Early Settlers, Carlisle Texas

Today as we were cleaning and rearranging some things, I peeked into the little metal filing cabinet that was my dad's. I've looked in this thing a hundred times and even gone through it a couple of times to organize and sort; however, I still find something I haven't seen or read before every time I open it up. Today I found a copy of a handwritten history of early Carlisle, Texas which utterly fascinated me so I'm going to share it in it's entirety here. Daddy and Mother were part of a group that worked to make the Carlisle Cemetery a state historical monument and this written history, I'm sure, was part of that group effort. The Carlisle Cemetery did become a state historical momument due to the efforts of the group and now, if you drive out west on State Highway 114, on the north side of the road close to the old gin and school, you can stop and see the state marker, read the history and visit the cemetery. My grandfather, George Washington Wood, was the first person buried in the cemetery in 1920 as a consequence of the Spanish Influenza Pandemic. I've written previously about that on this blog. Anyhow, without further ado, here is the document I found today in its entirety. I found it fascinating and hope those of you in the Lubbock area or Wood family will too.

Early Settlers

 

In the fall of 1908, Mr. Altman and Mr. Collins came to West Texas in search of land. They each bought 160 acres from Mr. W.A. Carlisle. On Mr. Altman's farm there was a windmill and an earthern tank, but on the other farm there was just a plain plot of land. At that time there were only trails and a few wire fences, which were used by range riders.

 

Mr. Altman and Mr. Collins built a half dugout on each of their farms. They had to haul their lumber and other necessities for building the dugout from Plainview. After they completed the dugouts, they came for their families in Knox County.

 

In February of 1909 the Altmans and their three children and the Collins and their three children started back for West Texas. The Altmans moved to Lubbock in a covered wagon driven by two mules and leading a cow behind the wagon. The Collins family were also moving in a covered wagon. On the way out we stopped at Dickens for the night. A snowstorm blew in and the two families had to spend the night in the jail house for protection from the weather. As soon as the weather permitted, both families moved on westward.

 

It was very hard to come up the caprock. We had to stop along and let the mules rest. The wheels had to be blocked with rocks to hold them from rolling back. When we started down the caprock, we put poles between the spokes of the wheel and a sapling was dragged behind for brakes to keep the wagon from rolling into the mules.

 

After we arrived at the half dugout west of Lubbock, we moved everything into our new home. A fence or corral was built for the mules and also one for the cow. It was very lonely out on the prairie with only one neighbor, Mr. Collins' family.

 

At sundown, the coyotes and antelopes came to water from the earth tank. The antelopes were very wild, but the coyotes came up around the dugout and ate scraps of food. The howling of the coyotes was very frightening, especially to we children. There were skunks who ran and played on top of the dugout at night.

 

It was very hard to get the land ready for farming. About twenty acres was all that could be cleared for use in a year. The first two years we went back to Knox County to pick cotton because of the drought.

 

There were only a few stores in Lubbock at the time. There was a watering trough where the courthouse is today. There was a hitching rack all around the courthouse square for the horses and mules.

 

Dad helped build the first railroad from Plainview to Lubbock. We kids dug post holes to help get a fence around the farm. We also dug small mesquite bushes, catclaws, bare grass, and devil pin cushions or cactus.

 

In 1912 a one room post office building was moved out of Lubbock to be used as a school house. We had a hand pump which was used to get drinking water. There were seven children to attend school when it opened in the fall. Miss Sally Jones was the first teacher at Carlisle.

 

Our next school house consisted of two rooms with up lift doors between, and our teachers were Misses Mamie and Katie Bell Crump. They rode horseback to and from school each day from Shallowater.

 

A brick building was built in 1918 that consisted of three rooms, an auditorium and stage. There were up lift doors between one classroom to the auditorium that could be used for church and entertainment.

 

Six of the Altman children finished school at Carlisle. The school was consolidated in 1935 and two of the children finished at Frenship.  

 

Signed: Mrs. P.E. Smart, Lubbock, Texas 

 

(I, Elaine, believe this was written by Winnie Altman, but have no way of knowing for sure. The Altmans were close neighbors to the Wood family after they moved to Carlisle, by covered wagon, from the area north of Dallas to Carlisle in 1912.)

Christmas 1965

In November this year, I participated in National Novel Writing Month and wrote over 50,000 words by the deadline of November 30. The rough draft of the book I wrote is about my childhood, but it is not a true memoir or biography because, like all of us, I don't remember every single little detail of my childhood. Years blur and soften memories, but often not emotions. The following story is part of the book I wrote. The details aren't exact. For instance, I'm not positive it was 1965, but I was four or five years so. My memories of the importance of that Christmas are as fresh to me as yesterday. The story is written from an objective viewpoint since I wrote the whole book that way. In this story, I am Elaine (my true name) and Dee is my father. I hope the story reminds you of what Christmas truly is all about....love and grace for us all.

Christmas 1965

Christmas was always a wondrous time of the year for Elaine. She loved everything about it. She loved the smell of the fresh Christmas tree they bought at Wolf Nursery, putting up the lights and decorations, the music, the television specials, and the daydreams about what Santa Claus might bring her.

The first Christmas Elaine remembered was when she was four years old in 1965. There was a red tricycle she had seen at Levine’s that she very much wanted for Christmas that year. She didn’t think she would get it, however, because it was quite expensive and she didn’t feel she had been good enough that year to deserve such a wonderful gift. She soon forgot her deep yearning for the tricycle when one day Daddy told Elaine that he and Judy had bought Mother a new wedding ring and they needed her help with wrapping it up in a big box to surprise Mother. The wedding ring Mother had worn ever since she and Daddy married in 1934 was nearly worn thin and she had put it away before it wore out entirely. To Elaine it looked like a simple little gold ring, almost looking like a ring you could get out of a box of Cracker Jacks, but to Mother it was the most precious thing she owned. She told Elaine how beautiful it was when she received it on her wedding day.  The ring had finely etched flowers twined all around it and had been wider then. She had worn it every day for over 30 years. The flowers had long since worn off and the ring was thinning rapidly so she had put it away that year before it was all gone.

Mother’s wedding ring wearing out and her putting it away that year was sadly symbolic. Mother and Daddy recently had a rough time of it with regard to their marriage. They were always arguing and sometimes even yelling at each other, which scared Elaine. She couldn’t imagine what would happen if her parents decided to split up. One day Elaine’s parents’ fight was so bad that Mother had packed herself, Judy, and Elaine up in the car and driven to Hobbs, NM, muttering about divorce with bitter tears. By the next morning Mother’s anger had dissolved, so they once again packed up the car and then drove back to Lubbock. Elaine was very relieved about that!

After the trip to Hobbs, the fights between Mother and Daddy stopped, but they were still not as happy and sweet as they were before their trouble. The household was tense and Mother no longer kissed Daddy when he left for work each morning, which made Elaine sad. Daddy decided it was time to declare his love for Mother once again so he bought a beautiful wide white gold ring with a band of little diamonds on the top. He wanted to surprise Mother. He knew if he just wrapped the little jewelry box, Mother would immediately know what the gift was so he asked Judy and Elaine for help in disguising the gift. First they took the little jewelry box the ring came in and wrapped it in a bigger box. Then they took that bigger box and wrapped it in a bigger one and then a bigger one until finally it was in a very big box almost as big as Elaine herself. They put some heavy things in the big box to further disguise the wedding ring. Elaine was so excited about this great secret that she could hardly sleep on Christmas Eve. She wasn’t thinking about what she might get from Santa Claus and had practically forgotten the tricycle she wanted. She was more excited about Mother’s gift that year.

Christmas morning arrived and Elaine dashed into the living room, eager to get the gift unwrapping done so Mother could find her beautiful ring. Imagine Elaine’s surprise when she saw the pretty red bicycle sitting next to the Christmas tree with a big red bow on it! It was the exact one she wanted and there it was! She was so excited she jumped up and down, giving everyone a hug of thanks. Daddy said she could ride it in the house for the day since it was too cold to ride it outside. Elaine rode her tricycle around while Mother and Judy fixed breakfast. Mother always insisted that they eat breakfast before the Christmas presents were unwrapped. This year she made an exception about Elaine’s tricycle, since it wasn’t wrapped in the first place.

After breakfast, Elaine ran into the living room, ready for Mother to open her gift. Mother seemed disappointed that the gift from Daddy to her was so big. She had really hoped to get a new wedding ring, but apparently it wasn’t to be since the gift was so big. Elaine was fairly busting with glee as Mother started unwrapping the big gift. First Mother found the smaller gift inside and unwrapped it and then a smaller gift. She kept unwrapping the boxes as they got smaller and finally…she came to the jewelry box! Mother started crying even before she opened the box because she had figured out that Daddy had bought her a new wedding ring after all. Elaine was so excited and couldn’t understand why Mother was crying! She was supposed to be happy! “Mother, don’t cry! It’s a beautiful present and Daddy picked it out just for you! Open it! Open it! Open it!” Mother laughed and started to unwrap the little box. When she opened the box, she exclaimed, “Oh Dee! It’s beautiful! I don’t know what to say! It’s just perfect! How did you know my size?” Everyone started trying to tell the story at once, how Daddy had taken Judy to help him pick it out and to size the ring, and then how the three of them had pulled off the big surprise with the boxes. Elaine was as excited about Mother’s wedding ring as she was her own new tricycle. Now Mother would know how much Daddy loved her and all would be well again. The new wedding ring was a symbol of a renewal of their love that would remain for the rest of their lives. That Christmas was one of the best Elaine remembered. The Christmas spirit was strong at the Wood home because her parents were in love again and everyone was happy.

 

Veterans Day 2012, Remembering

These are my two brothers, John and Joe Wood. As you can see, they both served in the military. John went into the Navy first and a few years later, when Joe graduated from high school, he went into the Army. John sailed the seven seas on an aircraft carrier (the U.S.S. Nimitz I think) and Joe went first to Germany and then to the war that was in Vietnam. I'm very proud of my brothers for serving in the military. Both are gone now, but every Veterans Day, they both seem to be closer in spirit somehow. My uncle, Clyde Gill, served in the Marines during World War II. He served in the Asian Theater, fighting at Iwo Jima, and later helping to clean up and deal with the horrible aftermath of the bombs dropped on Japan.

The Wood family has continued to serve in the military, even into this generation. Those who served or are serving now include nephews Curtis Wood, George Cummings, Jesse Wood, and Jacob Wilcox (currently in Afghanistan). Fortunately, thus far in the 20th and 21st centuries, no family members have died in combat. Wounded, physically and emotionally, certainly, but not killed.

As I think of all the thousands and thousands of men and women who have served in the military since before we were even officially a country, I'm humbled. We take the military for granted oft times. At the beginning of wars or conflicts, most everyone is patriotic, waves flags, and supports the military. As has been seen in the last 10 years since the current war started, however, we once again take the military for granted and support wanes. Support for our veterans has waned over the years as well. I don't believe people are really calloused and uncaring about the war or supporting our military and veterans. I believe, instead, we've become weary and perhaps enured to the constancy of it. Those serving us in the military, although perhaps weary, have definitely not become enured, hardened, or blase' about their dedication to our country, their courage, their sacrifices, or the sacred price of freedom.

Let us then, this Veterans Day, this year, not let it go by without a moment of prayer for those serving now, a moment of remembrance and mourning for those lost fighting for our great country, and a moment of gratitude for the freedoms we enjoy because of our service men and women, both past and present.

 

Keeping Step

My daddy walked along
so fast and steady in his step,
while I skipped along
like a butterfly
just trying to keep step.

He went on walks for healing,
for you see, he nearly died.
I went on walks to be with him
and to see the clear, blue sky.

We walked along and talked along,
he tried to lead the way,
while I broke out with little dances
and delighted in the day.

Daddy's feet were fifty five,
while mine were only seven,
but we both enjoyed the walk
each day,
it seemed a lot like heaven.

As our feet have carried us
through thirty years since then,
I have aged and so has he,
but I'm still trying
to keep in step with him.

D. Elaine Wood-Lane
7/30/99

My dad, L.D. Wood, about whom this poem was written, died on November 24, 2006. Although he is gone now, I still try to keep in step with him. He was a good man, a faithful man, and a wonderful father.

Margaret Inez Gill--School Girl

Hi everybody!  Look at this random picture of Mother I found:

Inez Gill, Woodrow School

I don't know what year this was taken, but maybe 6th grade?  I had never seen this picture before. It's in bad shape, obviously and I'll try to clean it up some and post a better version soon. I wanted to share my find today, though, so here you are! Wasn't young Inez cute?

Woodrow School was a two-story schoolhouse. The lower grades were on the first floor and the upper grades were on the second floor. The school only went to the 8th grade at the time Mother, Mary, and Doris went there. I don't know when it became a 12 grade school, if ever. The school eventually consolidated with other nearby schools and became Cooper Independent School District, where Betty, John, Joe, and Judy all attended. Mother graduated from the 8th grade. If she had desired to go to high school, she would have had to travel to Lubbock High School, about 12 miles away, to do so. She wasn't that interested because, she said, "I was more interested in boys and getting married than going on to school."  I always had to smile at that comment. She repeated it numerous times through the years so I know it was true. Mary, Evelyn and Doris all did go to Lubbock High School and earned their high school diplomas. (Maybe they weren't as boy crazy as Mother?)

Mother was always an excellent student and made good grades. When I was a child, she was a stickler for spelling, grammar, and penmanship. She was especially insistent that I work on my penmanship. (I never did quite meet her standards.) So far as math, Mother could out-figure anyone I've ever met, even Daddy. I was constantly amazed as a kid at how fast and accurate she was with math problems, without a calculator of course. We would get to the checkout line at the grocery store and she would know exactly what she owed, down to the last penny! If she needed to figure out fabric yardage for clothes or draperies she was planning to sew, she had it figured out before someone else had grabbed paper or pencil.

Daddy also graduated from the 8th grade and then was finished with his formal education. The interesting thing is that, although neither Mother nor Daddy earned a high school diploma or went on to college, they were two of the best-educated people I've ever met. Daddy was especially well-read. He read anything he could get his hands on, but his favorite reading was "a good old bloody Western!"

So, this was Mother in her school days. I hope you've enjoyed seeing this picture as much as I enjoyed finding it! 

The Wood Farm

It has been a while since I have written and I apologize for that! I guess I let life get in the way of history. As always, my little posts in no way tell a complete story of our family history. I try my best to tell as much as I know and have learned over the years from stories passed down amongst the family and my own experiences.

 I recently found some lovely old pictures of the Wood family farm right before it was sold in 1930. I thought I would share those pictures and tell the story of the farm.

Wood farm, c. 1930

As I've shared before, George and Maud Wood along with their kids, Jewel and Harrel Wood, moved to Lubbock County about a mile south of the Carlisle Community in October 1913. George (Grandpa) Wood paid cash for a full section of land. The section was located between what is now west 34th and 19th streets, Milwaukee and Upland avenues. L.D. (Dad) was born the following year on January 23, 1914. Grandpa built a fine house and started clearing land immediately so he could plant his first cotton crop in the 1914 season.

Wood farmhouse, c. 1930

In 1920, during the Spanish Influenza Pandemic, everyone in the little family caught the flu. Grandpa contracted pneumonia and died within a few days. Dad was only six years old and Grandpa's death hit him particularly hard. Six months after Grandpa's death, Grandma married a con artist who was already married, unbeknownst to her. Within several months, the man's wife showed up at the Wood farm and Grandma learned her husband was a bigamist. He went to jail, the marriage was annulled and Grandma stayed single until Dad was about 12 years old. During this time Grandma and her children continued to farm cotton and were very successful. Dad described those years with happiness and contentment. He had a good childhood.

Milking barn, 1930

Grandma Wood married a man named Roy M. Wood (no direct relation to our branch of the Wood family.) Roy M. had several children and the family became what is now called a blended family. Roy M. had three children: James (Jim) Wood, Mary Wood, and Virginia Wood. Dad and Jim got along very well and stayed in touch throughout their lives. Jim moved to Oregon and settled there, marrying and having a family. Mary married a man named Lemon and they moved to Houston, never to return to West Texas. Virginia married Jake Waldrop and they lived, farmed, and raised a family in the Levelland area. Virginia loved Dad like a blood brother and would become quite defensive and offended if someone called her a stepsister. Virginia was loud and gregarious, which was the complete opposite of Dad, but he loved her like a blood sister too and they remained close all of their lives.

Grandma Wood and Roy M. (called the "old man" by Dad) became deeply involved with the Jehovah's Witnesses early in their marriage. Grandma had been a committed member of the Church of Christ all her life. Her dad was even a Church of Christ preacher. She was a charter member of Broadway Church of Christ. She raised her kids in the Church and of her four children, only Dad remained in the Church all of his life. When Grandma got so heavily involved in the Jehovah's Witnesses, Dad was shocked and felt betrayed as she turned away from what she had so firmly believed in and taught her kids all their lives. Grandma and Roy M. became so involved in the Jehovah's Witnesses that they attended conventions all over the midwest, often leaving the farm for the boys to tend for extended periods of time.

When Dad was just 16, everything came to a head. The Jehovah's Witnesses' leader (Judge Rutherford) was firmly convinced, and lead his followers to believe, that Armageddon ws just around the corner. Jehovah's Witnesses were urged to sell their properties, give up all their worldly goods and shackles, and prepare for Armageddon when the world as they knew it would end and the thousand year reign of true believers would begin with a new world order and no one would own individual property. Dad was shocked when Grandma and Roy M. took up the call and decided to sell their farm. The problem with this plan was that Grandma didn't own the farm completely. The farm had been left to her and her four children. Harrel had left the area and wasn't particularly attached to the farm so he felt no remorse in signing over his portion of it. Jewel and Ray had become Jehovah's Witnesses so they easily signed over her portion as well. Dad was the hold out on the deal. He refused to sign away his right to the farm and a great rift arose between he and his mother. He couldn't believe she had been so easily duped and would do something as foolish as selling the farm for next to nothing just because an overly zealous religious leader said that they should. Apparently the battle between Dad and his mother lasted for a little while. The ultimate betrayal to Dad occurred when Grandma had one of his Price cousins forge Dad's name on the bill of sale/quit claim. The farm was sold for practically nothing and Grandma sold or gave away all of their farming equipment, horses, everything and went to Ohio to await Armageddon.

Dad was 16 years old when the farm was sold. This event was a huge defining moment of his life. He suddenly went from being a fairly well-to-do land owner to a penniless young man on his own. He was devastated and very angry. As a testament to his already well-developed character, however, he didn't feel sorry for himself very long or allow himself to remain at loose ends. He found a sharecropper's farm for rent in the Woodrow area and started farming for himself, working to buy the equipment and animals he needed to plant and farm the very next growing season. The old Wood farm was sold in 1930 so that was his first season farming for himself.

L.D. Wood, Farmer, 1930's

In the end, for the future generations of the Wood family, the sale of the Wood family farm and Dad moving to the Woodrow area was a good thing. His farm was about a mile down the road from the Gill family and, of course, he eventually met and married Inez Gill in 1934 when he was 20 years old. Their marriage lasted 66 years until her death in January of 2001.

Periodically throughout his life, Dad would tell the story of how his mother lost her mind, betrayed him, sold away his inheritance, and, in a sense, abandoned him. It strongly affected him, but he moved on and made a life for himself. He always loved his mother, but with less intensity than before. He took care of her all of her days, especially after Roy M. passed away. Armageddon didn't come, of course, so Grandma frequently needed help and assistance.

All his life Dad would return to the "home place" as he called it to see the crops there and investigate things. Sunday afternoon drives often took us by there and Dad would tell me of what it looked like when he was growing up and what life was like then. His heart was attached to the land, even though it was no longer his. A golf course was put in on part of the land and is still there. Eventually, in the last 25 years, the land was developed and now is covered with a high end subdevelopment. The big trees that were planted in 1914 were still there the last time I drove by. I, myself, find those trees to be a touchstone and a symbol of hope. Those trees are like our family. They started as tiny saplings, grew and survived through decades and now are strong and tall, deeply rooted. Just like our family.



July 4th Memories

I have so many great memories of previous 4th of Julys that it is hard to know where to begin. I wanted to share a few.

One of my first July 4th memories took place when I was of elementary school age. I was terrified of fireworks and firecrackers because they were so loud, yet I wanted to be part of the celebration and had developed a keen desire to have sparklers. My neighborhood friends had sparklers the year before and I thought they were so pretty. I begged and begged for sparklers. We went to Joe and Evelyn's house for a July 4th cookout, the first of many through the years. We had so much fun and when we went home, Daddy presented me with a box of sparklers! He lit one and tried to hand it to me. I totally freaked out! It scared me to death somehow. I ran into the house and locked myself in my bedroom, complete with sliding the dresser in front of my bedroom door! I was so ashamed of being afraid. Daddy and Mother stood outside on the front lawn and burned several sparklers for me so I could watch the beauty from my window. (Were they great parents or what?)  The next year I overcame my fear and played with the sparklers myself and was so proud! We used that little box of sparklers for probably 5 years.

As the years passed it became tradition for the family to go to Joe and Evelyn's for a cookout on Independence Day. Joe became a master griller and, after they moved to the country, we'd finish the day with fireworks and firecrackers after dark. So much fun! After Craig and I married, we continued to join in that tradition. The second summer we were married (1983) was excessively hot, much like this summer. We lived in a house with no air conditioning and locked it up tight before we went to Joe's. We came home to melted candles everywhere! Even our big fat unity candle from our wedding was melting. It was bent over double over the edge of the table it was sitting on and was almost comical, but I cried nonetheless.

The 4th of July in 1987 we took the boys to a parade downtown. They each received little U.S. flags and were playing with them.  We were at home, starting our own cookout tradition as Joe had passed away the year before. I was in the kitchen when I heard crying and wailing of epic proportions coming from the boys' playroom. Craig and I rushed in and found Nat impailed in the head by the tip of one of those little flags! We took him to the ER, which was super busy with other July 4th casualties. The doctor had to carefully remove the flag tip and then repair Nat's wound. I'm not sure who cried more, Nat or Josh. Actually, I think Josh did because he was so upset and worried that he had hurt Nat.

One of my very favorite July 4th memories comes from 2006. Daddy was living in the nursing home. The home had their own form of celebration. They hosted a cookout on their patio and the residents ate hotdogs, hamburgers, watermelon, and, if they wanted, bottles of near-beer. We went to see Daddy and his eyes were shining like sparklers themselves because he and some of the other men had sat on the patio and drank beer! He was like a little boy who had gotten away with something and was relishing every bit of it. He was so cute! At first I didn't realize it was near-beer and kind of flipped out, but a nurse hastily assured me it was non-alcoholic beer. Daddy didn't know that, however, and we never told him. It was probably one of the happiest 4ths he had enjoyed in a long time, hangin' with the guys and drinkin' beer!

My most recent special 4th of July memory comes from five years ago today. I moved to Colorado Springs to join Alan and start an entirely new and different life. I was excited about moving, but deeply grieved to be leaving my boys behind in Lubbock. Ok, they weren't exactly boys any longer. They were grown men who were fully able to live without their mother's constant presence. I, on the other hand, wasn't sure I could live without theirs. It was the true cutting of the apron strings and I felt like my heart was being physically removed from my chest.

Early early that morning Alan, the boys and I loaded up the U-Haul truck. I loaded up my pretty Buick with all the fragile things which included our two elderly cats, Sonic and Colette, and Buddy, my happy Chihuahua. That 500 mile trip from Lubbock, Texas to Colorado Springs, Colorado was the longest 500 miles of my life! I cried all the way to Plainview at least while the cats meowed loudly and Buddy looked like he would prefer to hide under the seat. Sonic and Colette were NOT happy about being in carriers in the back seat of a speeding car. I tried everything to quiet them. Eventually I blasted on my music, thinking at least I could drown out the cats' noise. They continued to yowl until...my Elvis Presley CD came on.  Miraculously, they both hushed!  As long as Elvis was singing, they were fine. I must have heard that CD 15 times on that trip. I love Elvis, but frankly I was sick of him by the time we arrived in the Springs! I think I've only listened to that CD once in the intervening five years.

When we arrived at our apartment in the Springs and I got out of the car, I completely fell in love with the entire area. It had rained just before we arrived and the smells of wet pine and earth were the best welcome committee anyone could ever want. We only unloaded the animals and a few essentials that evening. We ate something and then, from our open second floor bedroom window, we watched the fireworks from Pikes Peak. It was one of the most lovely things I'd ever experienced in my life. I was enchanted.

Moving to Colorado has been a grand adventure. I was terrified to move here because  I had lived in the flatlands of West Texas or Eastern New Mexico my entire life. I knew Lubbock inside and out. I had worked at Texas Tech for 22 years. I had friends and family there, including my sons. Would I be able to adjust? Would I find new friends? Would my sons forget me or would they need me and I'd be too far away to help them? Would I find a boss as wonderful and great as Dr. Haragan? I truly was awash with worries.

Over the last five years Alan and I have bought a house and made a home we love. I have friends all over the Springs. I also still have my friends from Texas! My sons not only didn't forget me, but we seem to have grown closer which defies logic. They survived without me and have even flourished. Both are in college now. Nat met and married a lovely young lady and gave me the daughter I always wanted. Josh has been dating a great girl for two years whom I also love. I worked in several different places here before finding my niche at Bold Technologies. I love my work and my coworkers. Work is a joy to me. Of course, no one can replace Dr. Haragan. He's still the best boss I ever had and I miss working with him dearly. (More than just being my boss, he became my second dad in many ways and was so, so good to me when Daddy became ill and passed away.)

So, on this 4th of July in Colorado Springs, I am happier than I've ever been. I love our home. I love the city. I love the beauty of the mountains.  I adore my husband and enjoy him so much it's a little scary sometimes. I'm proud of our city that underwent so much stress and fear last week, but pulled together and will grow back together. Life is good! Happy 4th everybody! Let's make some more great memories today!