Bob's Retirement Party

Friday June 30, 1991

Up early again to get ready for Bob's retirement party at 12:00. Jettie (Donna's oldest daughter) arrives at 9 a.m. with Don from Lake Havasu. Cousin Shirley, Marc, Chris, Ric and Justin arrive.

Eventually about 35 folks are there to help eat the mountains of food Donna has prepared. Bob has a good time with all his friends. Tom, Jennifer's ex-husband is there. He seems so sad and depressed. Everyone else has a good time. Ron and Don cook the burgers and dogs and seem to have alot of fun. Justin has made 2 new friends. They have a great time running in the woods. They have found a great tree fort down the road.

Leah (Donna's granddaughter) spends the night. She and Justin sleep in bags in the living room. They talk for an hour until I go down and ask them to stop. I don't sleep well. It is too warm.

One of the things I remember about Mom was she was a people-watcher. When we would be in a restaurant or other social arena she would be eavesdropping on other conversations and studying the people. She was so interested in people. I'm sure not another person at that party noticed that someone was sad and depressed. I'm not sure why he was except that he was the ex-son-in-law, so he probably felt out-of-place. Donna's daughter Jennifer was there with her new husband Ron. The ex-husband was there alone.

Justin and Leah were 10 years old and born just 5 days apart. They had not seen each other for years so I'm sure they had lots of catching up to do. I do remember the house always being warm. Living in Pollock Pines at 4000 feet elevation meant that the electricity went out frequently every winter, so residents had wood-burning stoves for heat. That wood-burning stove really cranked out the heat.