Email from my Blog

The email connection to my blog seems to be working, finally. Unfortunately, the first one to come through is a continuation of the earlier posts where I was setting the stage for what I want to do in this space. If you are interested, you can go to the blog itself, Hither and Yon, to read from bottom to top. 

A Lifelong Love (continued)

W. A. and Deloris in Ireland

Daddy often told me that he wanted to go back to Ireland and take me with him; that seemed to be a place that captured his heart. The year that Marietta graduated from high school he urged me to plan us a trip, but I convinced him that going to Washington, D.C. would be more “doable” than a trip abroad.  The four of us had a very good trip, even though thinking back, I probably crammed too much into a short time for parents in their 70’s.  Now in my 70’s I can understand how all the hurrying and walking must have been exhausting for them.  But they were troopers, never complaining, and always eager to experience new sights.

Some of our favorite “Deloris stories” even now are those we heard when they returned from a trip because her brothers teased her unmercifully; she was very naive.  They never let her forget hitting the jackpot at the nickel slots in Las Vegas, good Baptist lady that she was.  After gathering all her nickels in her purse, they insisted that she could not return to Hollandale with that gambling money, so she was responsible for buying their ice cream for the rest of the trip.  A story I heard as a child before I even understood its significance was from their going out on the town in New Orleans.  The nightspot they chose was the My-O-My Club.  Mother was enthralled with the beautiful showgirls who danced and entertained them.  She kept talking about them after they headed to the hotel, when the men decided to clue her in:  the women were drag queens.  She had a hard time living that down because she was mortified to have been admiring cross-dressing men.

These stories were told and retold when our extended family would gather.  I knew that some day I wanted to travel to interesting places and see unusual things.  But my opportunity didn’t arrive until after I retired at the end of 1994.  Until that time I was busy with two daughters, a full time career with the telephone company, and the responsibility of two college educations.  But I didn’t forget the dream.  In 1995, while working at the Jackson, MS, exhibition from the Palaces of St. Petersburg, I was able to travel to Russia with the advance publicity tour for journalists previewing the exquisite artwork.  This was my first passport and my first trip abroad; I vowed that it would not be my last.