It had been a nice relaxing weekend camping with Charles and Bowser but it was nice to come home. The answering machine was glad I was home as it probably wanted to explode with all the calls that had arrived. Mostly business for wallpaper, draperies, bedding and painting. That was a good thing as it would keep me busy and I could use the income.
There was also a call from Mother. She bought wallpaper for one of her bathrooms and wanted me to come and hang it. Guess there were no wallpaper hangers in Oklahoma City. There was also a couple of calls from Wes making it sound a little urgent. One call from a client or a child did not throw up any red flags, more then one in a short time frame did make me stop and wonder what was going on. At least there was not one from Wally wanting to come home after only a week in the wilderness.
I did not return any calls until the next morning. Sort of fudged a little with Mother on when I could come since Wally was not home and I had quite a bit of work to do. Going to Oklahoma was not a bad idea as Wally had not seen Dennis' parents since the wedding and he was really fond of them. Although I am quite sure Mother would have preferred that I come without Wally so she could only have me to boss around.
Wes, on the other hand, had some interesting news and an even more interesting question. His Dad was being transferred to Cleveland. Wes was going to be a senior the next year and really did not want to change schools. I couldn't blame him as we had moved him four different places and schools already. The only alternative was to come and live with me. I had mixed emotions about it but told him I was sure we could work something out. There was still a little hurt on my part because of him not speaking to me for almost a year after the divorce and maybe it would be good for Wes and Wally to spend more time together.
As I spent most of the day on the phone scheduling visits to see all the new clients that had called I had to think how lucky I was to have the business to the point where it almost could support Wally and I with the help of child support and alimony. I never advertised the business so it spread by word of mouth. Not the career path I had wanted but one that really worked for me. I was one of those women who loved being a Mom and having the freedom to be there to go to school stuff and little league games (not my favorite). At the same time I always managed to have some little home based business where I could still have time with the boys and go to the swimming pool in the summer and play in the snow with them in the winter. Guess that was Women's Lib for me. Even when I had the Librarian job in New Jersey I could still take off whenever there was something going on at school since I had an army of volunteers that loved to run the Library without me.
In the two weeks before Wally got home from camp I had taken care of most the work from all the new clients. I only saw Charles twice when we met at the skating rink on Wednesday nights. Wes was working there for the summer so it was fun to go and see him at the same time. I was even so organized that there was time for my Thursday lunches and shopping trips with Claire. She still had many things for me to do at her house but was never in a hurry.
Finally the day arrived for Bowser and I to go pick up Wally from the bus from camp. When he stepped off the bus laughing and talking to the other kids I wondered if he had really grown a foot taller or did he just appeared that way. It was definitely happy and a more grown up thirteen year old Wally. After he and all his very smelly gear was loaded into the Bronco I heard all the stories on the drive home. No doubt he had a wonderful time and certainly was ready to go back next year. I will never forget that perhaps bathing in the St. Mary's River as the large oil tankers passed by might not have been the upmost in getting clean.
Wally had a week of down time to see his friends and fill them in on all his adventures while I finished up a few little jobs. Believe it or not our trip on the plane was the very first one since I was in college that was not a Ford Motor Trip. At the age of 42 I actually bought my own tickets. Mother had wanted to buy them but I said no I could do that myself. No reason to be beholden'
I think we had a pretty good time since going to Mother's was like visiting a swank hotel. Nothing like an indoor swimming pool and Cabana, no helping to get meals ready as that was not allowed and lots of places to go. We spent one day at the Oklahoma City Zoo. They had recently added the Dolphin area and she was proud that her name was on the bronze sign as a donor to the project. Actually the visit with her went pretty well.
Since Wally and I flew to Oklahoma City we sort of needed a vehicle to drive to Warner to see Dennis' parents. Mother's friend, Jimmy, loaned us the Mercedes to make the trip. Pretty cool and of course we went with the top down. The visit went much better than I had thought it would. The divorce was very hard on Alpha, Dennis' Mom. Divorce was one of those things her generation did not do plus she and I had been really good friends and had lots of fun together. I guess after a whole year and a half had passed she had mellowed a lot and we had a great time together plus they adored Wally. From that visit on and for the rest of her life we remained very good friends.
It only took about two hours to do the wallpaper. Proof that she just wanted me to come visit. But it really was a fun trip and I was glad we had taken the time to go. But it was also nice to go home as I probably said "Yes, Mother" far to many times when I did not mean it.
Wes would be moving in with us sometime in August. Dennis and the new family wanted to get to Cleveland before school started there. It was going to be interesting to have Wes in a lot of ways. He and Wally were going to have to share the attic room which was large - hopefully large enough. It was also a twenty-one mile drive from our house to his High School in Farmington Hills. It was also that far to his job at the skating rink when he did not come home on Friday or Saturday nights until mid-night. Wes was, let's say a little hot headed, and I remember giving him many lectures about road rage and the fact that their were lots of guns in cars driving across Detroit. I understood him wanting to graduate with his friends as I did but that did not ease the constant worry.
It was certainly going to be interesting.
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