Omaha, Nebraska

The day we left New Jersey was one of the most sad ever. I would have stayed there until I drew my last breath. It's awful how life jerks us around! The send-off from Antheil had been an unparalled high for me amidst the sadness. I truly felt like Queen For a Day for about a week!! In retrospect, it made up for the complete lack of pizazz my real retirement had. Taggart was still in the Middle East. Thomas had just returned from Brazil just a couple of days before the move. Student friends Martha Isom and Sarah Wright Cottle had just returned home from their visit with us. All of this served to keep my mind off the real issue--no more New Jersey.

On the bright side, we were moving into a brand new beautiful home. That home served as a major project distraction for about six months. We had picked it on a house hunting trip. It was the model home in a new development. We spent so much time shopping for some new furniture--back and forth to Nebraska Furniture Mart so many times. I'd never really done this before, so it was all new and exciting. Then we began the basement construction, and I had a complete sewing room to outfit. It was beautiful. My friend Dee helped me put some wallpaper up. Fortunately, I was granted an 18 month hiatus from teaching. All of the above were probably Jerry's attempt to placate a very grieving wife. Taggart's status and the starkness of starting over ONCE again had depressed me. He tried hard.

A few weeks after we arrived, I took the day off from moving and celebrated my 50th birthday. I made my way to the Omaha Humane Society to peruse the dogs. One of the volunteers was Betty. Betty convinced me to join the New Neighbors League, and so for the next 18 months I jumped right into that. It was a completely new mode for me--luncheons with the girl, social invitations, a great book club, holiday fairs, "fieldtrips", and even a murder mystery on a moving train!

I found those women--all displaced corporate wives in Omaha like myself--warm and so so friendly. I started a knitting group in New Neighbors League and taught several women to knit. I chaired a committee for the Christmas Home Tour, and I even acted as social director for six months. My job was to pick a venue for the monthly luncheon and plan the agenda for the meeting. All of these tasks were completely outside my skill set, and frankly, I'd never had much interest in those kinds of thing. This position put me out on the road trying out new restaurants (for which Omaha is FAMOUS!) and requesting menus right and left. Forget world peace, let's go to lunch! Through New Neighbors League connections I was introduced to JuicePlus and attended a national convention in Phoenix! I also became part of a Bible study group and studied Rick Warren's book, The Purpose Driven Life.

Betty also reassured me she'd be on the look-out for a dog. I made monthly pilgrimages back to the Humane Society, which incidentally was the most Hilton Hotel-like atmosphere I'd ever been in outside a Hilton! It had a high end gift shop, and classical music played in the "lobby". Betty's call didn't come until the following October. I went out to meet the dog. At the time, Tobey had been displaced from a family because a baby had been born, and the two apparently weren't getting along. When I saw Tobey, I was attracted to him immediately. They gave me a leash, and we took a little walk. He appropriately relieved himself and trotted happily at my side. When we went back inside, someone directed me to a "visiting room" where I could pet him, hold him on my lap, and just generally observe him. When the supervisor came in, I said, "He's a little snarky!" I meant that he breathed noisily! She ruffled his head, and he licked her hand. They gave me a day to decide.

I called Jerry at work and said, "We need to talk about this dog." I knew Tobey wouldn't last very long. Most of the dogs one sees in a pound situation are black and kind of street-gangey looking! This guy was ever the gentleman--white hair and all the pedigree of a royal-lined Shih Tzu. The next morning, I repeated to Jerry that we needed to talk about the dog. And then I went to GET the dog!!! We still laugh about the lack of dialogue over the dog decision! Tobey became Mugsy--I thought he needed a macho name to overcome his general foo foo appearance. He spent the first night in a kennel in the garage, but it didn't take me long to figure out that this guy belonged on our bed! He became an immediate part of the family and still one of the best decision I've ever made and Jerry sort of made too!

Thomas took off for B.Y.U. Idaho, Taggart returned, I eventually put the house to order, I took a few trips back to New Jersey, to Utah a few times, and even one to Maine. Jerry's team leader at Gallup, Mike, invited us to go with him to Florida to spend some time on a yacht he co-owned in Miami. Heck yeah!! We had a great time in Florida--Mike's girlfriend was a Disney employee, so we got THE ROYAL treatment at DisneyWorld for a fraction of the real cost. We returned a week later content that now we had seen how the other half lives.

One of the best days in Omaha was when Jerry called me at home and asked if I wanted to go to DC for a week while he worked. Heck yeah again!!! Picture me with all the time in the world to wander through the Smithsonian day after day and then meet Jerry for dinner and do more wandering around the city. I FINALLY got my fill of that incredible series of museums! Perhaps I was feeling better and better about Omaha...

We had two weddings while in Omaha! Tag's in San Diego and Shelly's in Logan. I had my first colonoscopy! I read twice my weight in books! We didn't have the constant stream of visitors that New Jersey had inspired, but Aunt Norma came twice and Nancy and Doug once. We were able to get to Minnesota a little easier living in Omaha. Mary Jane came for Christmas as well as Shelly and Thomas. The Winter Quarters Temple was a mere 30 minutes away--such a luxury.

This narrative about Omaha is sounding very Ozzie and Harriet in contrast to some of my other chapters! It actually was! We lived well and enjoyed our beautiful new home and lap friendly dog.

We had church callings, I hosted a couple of baby and bridal showers for ward members, we made a few friends in the neighborhood and did some landscaping. I got the final Jeopardy! answer which Ken Jennings did NOT. I did a stint at traffic school. I took a Greyhound ride back from Utah. The dog got walked daily, and the knitters came from both New Neighbors League and another group I had joined which I found on the internet. I took a little part time job at a knitting store co-owned by Suzy Buffett, Warren's daughter. She was a congenial sort--highly artistic. Omaha is overly represented by wealthy people--Warren Buffett has made MANY people very very wealthy there. But this wealth was not as pretentious as some I've encountered.

The following summer I returned to Utah for a week to help Amber and Hunter who had been badly burned in an accident. I applied for media specialist jobs and got one at Wakonda Elementary located just a few minutes from the temple. That's when things in Omaha began to unfold at a pretty sharp rate. The job was very very difficult as were the students. This was an inner city heavily poverty stricken school. The kids were so incredibly needy that I went home exhausted every day. The teachers exhibited burn out. But here I am getting ahead of myself! Teaching belongs in the next book! The Wakonda stories will have to wait. OK. Just one. At the end of the school year I was relaxing in front of the local morning news on TV eating my Cheerios when on the screen comes the fourth grade teacher at Wakonda with whom I had been eating lunch on a semi-daily basis. Only this time Lynne was wearing an orange jump suit! She and her husband (with whom I had just spent a Saturday putting up some new playground equipment at the school) had been arrested for a meth lab in their home!!

A move back to Montpelier presented itself when I saw a job listing on the district office door when Lana and I were visiting there one day the following summer when I came for Shelly's wedding. I applied for and got it, and we announced to friends at Shelly's July wedding that we'd be moving to Montpelier soon! It was good news, and we were anxious to be somewhere where we could enjoy closer family ties and the mountains. Jerry would work remotely. It was time for both him and Mugsy to breathe fresh mountain air!

Remembering our time in Omaha is like remembering a bath you had once several years ago. You know it was most likely warm, you inevitably got clean, you probably used soap, you got out without mishap supposedly, you dried yourself off, and you predictably must have put your clothes on. But other than that you don't really remember anything about it. Was it essential that you took that bath? Oh yes! Was it pleasant? Indubitably! Would you do it again? Sure! Did good results come as the result of that bath? In the general scheme of things, it's ALL good.