The year was 1995

I'll begin with my very first calendar, 1995. And although throughout that year, I recorded very little information as compared to others, I can tell everyone with confidence that if I kept up with your birthday, it was recorded on the correct day and as far as I know, went off without a hitch. Another strange thing that I realized as I was leafing through the pages was even though 1995 was the year Owen was born, I have no doctor visits recorded. It annoys me. It would seem that even with 3 very active and loud little girls on the ground, I obviously entrusted all my appointments to memory...which was quite a feat because I remember what days with 3 very active and loud little girls was like.

So as I looked back today, it's safe to say, January through July was a veritable wasteland of information except for one cryptic message in July that reads, Faith Mt 917288. And I have absolutely no clue what that means. So unless someone else can tell me, I'll never know why that was important to me on July 13, 1995. BUT, thankfully, I picked up the pace in August with great info like ordering a 2nd jumper from Lynn Bryant....no clue....and took my kids to have an Olin Mills photo at 5:30 on August 8th. I had school committee meetings and decorated a school room and had parent orientation and PGCA started school on Wednesday, August 16. And once school started, my life got very busy because I had cafeteria duty on August 23 and 30 but, I made sure I had time for a haircut on August 31 at 12:00 which meant that Big Frank and Grandma had Emma, Olivia and baby Owen. Lord I hope they were good, but more likely not.

By the time September arrived, for some reason, John and Billie June had cafeteria duty, unless...I called myself Mama...which it's looking like I did because "Mama" had cafeteria duty every other week for a long time and I know for sure Billie didn't. Which once again means that Big Frank and BJ had 3 small kids A LOT. God bless their souls. I'm sure I never thanked them enough or ever gave them a billion dollars.

Anyway, Olivia got a haircut at 1:30 September 1st, Caitlin and Emma went to the dentist September 18 and 20. Don't' ask me why I didn't coordinate the 2 dentist appts. since his office was on the opposite side of the earth from my house. On September 26 all it says is gym and Melanie. BUT I KNOW I didn't meet her at a gym to work out as I have never been to a gym in my life! And finally, with 4 kids to take care of, I started recording my doctor visits because I went to Dr. Caire at 2:00 September 27, 1995.

October blew in and things really started to heat up with Melanie and I alternating gym every other week while John and I alternated cafeteria every other week as well as another doctor appointment for myself on Gran's birthday. There were more school committee meetings and uniform meetings (I remember those and they were CRAZY...sing it). John took a test on Sunday, October 15th...hmmmm. Maybe I was "testing" him to see how much he knew about having 3 little girls and 1 tiny baby boy under the age of 8 and a wife recovering from a C-section because her son's head was so huge it refused to come out ANY OTHER WAY! I hope I gave him a passing grade but I remember my attitude and recovery during that time, so it's very likely I gave him a big fat D-.

Still in October, October 12th at 6:30 to be exact, I went to a Discovery Toys party at someone's house I'm no longer friends with...that's all I'll say about that. And Caitlin and Owen went to the pediatrician October 18th. And that same day, John went to Magnolia Arkansas to work the next day and returned home on the 19th. And 15 years later, he still goes to Magnolia 4 times a year. Other trips taken that month were: Melanie to Corsicana on October 11th and I obviously went to Dallas for a girls trip October 26-29. Don't ask me what I did with my infant. I guess I left him with John and 3 little "helpers." And John apparently took my gym duty on the 26th so I could leave town. And why is it I still have absolutely no recollection of gym or what I did there?

Report cards came out on October 24th...uh oh...and we had a PTA meeting as well. I guess the administration was trying to soften the blow before the handing out of said report cards. Oh, and I went to the dentist October 25th.

In November, John and I were still tending to the drudgery that was freaking cafeteria duty and Melanie and I were still doing whatever the heck gym duty required and yet my brain still has no recollection of it. There were more hair cuts for me, Caitlin and Olivia. And there was another Olin Mills session. I'm certain I know how that went and it wasn't pretty. Screaming children, John jumping up and down behind the camera trying to get one smile out of one bad child and a quietly controlled mother of 4 planning revenge once we were out of sight of witnesses. It happened EVERY SINGLE TRIP.

Also big news at church during November was the men had a covered dish supper on November 7, 1995 and I wonder if that's the night John took a casserole dish with a matching top and came home without the top and I went nuclear on his head as if he'd left a family heirloom instead of a cheap casserole top. And even after a thorough church kitchen search over many days, I never saw that top again. I still don't know if I should blame a clueless husband or a thief disguised as a church goer trying to collect church supper casserole tops. After that fateful night, I always went to church giving each man the stink eye unsure if one of them had my casserole top and KNEW he had my casserole top and was laughing at me because he had my casserole top. And now since I've relived the nightmare all over, I'm mad again.

And so as 1995 began to draw to a close, it would seem that hair maintenance was very important to me as I got another haircut in November OR more likely, I knew my sucker parents would babysit my hellions and I could have a 2 hour kid free spa for hair. Pretty sure I know the answer to that. Of course November ended with Thanksgiving, November 23rd to be exact, and then on November 29th, another school committee meeting and parent teacher conferences, yikes! I hope Caitlin didn't get a spanking that night.

I forgot to mention that apparently earlier in the school year, the school admin people thought it a great idea to find someone to teach our kids tennis so at some point, parents began trucking children over to the MAC for tennis multi times a week. And shocker, I was one of them! So, I took a car full of bad children to play bad tennis. I hope the school appreciated how much extra work I did because it was A LOT!

And then 1995 came to a close as the smell of Christmas began to fill the air. But. Cafeteria continued. Gym continued. Tennis continued. Olin Mills continued. (I have no idea why I thought I needed to take my kids to the photographer every 12 seconds. I mean I had a camera.) Somebody named Julie had a birthday party on December 14th...no idea who that was. Angel tree money was due on December 15th and a gymnastics party was on the 19th (I guess some of my kids started gymnastics some time earlier in the year but I have no record of when.) There was a school Christmas party on the 20th but the best news of all was the Christmas holidays officially began on December 21st. And I think I can still hear the sigh of relief that came on the very first morning after school was out and not one of my kids or myself had to be anywhere but in our jammies for 2 weeks. That was sheer bliss for me. And even though I don't remember gym, I do remember that feeling.

I'm posting a picture of the month of December because it would seem that one of my small children who had learned to write, Caitlin, tried to incriminate 2 little sisters that had not. I'm guessing she was just practicing her writing skills since neither sister's birthdays fell on either of these days.


Update to clear up the Julie mystery. According to Caitlin, Julie Brown was a little girl from Caitlin's kindergarten class the year she attended Northeast Louisiana Baptist School, NELBS for short. What a super cool moniker. Anyway, even though Caitlin left NELBS and went to PGCA, Julie still invited Caitlin to her birthday party. How sweet. And then, I'm not sure we ever saw Julie again.

Also Caitlin is certain she added Emma and Olivia's names to December because she was trying to get an extra birthday in for them before the year ended. Yep that's what she said. She's always been so selfless.

Farewell 1995. You were good to me.