ANOTHER NEW YEAR... high hopes (Part 125a)

ANOTHER NEW YEAR... high hopes (Part 125a)

But first, a few words from the sponsor... errr... author...

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When I started writing this “tome“ I had no idea where I’d go with it. Whereas a good bit of it is from memory, there’s also been a lot gleaned from various types of notes and/or records that I’ve kept over the years. The first were little 3” by 5“ spiral pads followed by the old ”Composition“ notebooks that were a staple in schools back ”in the day“. I made a few abortive attempts at a diary but with limited results. When I took my first job in banking, my boss, Alvin, a VERY neurotic individual, bought me a ”Day Timer“ to make sure I did all I was expected to when I was expected to do it. The first thing on Monday mornings was to get his weekly assignment and to write it in the book. But that was all that was written in it. Since I was the only one to look at it I decided to use all the empty spaces to make notes of interesting things that happened at work. After a while I started adding weekends since there were pages for those days. When we bought the house Elle started keeping a record of the things we did to it to make it ”our own“ along with the costs. Photo albums were also used to jog my memory.

I’ll admit to being very anal when it comes to keeping things. I hate to throw anything away. Not a hoarder, I concentrate on anything that has a memory attached to it. With the end of the last year a lot of my resources have somehow disappeared including my ”Day Timers“. Starting with our first house we’ve only had four residences so I can’t blame moving for the missing material. We’ve been in our present house for going on 30 years and if there’s one thing that I have to live with on a constant basis is listening to Elle tell me to get rid of some of the stuff. I haven’t... but there are some things that I just haven’t been able to locate. I don’t want to even think that Elle might’ve disposed of them.

So, what I’m saying is that going forward the writing will not always be in a time line like it has been. From here on in our photo albums will be the primary resource. I also have the ”personnel log“ that I kept at work which will help me with the comings and goings there. I’m not exactly sure how it will play out and as I move forward may try some different formats. One that I’m thinking of would be to take a situation and follow it through to some sort of ending. Another might be to take a memory of a female and follow her for a period of time. All I can say is ”Thank You” for following Fancy Panties. It’s been in existence for almost eight years and I still enjoy reliving my memories. I hope you do too. Now, back to the story...

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The reason for the sub title “high hopes” is that in April I’d be 30 years old and would finally have control of the trust fund my grandfather had started for me. By this time our “want/need” list was heavily weighted on the want side and Elle and I had agreed that it was time to do some things that we’d not been able to do. We’d resisted the credit card “trap” with the exception of our Sears card. And, with that one we’d almost always been able to pay off the balance each month. We also vowed not to deplete the fund as we fulfilled our desires.

As expected, the fallout of the “group” resurrecting the progressive dinner party on New Years Eve was the reaction of Pat (the PTA lady) when she returned from her trip. Nanci and Phyl were her closest friends and she wouldn’t speak to either of them after finding out about it. Because the “group” was unanimous in it’s purpose to effect changes at the school, they also recognized how important Pat was to that goal. The one thing that she’d been relentless about was in trying to find a candidate to run in the June election. So, after a bunch of phone calls, Bob, Phyl’s husband, finally agreed to do it and that was enough to get the “group” back in Pat's good graces.

Early in that first week of January Elle got a call to come in to teach for at least a week and for possibly more. That was like an added Christmas present. I was also eligible to make another loan against the trust fund that would be used to pay for heating oil and the last minute Christmas present of the bathroom fixtures for Elle. All in all, it looked like we were getting off to a good start.

Work on Sandy’s “dribble panties” got put on hold as Elle found herself being really tired after a day at school and then having to face the household chores and her Brownie troop. Big “B” showed up on one of the early weekends with news that he’d bought the racing engine that I’d found for him. He was “hot to trot” to pick it up and for us to take it apart and to rebuild it. Pro football was now over so that meant Sunday afternoons were pretty much free. Elle wasn’t all that happy about it even though Sunday afternoons had pretty much been mine since the weather got cold. “B” had readied the garage for us to work in and, being single, had a hard time accepting that married men had “responsibilities”. The name of the guys he usually hung out with went by the name “The unmarrieds”. I knew I had to walk a fine line to make the whole racing thing work.

At work, the “busy period” went fairly smoothly with no major problems. It was obvious that business had picked up in the two years that I’d been there. I attributed it to the advertising program that we’d undertaken. However, there were signs that we were about at capacity when it came to the processing of transactions. I’d been charged with doing research on upgrading the equipment and the possibility of having an outside service do the processing. It had come to a screeching halt when the Board heard the price. Watching the long lines I made a note to revive my research.

Speaking of work, my banter with Trish about the panties that had been found in her waste basket before Christmas continued. It was all light hearted and not mean. On one of the first days back Laura came up to me holding a list. It was all of the “abandoned” savings accounts. The State required banks to turn over the balances of all accounts that hadn’t had any activity over a certain period of time. I don’t remember if it was ten years or less at that time. She pointed to a name on the list that was certainly familiar... it was mine. But there was another name on the account as well. It took me a few seconds to recognize it as my grandmother’s maiden name. The balance was only around $40. I told her that I’d look into it before the money got sent to the state. However, that wasn’t the only thing she had for me as she handed me a $10 bill. It was another payment on the money I’d loaned her for clothes soon after her hiring. I’d pretty much forgotten about it and told her that it wasn’t necessary. She insisted but we were in the middle of the work area and I didn’t think it appropriate to discuss it at that time. She agreed to stay late so we could discuss it further.

To be continued...