Backstory

69 this morning, cloudy and humid.

Our visitors have all safely arrived, and we had a great dinner together with them. Now my son is working online for a bit, and the others are on their way here soon. So I am taking a moment to fill in some backstop about the ages of my son and grandchildren since a couple of you seemed puzzled.

Easiest way to do this is a timeline. So:

1968: dropped out of senior year to marry my high school sweetheart.

1969: first son was born and we bought our first house, a log cabin much renovated, built by a former CCC worker.

1970: second son was born.

1971: first trip into West Virginia,  accidental because we got lost. I discovered home.

1972: third son was born.

1973: 4th son was born.

1974: moved to WV

1975: bought this land, where I still live. Began building our house, using my graph paper diagrams as a blueprint.

1976: moved in. Unfinished, no electricity,  unique Springwater arrangement, often impassable rood. My first husband quit his job as a Xerox repairman and began working as a carpenter.

1976-1984: developed our homestead, got really poor, work dried up as a huge strike put many in the area out of work. Had chickens, milk goats later replaced with Jerseys. Added a few beef cattle, horses, turkeys, pigs, honeybees. Learned to raise sorghum and make molasses, began growing tobacco as a cash crop. 

1982 installed a telephone at a cost of $600 because line had to be run a mile.. Leased 200 acres for the 20 acre hayfield, bought 60 more acres. Did I mention we got very broke? Raised strawberries and tomatoes to sell. Worked way too hard. I started my first job ever, rural mail carrier sub, then added a full time job as security guard at the State Capitol 50 miles away. Marriage crumbled.

1985: divorced, remarried, got pregnant with my 5th son.

1986: gave up the mail route, kept the guard job. 5th son born.

1987: oldest son graduated. He and I both started college at different schools.  He had a full scholarship to WVU, I. got grants.Quit the guard job, started working part-time as a teller at a greyhound racetrack where my husband worked.

1988: second son graduated, joined Army and got married. Husband's mother died, his Dad moved in with us for a while.

1989: 3rd son graduated, joined the Army and got married. Second son has his first daughter.

1990: finally got electricity installed. We had all but quit farming by now, sold most stock and equipment. Kept pigs and chickens. Sold 50 acres to drill a 723 foot deep water well, which is still going strong.

1991: 4th son graduated and joined the Air Force. Larry's Dad died the same night our second son had his first child, a son. My oldest and I graduated from college, youngest son started kindergarten.  Second son in Korea, third son in Desert Storm, Iraq. I started working for the library part-time, along with being a sub teacher in two counties, a dial-a-teacher homework help job, and continued working at the dog track.

1992: second son and wife have a child before getting married and gave her up for adoption, marrying soon after and keeping this secret for 17 years. (This was Sarah, who is building the cabin here.) I became a library branch manager full-time and quit all the other jobs. Began work on my Masters degree. What. A. Year.

1993-2008: oldest began a banking career, married and had a son and daughter. Second son had 4 daughters. Third son had 2 daughters in addition to his son, deployed twice to Germany and twice more to Iraq. 4th son graduated college, got married, had 2 children. 3rd sons ex had a son who we count as one of our grandchildren (it's complicated). Completed my Masters degree while working full time. Youngest son graduated and joined the Air Force, deployed to Germany. Second son completed his Masters degree. I began my professional storytelling career. My parents passed away within 10 months of each other. I began writing and occasionally getting published.

2007: began this blog.

2008: I became facilities manager for the library system. Still storytelling. Youngest son is out of the Air Force on a medical, began college.

2009: first great grandchild was born.

2010: the year our world fell apart. Second son was killed in a traffic accident. A big hole in our family and our hearts. All I can remember of this year is darkness.

2011: second great grandchildren born, and I retired from the library. My husband retired from bricklaying several years earlier.

2012: met Sarah for the first time. The hole in my heart and our family closed a little bit. 

2012-2020: more great grandchildren arrive, we traveled overseas to meet my English relatives, as well as to Wales, Ireland and Cornwall. The pandemic arrived, I retired from storytelling. Oldest son became president of his bank, third son retired from the Army as a Command Sergeant Major, 4th son working as an instrumentation tech in a power plant, youngest son moves to Miami, gets married and gains a stepdaughter. We began selling in antique mall booths.

2020-now: gardening, porch-sitting, writing, canning, booths, and just absolutely enjoying this slower pace of life!

So perhaps this explains the odd age differences and gives those of you who are newer readers of this blog a bit of my background. There was of course much more, much travel, and much joy. 

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.