[kakuehl]

When John and I married, our only income was what he made as a Gettysburg Battlefield Tour guide. This is a seasonal job which pays well during the summer season. We went to Williamsburg, Virginia, for a 2 day "honeymoon." On our way home we stopped to see a friend. When we arrived at my parents home, my mother was going crazy: John's dad had called to say a school district had called to offer John a teaching position. (He took the job!) We stayed with my parents for the rest of that summer and then found an apartment in Mt. Union, the town where John's job was. I think my 2 refrains were "Get me out of this town" (that took 20+ years) and "Let's have a baby." I substitute taught that year; the next year I got a job teaching (I also directed church choir and had 16 flute students on Saturdays.)

At the end of that year (1975), we bought a house, and shortly afterward I got pregnant with our son John. I gave up the flute students because I didn't have the energy for everything -- and I had a 175 mile round trip to reach the store where I taught. At the end of that school year, 1976, I was "furloughed" (my position was eliminated.) Talk about stress! John's paycheck didn't exactly cover our expenses! He got paid every 2 weeks and after we paid the mortgage with the first check we had $50 left for the next 2 weeks (I usually spent $40 on groceries for the 2 weeks.) Luckily, I qualified for unemployment which was extended beyond its usual length because of employment conditions on the country. It enabled me to stay home with Johnny full time. (I did work part time for a photographer as his receptionist after the unemployment ran out.) I also usually had a student or two taking private music lesson which brought in a little pocket money.

Our daughter Sharon was born 2 years and 20 days after our son. (My husband refused to have more children because he had now one of each and refused to try for the "third kind".) Getting pregnant has not been one of my problems - despite my mother's warnings when I placed David for adoption. I would like to say at this point, that even though it was my choice to place my son (I truly can't blame my parents, the system, or the social workers)and even though I went on to have the other 2, my arms were still empty and a piece was missing from my heart. Having other children did not replace my firstborn. My father's oldest brother was stillborn; I wonder if my grandmother had similar feelings.

When Sharon was 3 months old, I got a call from the principal at the school where I had taught: it was an emergency, could I substitute? I said yes, hung up the phone, and realized I was breastfeeding my daughter! I took the kids to the neighbor who watched my kids with formula for the baby; came home on a break to nurse her, and got through the day. For the next several years I substitute taught. When Johnny started kindergarten I was "recalled" from furlough (I felt like a car with a problem that needed to be fixed!) . At the end of the year I was laid off again, but this time they couldn't completely eliminate my position so I was asked to teach part time (at substitute teacher rates). I spent several years teaching part-time and substituting. The positive part of the time was that my schedule and the children's was the same. Sometime during that period I wrote a letter and sent to the agency in Maryland, trying to make it easy for D to find me if he searched. I have no idea what happend to it, but when D went searching the agency his parents used was closed.