It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon after Mother left so my three favorite neighbors, Karen, Ozella and Carolyn and I loaded up seven boys and went off to the Swope Park Zoo for the afternoon. All the husbands were busy doing something, Dennis was in his "not talking to you mode" so a trip to the the zoo was great.Swope Park Zoo May 1955
Moving to Kansas City was in part a happy event to me because I actually had some history with the town long before we moved there. My Dad had grown up in Kansas, went to the University and worked in Kansas City long before he married Mother. My Uncle Kenny, Dad's brother, lived there and lost everything in the tornado in Hickman Mills in the mid-fifties. But the best memory of Kansas City as a child was the Whittier Elementary School train trip there when I was in the second grade.
Wonder how many of my classmates remember boarding the train in Muskogee at 3:00 in the morning, riding to Kansas City, touring the GM auto plant, Russell Stover Candy Company and going to the Swope Park Zoo? It was back on the train sometime in the late afternoon for the ride back to Muskogee - all in less than twenty-four hours. Pretty amazing thing for a school to do back in the early 1950's. And for a kid who grew up in a town with no zoo that trip made visiting zoos across the country first on every list of things to do.
When Monday morning rolled around it was the beginning of a very busy week. I think it really bothered me at the time that Dennis was in one of his not-speaking-to-me phases but it actually was rather nice as I did not have to give a run through of what I was doing for the day. Just before Wally and I ventured off to look at decorating things for Barney's house Barney called to see how the weekend went. I filled him in on the fact that I was still alive after jogging every morning, had new clothes I would never wear and everyone was glad when we sent her on the road back to Oklahoma. He told me no hurry on the house and would I meet him for lunch on Thursday. Yes to lunch and he wished me well for the meetings at the medical schools on Tuesday. Rather amazing that Barney always knew the right time to call and the right things to say.
Wally was a pretty amazing little boy at four and a half years old. Maybe it was all the years he travelled to college with me everyday but we made very good running buddies. He seemed to like going to look at fabric and wallpaper with me. Everyone was surprised at how good he always was and just happy he was in picking out wallpaper and fabric for people with animals or cars and trucks. Sometimes you just get lucky as his brother was the total opposite.
Tuesday started out as a day of panic. It had sounded so simple to call and make appointments with the Kansas School of Osteopathic Medicine
and the University of Kansas to see what to do to make my application more acceptable. Getting in the car and going was a whole different thing. I took Wally to Mother's Day out and made arrangements with Karen to pick him up at 3:00 if I was running late. First stop was the School of Osteopathic Medicine in Kansas City. Ever have one of those moments when you get to where you are supposed to be but are afraid to get out of the car? That was me but I had too many people who knew I was going to do this that I really could not follow through so somehow I managed to get out of the car and meet with the Head of Admissions.
To my surprise the meeting went very well. He had a lot of questions mainly pertaining to the fact that I had only moved to Kansas City a month before I applied and there was a long list of colleges I had attended. He thought that the test scores, while not great, were acceptable and the real question was I going to stay in Kansas if granted a spot in an upcoming class. I assured him that I wasn't going anywhere and he said to reapply in the fall. So I left with a new admissions packet and a sense of relief that it went so well.
On to Lawrence, Kansas and the University. It was a little easier to get out of the car this time as some of the sheer terror had disappeared. It was interesting in that the Admissions Counselor was a woman at KU. She went through pretty much the same questions about the short time I had lived in Kansas and how long did I plan on staying in the state. She did go into great detail on the fact that they needed to admit more women into medical school and had lots of questions about my children and how committed I really was. She did have a few suggestions on polishing up my application and sent me home with a new admissions packet for the following year.
What a day. I had spent the last couple of months feeling totally stupid and believing no school would ever want me. Guess the lesson learned here was to get up the courage to go and ask questions instead of just giving up. I still wasn't fooling myself in believing that it was going to be easy to get into a school but at least I did not feel quite so stupid and there was hope.
I arrived home at the same time Karen showed up with Wally. Karen's son, Kedric and Wes had a soccer game that afternoon so I had a chance to fill her in on the meetings I had that day. She was always such a great positive person and such a great friend to have. School was going to be out in a few weeks for the summer and we started making plans on things to do with the boys. With the activities the New Neighbors League had for the kids, the neighborhood pool, soccer and some summer camps it looked like it was going to be a fun filled summer.
I met Barney on Thursday and he had decided we needed to go on another picnic so off we went to a beautiful park. I filled him on Mother's visit and the meetings at the medical schools. He laughed when I told him how nice the people were and asked if I had really thought they would be awful. Yes, I think I lacked enough confidence that they would just laugh and tell me to get lost. He said no, it didn't take anyone very long to realize what a incredibly bright and intelligent person I was. Please, I don't need any compliments. He said, Yes you do and we need to talk.
He asked me how I felt about us since we had been meeting for ten months and what I thought the future looked liked. Can't say I expected that question and it was not an easy one to answer. So I started at the beginning and told him I had been in love with him since our first date in college. I think any minor problems we had then we solved by thinking about the other person rather than ourselves. Sure, maybe I should have run off with you the summer after Stephens but that was a different time and not something I could do. Who knows what would have happened to us back then. Maybe it was a huge mistake for me to call you when I moved to Kansas City but as complicated as it is now I can not imagine not having you in my life. No one can predict the future but I know that you brighten my days and make me a better person.
When I finished he just sat there and looked at me for quite awhile. Finally he kissed me and said he couldn't have said it better himself and he didn't want us to ever be apart again. Before we headed off for home he said he was going to be out of town for a week or so doing some seminars but was I willing to meet Lauren when he got back and show her the stuff for the house. My answer to meeting Lauren was of course. It was not going to be that easy but that would be the right thing to do.
