Challenges I thought I'd never survive #2

Continued from yesterday …

I don't know how I survived those nine months of loneliness while Roger was at work. I had zero friends to talk to in person or run around with. At least I had a phone to call my family. I don't know how years ago women left their families to go across rugged terrains or stormy seas with their new husbands, sometimes a man they really didn't know all that well, let alone love.

And at least I loved my guy and he loved me! Though it was quite a while before my cooking skills advanced beyond fixing hamburgers in the old hot plate griddle style popcorn popper in college when he came to visit. Yes, Jeanne, that first year of marriage was a challenge …

Finally got a reporter job on a weekly newspaper in March 1980 in a suburb of Peoria. Finally started meeting people. We bought an old house in April 1980 in an even older neighborhood here in Peoria and that's where we still live today.

For some goofy reason we decided to have a baby and I realized that I knew zero about kids. Well, we had a not-so-little boy on June 17, 1982, Gordon, all 9 and a half pounds of him. He was soooo demanding and had to be introduced to the world via a c-section. This was more than two weeks after his due date and without him ever shouting via labor pains, "I'm ready! Let me out!" To this day, we wonder if he would have ever come out on his own. He says he was in no hurry because it was all nice and warm and cozy in there. He tried to use that excuse for years to not get out of bed for school.

I also had to acknowledge that I had never changed a diaper in my life until we brought him home and Roger went to work second shift that first day. All alone, I wanted to run away like Prissy from Gone With the Wind and shout, "I don't know nothin' about babies PERIOD!" Well, this kid and I looked at each other and agreed he wasn't going back where he came from, so we were going to have to make a few compromises …

Oh my goodness, I survived all that. I survived the terrible twos and seven-year itch though there were days I wanted to walk out the door and relinquish all responsibility for another human being.

However, there were many, many more days when I rushed to get inside that door and share hugs and kisses while gathering all the dirty dishes …

More tomorrow …