trips — California 1988” as soon as I write about that trip.
I am not sure which year this happened in, but they were surveying employees to determine the company’s diversity. That morning Frank (Wong) was interviewed as Chinese. That afternoon he was interviewed as Hispanic. Frank’s parents were Chinese, but Frank was raised in South America because his parents were missionaries there. Frank spoke Spanish but not a word of Chinese. I was surprised to learn this. Frank looked Chinese. There was another story that happened a few years later, but I was not working for Frank at the time. He was sent to China on a sales call with a salesman. Now when they went on the sales call, they immediately started talking to Frank like he was the interpreter, but Frank did not understand Chinese. The salesman an interpreter were both very American-looking. The Chinese got a big laugh out of this. Here was a guy named Wong who looked Chinese, but he had an American interpret for him.
Managerial Changes
After returning from our trip from California which Connie and I thoroughly enjoyed this changed for me. The Division Manager was replaced. Even though I reported to Frank, I had a lot of interface with the division manager discussing whether releases were ready to be installed for the companies we supported. They also replaced the manager of our biggest project “The Insurance Machine” and I was to discuss with him all releases for that product and to the manager of the Property and casualty group for their releases rather than the division manager. Both groups had around 250 to 300 people in them.
I noticed that in the next ranking session of managers, I was not in the top group where I had been for a long time, I was ranked in the middle of all the managers. That is when I realized that is not what you are doing but how others perceive you are doing. The job I was doing and the way I was doing it had not changed but the new management viewed it differently.
The Rest of 1988
That was ok because of my hip replacement, I was in a much better place physically and Connie and I were enjoying things that we had not been able to do for years.
It was in November of 1988 that I bought a movie camera. I remember buying it at Barry’s cameras. Connie and I also went to the Harvey Hotel for a Thanksgiving brunch, it was the first time we had done that, and we found it so enjoyable.
There was a little place at the end of our street in Allen called Comet Cleaners where we had all our laundry done. Connie and I became familiar with the owners. That started after we moved here in the early 80s. I still see that same lady, even though they have not been at that cleaners in over 20 years as they sold it. She brings flowers to the food pantry to give to people who come to pick up food, just something to brighten their day.
While I do not remember much about Christmas, that year. This may be the year we bought a mantle clock and had the name Buntley put on it. I know we bought it at Prestonwood Mall for Christmas, I am just not sure which Christmas. I do remember some odds and ends. Some of the places we ate at were Pizza-Inn on Thursday nights as they were still having their 50s-night prices. I do not remember this, but we did eat at Reb Robins that year. I know because I have all my financial transactions recorded from Sept 1988 until now. A few years ago, we went to one about 20 minutes from where we lived, and I thought that was the first time we had ever been to one. We still enjoyed going to the Black-Eye Pea, JT McCord’s, Red Lobster, Sawbucks, etc. Skaggs Albertson was still where we did most of our grocery shopping. Connie was still using Susie’s to get her haircut. For some reason, I remember we bought a T-shirt at Prestonwood Mall. We had it made with Shelties on it.
1989
It seems the further I go it gets harder to remember things in exactly what year they happened. But now, I have a guide as I bought some money-tracking software in September of 1988. I have almost all my financial transactions as they relate to checking, saving, and credit card accounts since then.
Baylor Fast
In February of 1988, Connie and I started a weight loss program called Baylor Fast. We started on a Thursday night and I remember us stopping at Whataburger close to the location on Preston Road and Belt Line Road. It was just a little north of there. I remember Connie and I laughing and said let’s get a good meal in us and when we start hopefully, we could stick with it and make it work. If I remember correctly that was the last hamburger, we ate at a fast food place for almost 8 months.
They weighed us that Thursday night. Connie and I then attended sessions every Saturday morning at 9:30 for almost 6 months. The program was that you drank a liquid protein drink for two of the three meals you had each day. I think they had Vanilla, Chocolate, and Strawberry powder. It worked well for us, I lost 60 lbs. in about 6 months. I went from 220 to 160. Connie also lost a bunch, but I never knew how much. Her weight was one thing Connie was very secretive about. In our almost 46 years of marriage, I never knew how much she weighed. Eventually, I put a lot of it back on. In 1993, I was weighing about 190. I stayed around 200 until I lost Connie.
Genealogy
That winter I signed up for a genealogist course being offered on Thursday night at the local high school. I had gotten involved in genealogy in 1984 when my mother died and some of my father’s relatives gave me a whole bunch of information about him. Since then I have been interested in tracing my family roots. Connie could have not been more uninterested. She would ask me why I was digging up bones. She would also tell me, that you do not know if some evil person stole one of your relatives’ identity. She was all about the future while I was interested in the past.
25th High School Reunion
That spring we had some storm damage as I remember always taking care of those types of things. It was during that spring that we came home on a Saturday afternoon to find that our water heater had gone bad and there was water all over our garage. Luckily, it did not do any damage. We were able to call and get it replaced that evening and I could not believe how much it cost back then. The cost of a new water heater and installation was less than $300. Prices have gone up since 1989 In May, her mother came to visit us for a couple of weeks. I always got along great with her mother.
That July was a hectic month for us. I went back for my 25th, high school reunion that was held in the middle of July. I was only gone for three days. I was disappointed in it, as a lot of the friends I had wanted to see were not there. I had missed them at the 20th reunion, which I had missed because of my mother’s death. There was a picnic that afternoon and most of the people brought their kids. We had about 180 people in my graduating class and probably at least 160 of them lived within 50 miles from where we had grown up. I grew up in Shelbyville, Tennessee and I remember there were a couple of people that came from far away. I came from Texas and there was another person from the west, someplace like Montana, or Wyoming. That evening there was a formal dance and buffet. In the meantime, Connie was taking care of everything.
Connie had insisted while I was there that I go by Middle Tennessee State University and order me a college ring. We could not afford one when I graduated but I did stop by and order one. I was shocked as it would have probably cost me about $150 when I graduated in 1973, but I ended up paying $320.02. We were at a point in our marriage after 19 years when we were so happy to do something for the other one. I will have the ring and wore it from the day it arrived until a little while after I lost her.
I was not traveling as much this year so Connie and I were enjoying our time together.
Emergency — Buddy
I had not been back from my High School Reunion very long when Connie, got an emergency call about her brother who was about four and a half years older than her. It was profoundly serious as something had happened in his lung and he was throwing up blood. If I remember correctly one of his lungs was filling up with blood. Connie and her sister flew up the next day which was a Wednesday. If I remember correctly it was touch and go for a while but eventually, everything turned around and he was ok.
Connie stayed for almost a week, but a funny thing happened upon her return. I was not sure when she was coming back but I was expecting her any day. You know how sometimes you just go brain-dead. When Connie arrived at the airport my number did not work, and she tried for about 30 minutes, and to listen to her tell it she was panicking. Finally, she realized that it was a long distance from the airport to my office and once she dialed a “1” in front of the number she reached me. I left immediately to get her. It was strange as I was the one always traveling and for me to be home alone was very strange.
Other
As most of our friends know, Connie did not like to cook and when we first got married, she was not particularly good but by now she was much better at it. Even though we told cooking jokes for the rest of our lives it was a way to break the ice. Some of our favorite restaurants that we visited a lot during this year, were the Bennigans, Black Eye Pea, Chilis, etc.
The Wal-Mart that we had in town, closed that year, and another grocery store went into its place. It was Brookshire it was so neat and clean. It had moved from an old location in town. The only other store that I can remember was a Winn-Dixie, but there we had to be careful as we got a lot of outdated food.
For some reason that summer, I took a loan from my deferred compensation plan that year for $5,000. I know we had new floors put in the kitchen and laundry area and we spent some money on blinds, that total was around $2,000. I think but I am not sure that Connie and I used the rest of it to purchase stock options that had become available to us.
Michelle
I am not sure how it happened, but it was about this time that Connie and Michelle reconnected. I do not know if you remember but Michelle was a young lady that Connie met in the early ’80s. It had been about 5 years since Connie had seen Michelle as they had lost touch when she started working for Steve and Michael. I am not sure how they ended up re-connecting but they did. Michelle had a young daughter. She was divorced and you can read more about that in a story that I will publish under “Stories” – “Others” later.
Misty
One of our shelties, Misty was still having eye problems and we continued to see Dr. Dimon but later that year our vet sent us to see another veterinarian that specialized in eye problems for dogs. We like this doctor much better as you could tell he cared for animals. Unfortunately there was nothing that could be done and while Misty was not completely blind, it was pretty bad and for the next two to three years we did not move any of the furniture in the house so it would be easier on here.
New Doctors
We started seeing two new doctors that year, one was Dr. Swicegood who became our family doctor for almost 10 years and the other was Dr. Scharf, who was our eye doctor and I still see him, for regular eye checkups. We also found a tailor in Plano called Bo Tailors as we were still using him when Connie was here. I have had no reason to go back since and am not sure if he is still in business.
General
After we finished our Baylor Fast (quick weight loss that I talked about earlier) we would stop by the “I Can Not Believe It Yogurt” store in Plano and eat a large cup of frozen yogurt for lunch or dinner. It was really good and tasted like ice cream. The best part is the large cup which was very filling only had about 250 to 300 calories. Connie and I would do that a few times a week over the next few years.
For the most part, things stayed the same as Darrell was still mowing our yard, I was still collecting coins and Connie had started collecting Precious Moments. There was a new store that opened that year called Drug Emporium. It was a discount store and we shopped there a lot for the next twenty-plus years. I believe there are still some in other parts of Texas but there are none around here now.
Losing Brandy
October of this year was extremely hard for us. Brandy our first sheltie had not been doing very well and he had been taking him to the vet many times over the last few weeks. On a Friday afternoon, Connie had taken him in, and I could not go by because we had a work function on some property near where I worked. I do remember a lot of people swimming. I went over to the vet afterward and we took Brand to the “Emergency Animal Clinic”, where we would visit him on Saturday and Sunday. The clinic was open all weekend from Friday night until Monday morning but during the week, they would close from 8 till 5 so you had to shuffle your pet back and forth during the week. On Sunday, the 15th, or 22nd, the vet called us into the Emergency Animal Clinic around noon and told us it was time to let our Brandy go. It was extremely hard as Brandy was our first sheltie. We stayed and held his little paw and cried like babies. Afterward, we drove to another town called Sachse to look at a Pet Cemetery. In the end, we decided to have Brandy cremated and I am glad we did because with all the growth they took that pet cemetery property to expand the roads. I am not sure what happened to the pets that were there. Unfortunately, we would have to go through the loss of a sheltie three more times.
Turkey Trot
I am not sure, but I believe this is the year that Connie and I started doing the “Turkey Trot” in Dallas. We would get up early on Thanksgiving morning and be in downtown Dallas by 7:30 as the Turkey Trot started at 8:00. They had several different events. I know they had a 5K run and a 1K walk. Connie was so excited about this because just the fact that I could get out and go for a 1K walk was a blessing for the two of us after having so many years where it was just so hard to walk. We had lost weight and were so proud of our T-shirts. In the afternoon we went to Michelle’s parents for Thanksgiving dinner. This ended up being our Thanksgiving routine for the next 3 to 4 years.
I am not sure what we did for Christmas that year, but it was either a good one for us, are we bought a lot of stuff for other people. looking at things, we bought Christmas presents at JC Penny’s, Lord & Taylor’s, Mervyn’s, Ross’s, Barrett’s shoes, and Claire’s bouquet.