AUNTY EM, AUNTY EM - IT'S A TWISTER!? - (Thunderstorm's a brewin') - DECEMBER 1984

Jul 2, 2021
7 min read

DECEMBER 3, 1984

Monday

My weekend was a combination of exhaustion, fun and troubles. But mostly, exhaustion.

FRIDAY - Straight after work, I went to my apartment, grabbed some night clothes and belongings, Coco, etc. and went to Mom and Dad’s to wait for Barry to get off work. Mom was still there (she hadn’t left for the cabin yet) and we visited. She’s about my favorite person in the whole world. At 7:00, I went and picked up Barry to go shopping at Town East. (I was in a terrific mood.) He was extremely tired when I picked him up and acted so most of the evening. I tried everything possible to cheer him up, but nothing worked. We ate at El Chico’s and while there I said “You want to hear something cute that DeeAnn said?” His reply was “NO.” That infuriated me but I tried not to let it show. I was determined to get him out of his bad mood. I ignored that remark and went on and told him. Anyway, after we had eaten, he felt a little better. We looked around, bought his parents a ship clock (shaped like a wheel on the helm,) bought Holly her gift and four coloring books for all the kids. Then we looked at rings for a while - (wedding rings). I don’t know about him, but I wasn’t extremely excited about looking. He was in a considerable better mood, but I just no longer felt truly excited. After shopping, I went back to Mom and Dad’s, Barry went home, and I spent the night at their house.

SATURDAY - I woke up early (8:00 a.m.), had coffee, got ready and was at the mall again by 9:30 a.m. I returned the pants I had gotten for Barry because they were the wrong size. After i got my money from Sears, I started looking at jogging sets and I heard a little voice say “Aunt Janie!” I looked around and there was Margaret, Laura, Bryant III and Therese. I went around with them for about an hour. Laura got new red tennis shoes. She was so excited and cute. She helf my hand most of the time and I know people thought she was my child. Then we went to Dillards and parted ways. I saw a corduroy jacket on sale for $59.95 and it came out to be the exact price of the pants. No more, no less. After Dillards, I went back to Sears, bought a Christmas tree, wrapping paper and bows. I left Sears about 12:00 p.m. and got back to Mom and Dad’s, called Kevin and we met Barry for lunch about 1:00 p.m. We had a good time then. I got back to my apartment right at 3:00 p.m. and took a 2 ½ hour nap. At 7:00 p.m., Robert, Sherri, Barry, Kevin and Randall came over and at 7:30, we left for Northpark Cinema where DeeAnn and Brian were waiting for us to see Amadeus. I will first say the movie was excellent! Everyone thought so. Well, Randall left at 10:30 (because he had to go somewhere,) and Barry liked some of it and bored by a lot of other parts - mainly, the music. Which was what a movie about Mozart is all about. He acted a little strange the rest of the night. We went to the Filling Station afterwards. I enjoyed my food immensely, but both Kevin and Barry seemed to find a lot of faults in it. After we ate, I went on home to bed because I had church the next day and I was going to be joining and baptized.

SUNDAY - Barry couldn’t make it to church like he promised to do because he had the wrong pants. He thought he had grabbed his new blue pleated pants, but instead had his old blue bell bottoms he wore back in high school. He wouldn’t he wore back in high school. He wouldn't wear them, so he stayed home. (2021 - hmmmmm….)

Meanwhile, church went fine. It was communion day which made it a perfect day for joining the church and being baptized. (2021 - Methodists sprinkle.) After singing Glory to God for The Messiah, I went to the altar (Penny Martin stood beside me) and Reverend Smith (Bart Smith) had me claim my affirmation of Christ. Jim Henderson, on his own, came up and stood by me also (which I thought was soo sweet.) The only thing I was sad about was that there was no one there (outside the church) to support me. It really wasn’t possible for anyone to come, but still I felt rather sad. But I left feeling really good and ready to see Barry and tell him all about it. He really wanted to be there.

Closest I can get of Neil Diamond 1984 (this is 1986)

DECEMBER 7, 1984

Friday

The past three days I have been pretty sick. I would have stayed home today also, except I am being docked for these days and need the money. I never did finish about the day Sunday, but need not. Let’s just say things didn’t go too well between Barry and me. I started realizing that we don’t have a lot in common. Things that are incredibly important to me, he’s bored with. Music (classical, musical), religion, the arts, etc. That really bothers me because my whole life has consisted of these things.

These past three days I have done a lot of thinking. I came close to breaking up but love him too much to do it. Maybe things can be adjusted. We both need to be more caring with each other.

DECEMBER 13, 1984

Thursday

Today in surrounding areas in Texas, (Dallas and Ellis Counties) - a tornado struck - or at least two landed.

The severest hit Ferris. A Dairy farm and surrounding trailers in a park were demolished. A Dairy Queen restaurant was blown down along with a Gulf station. Mary Faye’s (my boss) lives in Ferris, but she’s fine.

The next town with the most damages was Mesquite with Garland running a close third. Yes, Garland. One tornado hit smack-dab at Broadway and Centerville roads which is only a couple of blocks away from Mr. and Mrs. Johnson’s dental office. One bank, Texas Commerce, was blown away quite a bit (but not all the way) and that bank is only two or three buildings from the Johnson’s. Not only was I worried about the Johnson’s, but I found out later that Dad had an appointment around the time it hit. This all occurred around 9:15 a.m.)

As Dad left the dentist office, Mrs. Johnson had a little free time and went out back of the building to see what the weather was doing. A gust of wind pushed her SO hard it nearly picked her up off her feet. She said it was the strongest wind she had ever felt. As she started back into the building, some shingles flew off the roof, luckily past her. She quickly went inside.

Dad was driving down Broadway approaching Centerville when something banged the rear of his Cadillac. He looked back to see who hit him when he realized there was no traffic. On top of it all, he noticed that his car was in a completely different lane than it had been. (He never realized it was a tornado.)

The towns of Garland, Mesquite (close to Therese and the kids’ home), Balch Springs, Ferris and the areas of Bruton Road were all hit. At least a few places in each area were totally demolished. A friend of mine here, Vicki, her sister-in-law’s house was totally leveled. Nothing was left! A friend of Kevin’s, Jeff Allen, was taking a shower right before it hit, and his mom knocked the locked door down, grabbed him and they both quickly hit the floor. No sooner did they do that, when the tornado hit their house and a tree rammed through the bathroom window and landed in the shower. Also his Christmas tree was sucked out of the living room window and blown six doors down. They figured the tornado picked up the roof and banged it back down leaving a gap in the roof. It made the walls bow inward and they are going to have to dislevel the house and start all over. PRETTY SCARY!!!

DECEMBER 27, 1984

Thursday

I had a nice Christmas. Though as last year, I worked myself so much and had a lot to do, that I was extremely tired by the time the day came. Through the whole holidays I enjoyed DeeAnn & Brian’s dinner probably the most of all. I really enjoyed the annual Boren Christmas party this year also.

Today is Keith Rice’s birthday. I believe he’s about 29.

I’m ready for 1985. I have to think of some really goodNew Year’s resolutions. Some that I WILL stick by.

DECEMBER 28, 1984

Friday

I know of one New Year’s resolution to make that has to stick. I need to lose weight. My stomach is getting terrible. Everyone thinks I’m crazy, but they don’t see me without my clothes on or all the buttons that have popped off my pants. It’s sickening! Enough on that! (2021 comment - It’s a shame that women have to torment themselves about this.. Geesh - well, as I said “Enough on that.”)

I WOULD LIKE TO RECAP THE YEAR OF 1984

This year Ronald Reagan was re-elected. I was so happy about that. They year of 1984 marked the first woman running for any major office (Geraldine Ferraro).

“MAY I HAVE THE ENVELOPE PLEASE?”

At the Awards…

This year in the Grammy awards, Michael Jackson ran away with all the awards.

Cyndi Lauper and Boy George hit the scene.

In the Academy Awards..

Terms of Endearment won for Best Picture

Shirley MacLaine received Best Actress for Tof Endearment

Robert DuVall received Best Actor for Tender Mercies which was MY favorite movie.

All of these are for the year 1983, but the award show was in 1984.

In the Emmy Awards…

Cheers, Kate and Allie and Cagney & Lacey were big hits. (2021 comment - I watched all three of these)

FAMOUS PEOPLE WHO DIED

Richard Burton, James Mason and Peter Lawford died. (2021 comment - Peter Lawford was my first screen/tv & movie crush - loved his British accent and grey hair - lol)

Indira Gandhi was assassinated (Oct 31, 1984)

BARRY JOHNSON

As far as our relationship goes, everything is great. We have cut down considerably on marriage talk because I’m not quite ready mentally, and he’s not ready financially. But we still get along great and everything is as good as it ever was.

NOW…………………………………..

MAKE WAY FOR 1985!