Betsy Cheatham:  

Life I have to remember an incident that occurred at our 20th class reunion, the only one I've attended. A certain female class member came up to me and asked why I wasn't married, didn't I want children? I felt a bit inadequate (which I'm sure this person wanted me to feel, as some things never change) but I told her that I had fallen for a lot of the wrong guys, and that some of us are not equipped to have children, although in my case, I do love them. In high school, I would never have spoken up to this person in this manner, but after the 20 years and now, I do speak my mind. I also realize that people have feelings, and we should be ever mindful that everyone doesn't always get exactly what they want. My life has been a continuous adventure of survival since high school. In 1973, we lost Bonny Tabor Guill, who you may remember was a close friend of mine. I had a hard time getting over that, but I pushed on. In 1980, my grandfather was killed in a traffic accident at the intersection of Calohan Road and Route 24. This was another event that took some time to sort out. Through three serious, incurable illnesses which took me from 1976 to the present, I have maintained and endured with the help of good doctors, family and friends. Ten surgical procedures have proved successful and helpful, and medication is doing it's job. I am thankful for these events because each one has made me stronger and caused me to develop my sense of humor and faith in God. I told my two sisters and my brother to go on out and do anything they wanted to--eat, drink, and be merry--because I got all the bad genes. If I didn't laugh, I could not survive. I have four nephews and three nieces whom I adore with a passion. My parents are still living, and my entire family lives within a one-mail radius of each other, which is unusual. I live in a two-story farmhouse which was my great-grandparents home, an...Expand for more