Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:
It's Saturday Night again -
Time for some more Genealogy Fun!!
1) This week, let's write about "My memories of the decade of my choice." Choose ten years and write about your memories.
Here's mine:
This is going to be interesting to see how much of the 80s I
remember. I was working for the Bay Area Rapid Transit District as a train operator
with the lowest seniority, so I never attended a bid and just asked what I got,
but it was always the last job. When I first started in 1978, I got the last
shift from 1930 to 0330 at Concord Yard with Tuesday and Wednesday off. I would
spend the next fifteen years with seniority that never let me have weekends off
at a shift at Concord Yard, which was the closest to my home.
1980 was also the year I married my husband. We married at St. Mary’s Church in Walnut Creek on 23 August. We paid for our own wedding and had the reception at the parish hall. My sister, Danna, was my maid of honor and I had no bridesmaids. Norman’s best man was his brother, Brian. Brian’s girlfriend supplied the flowers. We paid for a buffet and champagne and honeymooned by visiting some of the Spanish missions south of San Jose. I was lucky to get four days off.
We bought a house that year, too. It had three bedrooms, one bath, and no garage, just a basement space underneath the house that I could stand up straight in but no one else could. It would flood when it rained and we had a pump to keep the water out.
Because I worked weekends, my husband spent most of his at the trolley museum on Highway 12, driving up each weekend day. If I got a weekend day off, I would attend a Giants game or go to glass shows with my friends. I was collecting antique glassware such as ceramic bowls, glass figurines, or depression glass called cherry blossom. It was fun finding the treasures.
Later, we spent time with a friend who worked for PG&E visiting hydroelectric power plants throughout Northern California. John and I envisioned writing a book about them. I took down the stats and took photos (slides actually) while John and Norman talked with the crew that sometimes met us. As I look back now, those stories were what we should have captured more than the factual data about the turbines, generators, and buildings. I regret that we never wrote the book.
Every fall, we camped with Norman’s folks for their anniversary. Twice at least, it rained. But we had the best of times, sitting under tarps at the table playing cards and other games or putting together a jigsaw puzzle. It was a time to talk and enjoy each other’s company. Sometimes it was up in the Sierra Mountains and other times at the beach near Bodega Bay.
Lastly, our first child was born in December of 1988, which changed our lives forever. No longer were we doing stuff we liked on our own but doing things together with our new daughter. I still worked crazy hours and that was a struggle, but we had a wonderful babysitter who watched her and her baby sister (born in the 90s) throughout her childhood.
The 80s was a time of freedom and work. We were childless for eight years but welcomed the kids once they came. Twenty years later, our home was childless again and we were retired.
1980 was really a year that completely changed your life - job, marriage and house - wasn't it? I didn't realize you had been a train operator for BART. I also liked collecting depression glass. It might have been created for people struggling financially, but some of it was really pretty. I wish I had bought more and kept more back then. Some of it is really pricey today.
ReplyDeleteIt's unfortunate that I collected Cherry Blossom, as it was reproduced and difficult to tell apart. You almost never see any in glass shows today. My girls don't even know I have it, as its been stored away since they were born.
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