By this time in our time in America, I was speaking to my parents much more frequently by telephone each week, but I was still writing two or three letters a month.
19th June 1986.
Hi M & D,
Thank you for your letter which arrived this morning and so pleased you are happy with the new arrangement to the flat.. it sounds great and looking forward to seeing them on my trip home in September.
This has been a busy week with one thing and another including an upping of my training. If I am going to keep up with a 15 year old for three weeks next month, I need to get in shape. I mentioned that I would like a six pack to my trainer at the gym and she promptly had me on the floor doing 300 half sit ups.. I actually meant a pack of beer! I also make the mistake of saying I would love a 36 – 26 – 37 figure but I reckon I will have to steal one.. In any case I have hit my latest target and here I am with a little way to go yet.
Earlier in the week David had some business visitors and we took them to Pappasitos of course, and they were intrigued when the guitarist came over and asked after Mollie! You made a lasting impression there.
As you know Sutherland went missing several weeks ago and despite some sightings he has not returned. Walter was obviously devastated but he has gone out and got a kitten. Very sweet and its name is Farley, after the author Farley Mowat. He is coming over to us regularly when Walt is on a long shift and we have been training him to a cat carrier so that we can take him back and forth safely.. He loves it but I am missing one table mat and two clothes hangers.
David seems to be coping with his cat allergy which is just as well as Farley follows him everywhere and is on his lap at the first chance. When David is at work, I find myself fighting for the pen when writing, and oops here it goes again. Farley will not be able to roam as Sutherland did, as we don’t want to lose another.
Sonia and I have been in touch with instructions for Emma on arrival at Houston, but she will also have an escort from the plane through customs and immigration. I am sure that Emma is more than capable to handling it herself but want to make it as stress free as possible. I have booked the beach house in South Padre for four days and Debbie and I will enjoy the break too. We get back the day before she travels home so she should be lovely and tanned.
We also have tickets for a James Taylor concert
Last Sunday there was a match with another apartment complex water volley ball team and I was playing for the boys.. this week at least the injuries were fairly minor, one bloody nose, 1 mild concussion, and one black eye (mine). One of the members of the opposing team spiked the ball across the net onto my face, it bounced off and one of my teammates hit it back and we won the point. Some justice after all. We played for four hours and I was wiped out but I do enjoy and it is great exercise. A little make-up around the eye should conceal the bruise. David was not impressed and suggested I might play for the girls team instead… I pointed out that they can be even more vicious!
Tomorrow Debbie is intelligence testing me at Sam Houston University in front of her professor. She is taking a summer class towards her private counselling licence, and it should be enlightening. I am not sure that I want her to tell me the results. She is a great friend and I shall miss her very much if we have to leave here next January.
A week on Saturday we are going to New Braunfels near San Antonio and are renting rafts to float down the Guadalupe River (including the rapids). We have two condos with eight in each and as David is in Austin until Friday, he will drive to meet us. Apparently it is another of those experiences we need to get in before we leave Texas. I am sure that they make half of this up just to see us (me) petrified.
I will give you a full report if I survive…
I hope this has been more legible than usual, having been typed on the word processor on David’s new computer. Much as I have loved being here in Texas and taking full advantage of the freedom to travel around America and enjoy days in the sun, I am ready to go back to work. I have not been out of work since I began that part time job at weekends and holidays when I was 14. I intend to get as familiar as possible with David’s machine so that I can be up to date with new technology if we come home next year. If we do stay it will be on a different basis and I will have a visa that enables me to work, and being able to understand computers will be great.
Anyway.. before that more fun to come and I intend to take full advantage of the opportunity….take care and love from us both.
S & D.
©Sally Cronin
If you would like to read any of the other letters from the two years we lived in Texas and our travels you can find them in this folder: https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/letters-from-america-1985-1987/
Thanks for dropping in and your feedback is always welcome.. Sally.
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I froze when I read you had tickets for a James Taylor concert. Really??? Okay, yes I am jealous. I hope there is more about the concert in the next letter. I just love these letters, Sally. They are a piece of history, America, and you. They are keepers! And you played water volleyball on the boys team, in the 80’s. You rock, girlfriend. You’ll be ready for a fifteen year old. 🙂
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It was an amazing concert Jennie in the open air and we took blankets, hampers and ready made margaritas…and so pleased you are enjoying the letters, for me they highlight the everyday we tend to file away and were part of the amazing experience..hugsx
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An open air concert. How wonderful! I’m glad the letters are a highlight for you, Sally. Keep ‘em coming!
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Thanks Jennie.. will do.. a few months left. hugs
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Only a few??? Oh, no!
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We came home in January 1987… a shock to the system, but I will repeat my series, memories are made of this….hopefully it will keep you going….♥
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I know, all good thing must come to an end. Wonderful memories, Sally. Definitely worth repeating!
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Thanks Jennie.. glad you have got a kick out of them..hugsx
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You’re welcome, Sally! 🙂
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Such a lovely time, Sally. You look so relaxed and happy in your photograph.
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It was amazing Robbie although it was hard work for David we made sure that any leisure time he had was well spent. xx
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You’re such a social butterfly Sal, lol. Love the photo of you, hot stuff! Ya, I remember the days when those measurement were mine! And where’s the photo of your six-pack? LOLOL Love these memoir moments Sal 🙂 ❤ xx
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I was never so fit in my life… just swimming every day was great and another reason I miss our last home.. from May to October 2 hours a day..and all that sun.. still we had 17 years except for when I was in the UK with my mother… should not complain.. hugs ♥
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You’re entitled Sal. And for such a sun lover, I think your next move should be where the sun shines most of the time. ❤
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I might have to go interstellar… ♥♥
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Lol ❤
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I remembered going tubing in New Braunfels when I lived in Texas. It was great fun!
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It turned out to be a little more dramatic than planned.. more next time..hugsx
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I so enjoy reading your letters, Sally. You seem to have really made the most of your time over there – fantastic experiences to look back on.
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Thanks Mary.. I am so pleased that we did do everything we could..as it was back to work full time with a vengeance on our return for the next 30 years…hugsx
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Another delightful letter that I am sure your parents enjoyed receiving! I look forward to reading about your niece’s visit.
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Thanks Darlene.. they did and having been there themselves the previous year they got more of a kick from it..hugsx
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Lovely to have letters to look back on, something our kids or grandkids won’t have.
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I agree and so pleased my father kept them all to give to me when he was gone… they have brought back many of the smaller memories that you tend to file away. x
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Can’t say I ever played water volleyball, but that sounds like a hoot. Thanks for sharing, Sally.
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It was great Pete and being allowed to play for the guys was a privilege if slightly dangerous!
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One of the things I enjoyed about doing physical education with my classes was when the girls would knock some boy down a couple of pegs by beating the pants off him. Our fragile little male egos need a humbling once in a while. Ha-ha!
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We can’t let you guys win all the time…. lol..
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I don’t remember this one, Sally. Terrific letter. I’m happy for you that you have your wonderful home in Ireland, but I wish you could still be in Texas so you would be closer. 🙂 Hugs!
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Thanks Teagan.. coming to the end of the letters in the next couple of months.. it is has been great for me reliving the smaller events that you tend to put to the back of your mind… and yes it would be great to be closer.. hugs
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Enjoyed the letter, Sally. The arrival of a 15-year-old will certainly test the body (and quite possibly the nerves)
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I know…we were bracing ourselves.. but as you will see we had nothing to worry about…. hugs
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Good to hear. Hugs back.
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