A Full House

In the early eighties we had a full house with our family and plenty of pets. Our youngest son joined the Marines in 1980 while he was still seventeen years old. Otherwise all of our children were at home and my niece Elizabeth had come for a long visit with her dog Mouse. Originally she was in town to visit her grandmother, but she ended up at our house for five years.

With Kathy, Laura, Bill, Elizabeth, Paul and me plus five dogs and a number of cats we needed every inch of space in our house. It was a good thing we added a room in 1979. We managed to make room for other pets as the years flew by.

One little kitten needed a home when some children found her and brought her to us. When I took her in I said she was just temporary until we found another home for her. Well, her name became Temporary and we had her for fifteen years. She was a sweet little black and white cat. Although she sometimes had a temper so she was sometimes called Temper.

Another found kitten became Elizabeth's kitty. Raven was a pretty black cat. One time she disappeared for a while and came home with a broken hip. We took her to the vet but they didn't need to operate on her. She ended up with her signature limp for the rest of her life. When Elizabeth moved back to her home in Billings, Montana in 1985 Raven went too, as did Mouse, her dog.

On one of our birding trips to Buena Vista Lagoon in the Oceanside area we noticed someone leaving a chicken there to join all the ducks and geese. We decided to catch the young chicken and bring it home. It would not have fared well with all the wild birds. Other people have left pet ducks there and they really shouldn't do that. We got home with our new pet chicken and decided to name it Katy. It was not long before we changed it to Carl as it was a rooster. He grew quite large and would crow in the morning if we left him outside at night.

Paul worked nights so had a routine of catching Carl when he got home at night. Paul would put Carl in a box in the garage so he could not wake up the whole neighborhood in the morning. This routine worked out quite nicely. Carl got taller than our dogs and picked on them. After enough of this our dogs got even. I felt bad when I discovered that one of the dogs had snapped back one time too many. Carl was dead. I could not eat this pet. None of us could.

When Griff graduated from basic training with the Marines we happened to have a lot of family in town. So he had at least one aunt and a number of cousins as well as grandparents and our family at his graduation in San Diego. Then the next day we had a large family portrait taken with my mother and all of her children and grandchildren. Only one of my brothers-in-law was missing in the portrait. In later years we had some other large family pictures taken with different combinations of people.

In 1983 Griff was in Okinawa and life was continuing to change in our family. When Griff left for Okinawa Kathy was single and did not even have a boy friend. By the time he returned home Kathy was married and expecting her first baby. The big wedding was in September of 1983. It was a special time for our family. We had four generations in attendance. John Golden was the lucky guy. We knew John for some time as we knew his first wife and her family for years.

John's son Michael was the ring bearer despite a broken arm. He was a cute seven year old. A friend of theirs was the flower girl. Kathy had two of her cousins, Elizabeth and Debra, and her sister Laura as her attendants at the wedding. Two of John's friends and Kathy's brother Bill stood up with John at the wedding as well as being ushers. Kathy made her own wedding gown as well as the flower girl's dress. Laura and Elizabeth made their dresses. Donna made Debra's dress. There were other personal touches and we prepared all the food too.

So while Elizabeth was with us in San Diego we had a lot going on. We needed her willing hands in preparing for the wedding. Her brother Matthew was here for the wedding and was also a great help. We had friends that also added their special touch to the wedding reception. This was when we were going to Midway Baptist Church so Pastor Baize was the one who married Kathy and John.

Elizabeth was still here when Rebecca Jean Golden was born in 1984. By then Griff was back and had surprised us with his good news. Soon after he was home he shared with us that he was engaged to be married. He brought Josie here from the Philippines that summer. They went to Las Vegas to get married  and Bill went with them. It was dedication on Bill's part because he rode in the back of Griff's truck through the hot desert. We couldn't go as our car needed work done on it. I hated to miss out.

At a later date we had a party for them at Kathy and John's house. I loved my new daughter and we developed a close relationship with each other over the years. I'm sad to say that after about sixteen years of marriage they got divorced. This was even sadder for them. I still consider Josie to be a daughter. She still calls me Mom.

Early in 1985 Elizabeth's parents came to San Diego to take her back home to Billings. Five years was a nice amount of time to really get to know my niece good enough to be a daughter. While she was with us I let her do much of the cooking. Her family have cooking skills that I do not have. She also made birthday cakes and other special desserts for us. She made the cake and cupcakes for the party for Griff and Josie.

With Elizabeth and her cat and dog gone we had less bodies in the house and we missed them. But we had our new little family nearby to visit. I got to baby sit for my new little granddaughter too. That was fun. We also had our son and his bride in the Oceanside area to visit. They were all here for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Actually Elizabeth was still here on Becky's first Thanksgiving and Christmas. By the time Becky had her second Thanksgiving the Goldens were in Washington state. Boy did we miss our little Becky and her parents when they moved away.

It must be getting quiet at our house by now. We only had four of us living here besides the pets. But there are always more pet stories. Later in the decade, I think in 1988, Bill joined the Air Force. Now we are down to just Paul, Laura and me and the pets. In 1989 the Golden family moved back to San Diego so they were nearby again. By this time they had cute little Melissa Joy with them. She was born in August of 1988. They would be in town until John retired from the Navy in 1992.

There were trips to see the Goldens in Colorado to look forward to. There were trips with Bill to enjoy as he likes to travel and go birding with his dad. Each trip has an adventure to share as I put photo albums together. It is a blessing to see our children leave the nest and then continue to share their lives with us. We have more memories to make as time goes by.

first picture- Elizabeth Hamilton and her dog Mouse,
second picture-our kitty Temporary,
next picture- large family portrait with Mom and family,
then the wedding of Kathy and John Golden with four generations-
this picture included most of the family at the wedding.
fifth picture-my sister Betty with her daughter Elizabeth 
& my daughter Laura.
last picture-Michael, Becky and Melissa Golden.