from
Janette Light Norton
in
Cypress,
TX
Hello, Dear Friends,
Ten months ago Sharon
Lewis Forrest and
I planned to have lunch. Last
week we did. First, it was
Hurricane Ike, then the
holidays, her husband's
health, and then travel.
Finally, a few weeks ago on my
way home from shopping, I
decided there could be no more
excuses.
Sharon
works at
One
Shell
Plaza
so I had an opportunity to
reacquaint myself with downtown
Houston's one -way streets and
Sharon.
Google has taken the stress out
of the steets: the
same one-ways and still under
construction.
Sharon,
too. Sharon's
sort of one-way, too: funny as
ever, honest as always, and
smart-- She's hardly changed
since the day we walked across
the stage to receive our
diplomas. and yet, like the
streets, there have been plenty
of improvements made along the
way.
Two hours was barely enough time
to say hello but we managed to
hit the high spots of forty
years-- just enough information
to process and prepare follow-up
questions and stories for our
next lunch date in a few weeks.
Yes, it's a standing date until
she moves to Boerne- even then,
we'll still be close.
Context provides our
perception--especially of
ourselves. Since our last
and wonderful class reunion,
difficult and awesome things
have altered our reality.
Old friends can't make us young
but they surely can make us feel
that way. Children,
grandchildren, even spouses
remind us of the long road of
life; old friends are the true
Fountain of Youth because they
see us as 17--before we had
aching joints and drooping
whatzits.
I'd like to challenge each of
you reading this message to take
the time to contact at least one
person from our class that you
keep thinking about but never do
anything about. NOW! Don't
wait until you have time or
the...whatever you think is
stopping you. After
you call or write that person,
share what happens: how
you feel, what you did, what
your afraid of, why you waited
so long---whatever seems
important to your story.
Remember: this is a challenge to
contact someone old but NEW.
Sharon and I laughed about some
people we had tried to contact
yet for a variety of reasons
couldn't get responses from.
"Would they consider us stalkers
if we kept on trying?" we
wondered. If you take my
challenge, please share your
stories with the rest of the
class but if you are
uncomfortable with that, please
share it with me. Stories
are the heart of a culture and
the TJ culture could quickly
disappear if we don't save it.
Let's breathe the breath of life
back into the website, and more
importantly, to ourselves.
*************************************************************************
Well, it finally happened.
I moved my parents into the
Carriage Park Apartments right
smack dab next door to classmate
Dennis O'Quinn's
parents. My mom and Mrs.
O'Quinn have been friends since
high school and life-long family
friends. I can't say it
was an easy move, BUT it is
over! I
CAN
say that my parents, (Mom in
particular), is so much happier
being in a larger space.
You all will agree if "Mom ain't
happy, nobody's happy"!
This is the
5th move
since November of '07 when I
moved them from Lakeview to my
home in
Bridge
City.
We are heading to Friendswood
for the June 6th wedding of my
brother's middle child, my god
child. He lives and works
in
Shreveport at the hospital there. I don't
get to see him near as much
since he moved from
Friendswood. By the way, today
is my mom's 87th birthday.
A grandson's wedding....what a
nice way to celebrate her
special day.
Murphy and I are heading to
Wimberly,
TX
to attend classmate
Jim Andrus'
son's wedding on June 20. Also
attending will be classmates
Lynn Eldridge Gill, Paul
Colletti, and David Williams.
It will be fun to be with them
for the weekend.
(Speaking of weddings....Diane
Richmond Miller
just got back from her only
child's wedding held in
Austin. Maybe she will write and tell us
some exciting things that
happened and also send a photo
of the celebration.)
UPDATE:
Ernie Castaneda Bullion
sold her home in a week's time.
They are patiently waiting to
move to their newly acquired
home in
Lumberton
(3 minutes away from me!
Yeah)
*************************************************************************
CABRERA'S JEWELERS in Port Neches
Remember my list of "Bad
things that happened in 2008"?
One of those listed was having
my tennis bracelet "stolen" from
a jewelry shop. Mom gave
me my "inheritance" of her
diamond tennis bracelet (a 50th
anniversary gift from Dad) for a
Christmas gift December, 2007.
I only wore it once and the
safety chain caught on my
granddaughter's tights and
pulled off the loop. I
brought it to
Cabrera's Jewelers on
Nall Avenue in Pt. Neches thinking the
owner (Luis
Cabrera),
would repair it while I waited.
Wrong~ He
gave me a story about needing to
order a safety chain from
Houston. I left it there, (MY MISTAKE!), and
that is the LAST TIME I HAVE
SEEN IT! Several phone
calls, visits, stories he gave
me, then contacting POLICE,
hiring a lawyer, court date set,
"settling out of court for 6
months of equal payments that
NEVER CAME THROUGH, lawyer
filing ABSTRUCT OF JUDGEMENT
(blah, blah, blah) THEN lo and
behold.....TA DAH.....an article
in the PA NEWS telling of
an INVESTIGATION of
other "missing jewelry" and
closing of his store due to not
paying his lease. Even a
FACEBOOK posting from a woman
that had her wedding ring pawned
from there! The police told us
that anyone else that this
happened to should contact Judge
Burnett by the airport.
Shame that this probably went
on since Feb. '08 (and maybe
before my incident). I'm
sure everyone thought their
occurrence was the "only one".
Not only did I lose a $4000.00
bracelet, I lost something
PRICELESS. He will
probably never have to own up to
any of these items. What a
travesty.
Published
May 28, 2009 06:24 pm
-
PN’s Cabrera’s Jewelers under
investigation
The Port Arthur News
PORT NECHES —
A longtime local business is
under investigation for the
possible theft of jewelry.
Port Neches Police Sgt. Jesse
Fournet said the department has
received calls from customers of
Cabrera’s Jewelers complaining
they were having problems
getting their jewelry back from
the business.
The case has been under
investigation for about two
weeks.
Cabrera’s closed its doors to
business at about the same time,
Fournet said.
************************************************************************
SUPPORT
I haven't received any requests
lately. Feel free to send
any names to me so that we can
support and raise our prayers
for classmates, family members,
or anyone else you would like to
mention.
*************************************************************************
CONDOLENCES
Beth Hobbs
(death of her father)
300 Wall St. Unit #104
St. Paul, MN 55101
beth.hobbs@att.net
*************************************************************************
I hope you take to heart the
words of
Janette Light.
Our class is already pretty
special and tend to "keep in
touch" through our unique
website. Wouldn't it be
even better if we didn't wait
until it's TOO LATE to connect
with someone special from our
"youth"? You can find
their e-mail address posted on
the website under the heading
CLASS LISTING. Don't wait
until they or in the MEMORIAL
section~