My recovery from the heart stopping moment after reading the phone book in the motel had to be quick as Dennis and the non-stop talking horrible real estate person showed up. Since my three day trip to Kansas City was up in the morning there had to be a decision made on a new home before I flew back to Dallas.
Why I was even in Kansas City looking at houses was the real question. I wanted the old house with character, flowers and the white picket fence but was told by dear Dennis that when I made as much money as he did then I could pick out the house. So what did it matter what we bought especially on that day. Especially on that afternoon when I could hardly think or remember my own name. We ended up signing papers on a new house in the southern suburb of Lenexa, Kansas. Actually it was a new house under construction. This would prove to be interesting as it was the end of June and the builder assured us would it be done before school started in September. I never figured out why Dennis picked Lenexa as the Ford office was forty miles away in Missouri.
It was a pretty sleepless night that night. I should have been happy we found a house, a pretty cool looking house, if it ever gets completed. I was not thinking about whether we could qualify for the loan of $75,000, the physical move itself or anything else of importance. I was only wishing one moment I had not come across a name in the phone book I had long tried to put out of my mind and the next moment glad I did. It was logical that I would look for last names of people I knew that might live there but what idiot looks for last names that start with a Z? How many last names are there that even start with the letter Z? But there it was or there his name was in black and white with a phone number. It was Barney, my college love.
It had been twelve years, the day I married Dennis, since I had heard from him. He sent me a telegram that day wishing me happiness and saying that he would always love me. The telegram was about as heart-stopping as finding out that he was living in Kansas City. I was furious with him at the time thinking that he sent the telegram to get back at me for marrying Dennis but then I would think that it was really rather sweet of him. Maybe it would have been better if we had argued, said horrible things to each other instead of just going our separate ways due to family, bad luck or just bad timing. Now what do I do?
How would I feel if I picked up the phone and called him and he said "Donna who"?
Back in Dallas there was a lot to do in getting ready to move by the end of the summer. Dennis would call everyday with a list of things for me to take care of - like I needed a list. Towards the middle of July he decided we should go ahead and move even though the house wasn't done. Ford would pay for a month's stay at the motel and all of our food. The couple buying our house was living in an apartment and would be glad to get into the house the first of August. What sounded like a pretty neat idea at the time turned into a nightmare.
The packers from the moving company came one day and packed everything except what I thought the boys and I would need for the next month. Not having to pack up, rent a truck and move ourselves was different from the seven moves we had made before. This was move number eight in twelve years. The truck came the next day and once it was loaded we packed the car which was a trick since it was the Mustang without a lot of extra room. Somehow we all got in the car with Boodles, the slobbery English Bulldog, clothes for a month and of course, lots of toys and headed off. About the time we got to McKinney Wes asked where the cat was. Back to Carrollton to find the cat sitting on the front porch. Second goodbyes to the house and off to Warner to drop the dog and the cat at Dennis's parents house for the duration of the motel stay.
After the first few days at the Holiday Inn I was beginning to see that this was not a real pleasant experience with a four and an eight year old. They would go out and swim for ten minutes and then spend the rest of the day jumping on the beds or fighting. Going out to eat three meals a day got old pretty fast and I can remember how disappointed they were that no restaurant served peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and tomato soup for lunch. Anyone remember the motel days before microwaves and little refrigerators? So I finally resorted to loading them in the car at eight o'clock in the morning for breakfast and then driving around Kansas City until five o'clock in the afternoon when Dennis came back to the motel.
Actually the tours of the area were pretty neat. There was something about Kansas City that made it fun be to moving there. Maybe it was all the stories I had heard from Dad and Uncle Tom or maybe just the city itself. The boys and I did all the museums, the zoo several times, found my grandparents graves in the old cemetery on the Paseo and strolled around The Plaza which was the first suburban shopping center built in the United States. Kansas City is known as the city of fountains and we saw everyone of them. By the time the house was done I had driven on every street in both Kansas City, Ks. and Kansas City, Mo. and had quickly developed a love for the city and the people.
The house construction surprised me in that it seemed to progress very quickly. The only problem I can remember was that one day I noticed they had put a sliding glass door in the kitchen. We had made that one change in the house when we signed the contract. With children and pets sliding glass doors were at the top of the list of things I hated. The builder was very nice to work with and in a couple of days the door was gone and replaced by a French door with a window panel on each side.
The house was actually five different levels which I had wondered about in the beginning but as it neared completion I loved it. Going by to check on the house we noticed a lot of children in the neighborhood.
That was something that made both Wes and Wally excited about moving to a new place.
I had written Cathie, my roomie from Stephens, before I left Dallas and told her about finding Barney in the phone book and that I was not sure I should try to contact him. She picked up the phone the moment she read the letter and asked if I had his number since she wanted to call him to say hi. No, I did not write his number down at which point she called me a schmuck (one of her favorite words) and how could I be so stupid not to call him. I gave her all my excuses like he would not remember me or be rude or some other bad thing. When she started calling me "Hansen" and throwing in more "schmucks" at me I knew she was losing patience. She reminded me that it had been over a month since I found his phone number and by now I would have stopped even thinking about calling him if I really didn't want to. She had a point.
So I looked up his number in the phone book again - it was still there.
I dialed the number thinking I would get an answering machine or maybe a female voice and I would just pretend it was a wrong number and hang up. That sounded easy enough. The phone rang and a voice I had not heard in twelve years said hello. All I said was "hey" and then there was an extremely long silence........
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