A Conversation with Elizabeth
2016
Hearing about you

From:           Elizabeth 
To:             Larry
Sent:           Tuesday, December 20, 2016 12:14 PM
Subject:        Re: R U watching MARS Mini-series on National Geographic
 
Larry,
 
I really enjoy hearing from you and about you.  Part of it is a bit selfish in that you're one of the very few people who I'm in contact with who remembers me and had a shared past with me, but apart from that I've always been interested in your thoughts and in your life.  I feel sad at times though about how FUBAR my relationship was or is with you, about 99% my fault.  I did have things tearing me apart for years though.  My family back home continued to be a chaotic influence, even still up until the time at UCF.  Also, I couldn't get a foothold for myself in Gainesville in tems of employment that was meaningful.  I was so unjustly mad at you when you departed for Melbourne and "left" me in that old house of your aunt's.  It was so cold I once chopped up an old chair to burn in the fire place until I got a job and could get the LP gas person out.  I was able to start work at Alachua General though and neglected your cat, because I got home so late and slept into the days.  I think though that before finding the position at Alachua General, I first I got hired back to work at Shands, again a late evening position, but then promptly got laid off at Christmas time, just after I had bought a used Chevrolet Blazer from a man in Micanopy. I visited my family briefly and it was a totally dysfunctional, disturbing experience, and I fled back to Gainesville. I got a job in "fire restoration" (fancy name for cleaning burned houses), but applied to Alachua General so I could get out of doing that.  I still wonder if I damaged my lungs, but we did usually wear masks.
 
I recall that you came by Alachua General when I was working there, and the women in the office told me  that when they saw you they knew that the tall handsome man was my beau!  I also ran back into hell there, as Fred, who I had finally definitively gotten free of while staying with you at your aunt's place, found out I was working there, and then like the total jerk he was started regularly coming there to eat, finding out when I'd usually be in the cafeteria.  He even put the moves on one of my co-workers he identified, asking if he could share a table with her, having once spotted us together.  I presume he was still intent on needling and/or provoking me.  After you left for Melbourne, I continued to refuse to ever see him again, but he had kept wheedling at me to come back, once again, sending me cards and such.  From Alachua General, and my apartment which I loved over in Tumblin' Creek (a step after I left your Aunt's place), I finally departed G'ville for Orlando and UCF.  I forget now the date, but in the 80s.  I was just shy of my brown belt in Cuong Nhu, having returned to classes for several years. I read awhile back that Sensei Dong had died in 2000, only in his 60s.  Somewhere in G'vile at a nature center there is a commemorative oriental garden.  It would be interesting to see.
 
I recall something from UCF that still nags me.  I got into a horrible renting situation, and had to get out.  You loaned me $300.00 for a security deposit so I could move into an apartment, and I don't recall ever paying you back!   When I did move in, I couldn't afford the electrical deposit, so I lived without electricity for awhile.  I had a huge locker in the women's lockerroom at the gym, and that is where I showered and washed my hair.  I did find a nice weekend position at the Student Infirmary though.  It was a great student job as I worked all day Saturday 7-7, and all day again Sun 7-7, so I got a 24 hour paycheck. 
 
I recall you letting me know when you finally wrapped up your Bachelor's at UCF.  I know you're a gator for life, and over time I affiliate that way myself, but UCF is now quite a sterling school, so you can be proud of your degree from there. Like you though, and I've now been enrolled in four other colleges, U of F always had my heart.
 
Still, despite feeling a bit abandoned at the time, and envying you for having job skills to get away, which I did not seem to have, your move to Melbourne led you on the trajectory your life made, meeting  a wife, gaining a daughter, living in Reston.
 
I lived on campus at U of F, for four straight years, 1966-1970, so my experience there was one of total immersion.  Because of my chaotic home life, which I was very glad to escape, I even started staying on campus over holiday breaks when I could.  In a way the college became my home, along with the professors and students there.
 
I wonder what will happen to your father's home, if or when he might ever have to move in with someone for caretaking?
 
I emailed one of my political science U of F professors recently.  I saw a Wikipedia article about him and found out he is still publicly lecturing for the UN or something like that. I was happy to find someone still ALIVE that I knew from U of F.   He is in his 80s and stayed at U of F his entire career from the 60's onward. He replied back and said it was nostalgic to hear from a former student, although he did not remember me.  He had no reason to as I never talked to him, and I doubt he knew my name.  He did say he is still living in Gainesville, but wrote that it is now a throbbing, sometimes congested with traffic metropolis, very unlike the small conservative town from the past when he first arrived there, which was the town I knew as well.
 
Elizabeth

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