Sandra will be 60 on August 4th wow

Yes it's true, Sandra will be 60 years old tomorrow!!! I can't believe it. I tell my kids I am feeling sorry for them and they ask why Dad? and my response is, "You all are getting older than me". Gee to think I am going on 87 myself. I am so very lucky to have had this life. There were so many times when I thought I had breathed my last breath. The army--I was in the Infantry you know and was in the midst of front line war--often in no man's land--that's being on duty between the lines. How did I ever ever make it?. I guess it is attributed to the many "Hail Marys" I learned from the front line Priest , Father Hanley--the catechism he taught me.

So Sandra now nearly is retirement age . I'm proud of her. We didn't have much money for higher education but we were able to afford a business school course. She lived with my brother in law George and Sue in Vancouver for maybe 6 months attending the business school. Then she came home and worked in a local bank.

She applied for work here in Yakima and found a job at Merrill Lynch. She went from there to another Stock broker and from there to be manager of Dain Rausch stock broker office. So it is with pride I commend her for lifting herself above the ordinary.

Maybe she'll read this portion of my blog--Happy Birthday Sandra.

Have I told you about her name selection? And the day she was born? Well here goes.

It was time to go!! We had to drive all the way to Yakima from Grandview and I worried about getting there in time. We went to the St Elizabeth Catholic Hospital and checked in. She was on an upper floor in a room with another 'birthing person'. I was having a visit from Chuck Graves for 'support' and we were just killing time walking around and around the hospital awaiting word of the birth. How would we know? if we didn't keep checking at the desk.
At last the attendant said it had been happening all the time I was visiting with Chuck. I couldn't send him away could I? No so he stayed as a best friend and support. Would I faint maybe? Ha!
I came into the room not yet knowing if it was a boy or girl. If it was a boy it would be named after me--that was a forgone conclusion --if it was a girl , it would be Norma Jean--but I rejected the Norma Jean name because I had a date or two with a girl name Norma Jean. It wasn't all that bad a name, but I didn't want to recall those 'old dates' each time I called my little girl.
The lady in the next bed--I think she was the wife of Henry Stotsenberg--the famed used car dealer in town. She admired Sandra's 'olive skin' ..Yes Sandra did have an "olive" skin taking after my skin and ethnicity I guess-. The lady suggested that Sandra should be named---hear this---CORDELIA--. That's as bad as Esmirelda--. WE went thru a litany of names and selected Sandra for no other reason than it was the 'right' name for her--Sandra Norma--wouldn't you guess.
When I walked into the room , I saw the bundle in her mothers arms and her mother began to cry--she said, sobbing, "It's a girl". She did all she could to have a healthy little baby. We were blessed.This was part of my hopes and prayers when I was on Anzio, praying that someday to have a family and be free. My life was shaping up to be a good one. I made the right choices.
In choosing names for our kids I always tried to fore see the probabilities of teasing in school. And we succeded in that except Toni had a tease or two--Toni--baloney--that's the usual moniker that goes with that name.

I just recalled another aspect to these days in waiting. I was warned by one of Mickey's relative who were some what anti Catholic, that I had better have the money to pay the hospital on the spot or I wouldn't be able to take the Baby homer. That sounded a bit cruel and off color but I couldn't take a chance on an arguement at the checkout desk.
So I went out with the combine and sought job after job doing harvesting peas and beans to collect enough money to have to settle at the Hospital. I didn't have good credit at those days being just out of the army and whatever we bought was with cash--except Sears and Wards gave me credit for furniture and appliances.WE kept those payments up on time--but it was a different story now regarding paying the hospital.
It was as hot a summer as it is at this time. I worked long and hard taking care of the irrigation and the combining jobs. Then it came time.
I went to check out at the desk and I was pleased and surprised when the girl asked,"How do you want to pay for this?". The bill came to about $150, Imagine that. So it wasn't at all like the anti Catholic aunt had warned me. The Hospital was the most benevolent there was and in these late days they had to fold because of the large debt because of the services to the poor and non payers.
It was always opened to the poor. The bums and hungry could always go to the back door and get a lunch, one bum told me. It was a late as in the 90s when I picked up a hitch hiker in Grandview. I asked where he wanted to be let off ( he rode in the back of the pickup) and he said, "Drop me off at the Hospital--I need a lunch".