SO FAR AWAY - APR 11-15 - 1986 (somewhat edited) - Part 2
- Sep 10, 2021
- 8 min read
April 11, 1986 (Letter I wrote John)
Dear John,
You don’t know how much it meant to me what you did and said in your call last night. Let me refresh your memory. First of all, you were at the celebration for David (I believe his name was) at a restaurant/bar; but, you had to call ME. You said you were just thinking about me too much. Then, on top of it all, you admitted your feelings honestly that not only did you love me, but you were definitely IN love with me. Oh, how I loved hearing that. I hope you’re serious with me. Believe me, calls every night from New York are proof enough. You are spoiling me rotten! But Dad always said I was worth spoiling. TEE HEE! Believe me, I may be spoiled at times, but I’m not a brat! DON’T you argue with me, I’m not!!! TEE HEE! :)
I have something to confess. I don’t absolutely HATE cats. I should say, I have met one or two cats that I have liked; one being a kitten who was incredibly frisky and cute. But as for cats… I have only met one that was truly sweet; all others have been ornery and mean. I have thought about getting a kitten for my apartment since they’re SO easy to take care of, but decided against it for one reason or another. I hope this doesn’t burst your bubble about me. I DO prefer dogs every time, but they’re a lot harder to take care of; that’s why I had to get rid of Coco. She couldn’t control her tinkle wee. But then, I was never home enough to be fair; so I gave her to Karen’s sister, Amy (Karen is a friend at work.)
So Far Away song by Dire Straits
April 11, 1986
Summary of my A&A Gals I work with
LOU ANN CAMPBELL - Truly my favorite! She's 46-48 years old, happily married (after only three months of courtship) for 30 plus years. She has two girls and two boys like my family. Incredibly witty and wise. For some reason, not everyone wants her advice. Well, to tell you the truth, sometimes she doesn’t have that attitude, but John, she hardly ever has an opinion unless she can support it. And she seems to always have proof for everything. I find her extremely informative and a joy to be around. I don’t go to lunch with any of the girls, I have a different group of ladies I’ve met that I go with, but a couple of times, I’ve switched so I can go to lunch with LouAnn. You’ve probably heard me mention her before. Sometimes I admit she’s bull headed, but I laugh and take her as being a character. If everyone had our attitude, right? We go to break together and get some good conversations in. One problem, though, she tries to marry me off all the time. TEE HEE!
Jane Hughes
She’s 54-56 or so. She reminds me at times of my own momma. She is the MOST like me in my interests, etc. If I never mentioned it before (and I know I did) my Uncle Tully (Mom’s brother) was a concert pianist. Jane was just beside herself when she found out, because he was rather famous for a while (he died at 34 with hodgkin's disease) and was a sorta groupie of his. She has been in opera clubs, classical freak, etc. She has had it hard. I believe one of her sons has been in an insane asylum before. She’s really a very sweet, good person. I defend her all the time. She was always complimenting me and saying we were in a class by ourselves. We were like blood sisters from then on. (2021 - I will always remember her coming to my wedding on that HOT day and seeing me outside ready to come in the church -- so sweet!)
GARLA SIMMS
I’m not sure she’s third in line. Who's to say? But she’s the only other that goes to break with LouAnn and me. Probably one of the most intelligent of the lot, she has a degree in English. She’s constantly reading. She’s kind of an ex-hippie, in my opinion. Her husband, moreso. I like Don and Art (LouAnn’s husband). This is the girl who said “I want another marquita.” Anyway, Garla, for the most part, is a very serious person. I really like her though.
KAREN SHARP
This girl is something else! But I find her delightful in many ways. She doesn’t really care what happens beyond her own backyard which is in Wilmer; in case you don’t know, that’s the country which holds dogs and horses and a trailer. Of course. (I hate trailers.) She has a really cute, innocent pixie face with big doe eyes (which helps her get away with things) but she thinks she’s ugly and always has. Her husband is 12 years older than her and he has a 15 year old daughter. Karen is 25. But, the daughter, Wendy, just comes down for the summer. She and Karen don’t get along at all. She didn’t know what movie “Frankly My Dear, I don’t Give a Damn” is from?! Can you imagine? She didn’t know that Rock Hudson died of AIDS. She’s rather naive. But she is very endearing and sweet. She can have a caring attitude and she’s a good secret keeper. I, most of the time, really like her. She has a baby, Cody, who is nearly a year old and when she had a baby shower, she cried every time she opened her gifts. I think this is the Real Karen.
VICKI VALDERAS - She’s 28, married and has two boys. She’s next in line for my supervisor. When Mary Faye is gone, she’s boss. She does great and treats us the same as Mary Faye. She goes to lunch with Karen, Elvira and others and Mary Faye has other friends outside of our word processing pool. Of course that’s hard to just cut your ties coz you’re boss - I get that. Lately though, she’s been going to lunch with more people outside our department, which is smart. She always claims “I’ll be nice to people as long as they are nice to me.” Well I believe that’s true and I believe the same. I like her and care for her. (2021 - Vicki and I just recently had lunch together - still Fun and Sweet!)
ALICE STEPHENSON - WELL. There is absolutely nothing bad to say about Alice. She never has a bad word for anyone, always sweet. But, no spunk. You know what I mean? Karen has spunk and is witty. Alice is about 35, divorced and no kids. She, for the second year, has tried out for Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. She brings flowers to people, cards, candy, etc. She brings something to Mary Faye EVERY day. Oh, she’s incredibly naive also. But SO nice.
JUNE CURRIE - We’re getting to the bottom. She really has gotten better with time. At first we thought she wouldn’t be here for two minutes, but it’s almost been a year. She lives with a guy (Wayne), whom I’ve never met but is very friendly on the phone and has a little boy by Wayne, age 4. Karen and I said to each other how we’d hide it from Mary Faye, but June didn't. I guess she lets Mary Faye think she’s married… I guess. She can really be funny, but LouAnn (I guess LouAnn always has something to say - but I love her to death) says she’s nice when it’s convenient to her. But, I guess I’m convenient coz she’s always friendly to me.
I just realized how tacky this all sounds. I really care for these people a lot, it’s just after four years, you know people inside and out.
ELVIRA HERERRA - Well this girl is a case. One day she’ll be really friendly to me and other days she acts like I don’t exist. Sometimes she’s rude to LouAnn. One time she told me she really didn’t like people very much and would rather just stay in her house all the time. That’s strange to me. Her birthday is the day before mine (on Mozart’s birthday). She’s quirky. LouAnn says she’s a little crazy.
SHIRLEY THOMMASON - Strange. All used to absolutely hate her and I hate to hate anyone. But she used to cuss people out. Mary Faye had her on probation for her attitude. But ever since, she’s straightened up. That was good for her. They also put her in a desk in the corner of the room and that really helped. I can now talk to her on a semi-pleasant level now. Like Elvira, she’s a bit quirky. She’s 36 and never been married. (2021 comment - my boss calls ME quirky - lol - but she says in a very good way)
Well baby, I want to mail this at lunch. So I’m saying goodbye. I hope you enjoyed the in-depth study of my co-workers. Oh, if you met them, you’d really think I worked with a lot of great people, and I do. I’m sure they have a lot to say about me. TEE HEE! They were all so delighted that I had a good time on the cruise and met you. Even Elvira and Shirley. Well, Elvira was.
I love you with all my heart! I hope you get this before the 18th.
Bye Love!
Sincerely yours truly,
Jane E. Boren
APRIL 15, 1986
Tuesday
(Journal entry)
John called me Sunday night and we talked about 30 minutes. We are SO looking forward to this Friday. We’re going out to eat after I pick him up, and for later we’re buying a bottle of champagne.
He didn’t call me last night and I could have really used the call, more last night than any. I don’t know if I’m finally coming off the high from the cruise or what, but I was ultra sensitive in Voice Class last night. Well, what’s strange is… Judy said I had a breakthrough in my voice and the teaching technique was really working now. She thinks last night was the best I had ever done in class. I sang Embraceable You. But the class members struck me funny. Well, they all thought I sounded great also, but they in a way, got on to me for being TOO cute. It’s hard to explain, but Stephen (who you’ve heard of before as Steve but he prefers Stephen) said he wants to get rid of the little girl that I seem to present all the time and show the woman underneath. Today, now that I think about it, he’s right. I have a way of acting every time I sing and he said he wanted to see what’s underneath Janie Boren in this song. He wants to see a 25 year old woman. Somehow I took it badly at first because I thought they were tearing down Janie Boren, the fun loving, bubbly girl, but that’s not it and I realize that as I’m typing. He even told me last night after class that there’s a sensuality about me that I seem to hide when I sing and he’d just like it to surface more often. I do feel one reason is, I’ve seen too many old movies and they’re all overdramatic, peppy and they move a lot! I automatically feel that when I sing. But when you sing Embraceable You, it’s time to be sensual, loving and caress the song. So, that’s what I’ll work on this week. Though I ended up crying some last night (I was probably just exhausted) I think the talk was good for me. Judy even called me to tell me how much she enjoyed my singing that night. I thought that was awfully sweet. She wouldn’t have done that unless she meant it. After typing all this, I now realize their comments were extremely constructive and well meaning. In fact, the two that critiqued me the most, probably love me the most, so that tells you something. But… no one had anything critical to say of my actual singing of the song. That’s truly great! This class has been wonderful for me.
Dear Wonderful, Attentive, Precious Man Worth Missing, Excellent Strong Man (from a movie, Courtship of Eddie’s Father), Cherished, Elating, Amorous, Loving, Sincere, Talented John:
I Love you!
I love you!
I love You!
I LOVE YOU!
I know you won’t get THIS letter until after you see me. But didn’t we have a great time? TEE HEE!
I hope you don’t mind the typewritten letters, but I am so much faster and can do it in my bored times at work. (Seems like a lot of it is boring, huh?)
You know Mary Faye, my boss, is really getting a kick out of you and I dating. Today I typed something about “Port Authority” and Mary Faye said “I bet your Merchant Marine Man will know what that is.” Do you? I tell you, I’m ready to close up shop for the day and it’s not quite 10 til 5:00. I’ve got to go to the bathroom.
(Apparently this is the end?? - lol)
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