Shelley Joslin:  

I was not one of the in crowd and I was very shy especially with those I did not know well. I was just entering Glendale Jr. College when my father decided to start his own business in Albuquerque. I finished the semester living with my grandmother and then transferred to the University of New Mexico. I graduated with a BS in elementary education and worked for the Albuquerque Public Schools for 25 years. After the 1993-4 school year, the school I was working in was going to start their own district and I did not want to work for them. I had enough years in to get full retirement, my car was paid off and I had a house set up and paid for on the property my parents owned in rural Oklahoma, so I decided to retire. I'm glad I did because it gave me nearly 5 months of quality time with my father who died near the end of October that year. Although I had always been proud of my authoritarian father I was also a bit afraid of him. My relationship with him improved as I became an adult and was more independent, but it wasn't until I spent those last months with him that I really understood what a kind, helpful, generous person he was. After his death I helped Mother take care of the property, building her the garden pond she had always wanted, mowing, clearing snow etc. and we did many church activi...Expand for more