Mmm. 40 years.  That a long time to talk about your life without boring someone.  It is sorta like running into an old friend at mall and saying “How have you been?” and before you know it, the two of you have talked for two hours!

 

Here goes my attempt at telling you all about my last 40 years.

 

After graduation from Jones, I went to the University of Houston, got married, moved to Tulsa,  Oklahoma with my new husband, moved back to Houston, moved to New Orleans, moved back to Houston, had a baby, went back to work, got divorced.  Whew!

 

What did I learn and what did I enjoy in that time?  First off, don’t quit college in your third year to get married.  And when you go back to college don’t switch majors.  You wind up with 100 credit hours and no where near close to a degree.  From Journalism, to English Literature, to Accounting, to Business, I can safely say I have a varied education.

 

In New Orleans, I learned how to act after drinking a Hurricane, how to survive Hurricane Camille with her 125 mile an hour winds and why you take a rifle to go craw fishing.  You don’t shoot those little bitty mudbugs.  The rifle is to fend off the water moccasins who are after your catch and your leg!  I learned what Mardi Gras is all about and how to catch beads and doubloons thrown from a moving float.  And how NOT to get lost from your friends in a crush of people in the French Quarter.   Oh yeah, I also learned how to “wrestle” a ten year boy for a doubloon and win.  My feet were bigger than his and you just plant your foot on that rascal coin and dare him to lift your leg.

 

So much for my education.

 

The joy of my life was born in 1975, my daughter Carrie Alexis. I was so very blessed to have a child who was adorable, very smart and with a wonderful sense of herself.  She got to be all this in spite of what or who her mother was.  She was Salutatorian of her  high school class, went on to graduate with honors from Loyola University in New Orleans and is now Director of Communications for Kroll Laboratory Specialists in New Orleans.  In 2000, she married a young man from New Orleans and they have settled there.  He works for a radio broadcasting company and produces sports radio shows and does some on-air sports work also.  He won the first place award from the Louisiana Associated Press for sports radio last year.  Quite an accomplishment for such a young man.  I am very proud of them both.

 

And – my education in New Orleans sure comes in handy since I make several trips there yearly now.  I don’t down a Pat O’Brien Hurricane any longer, but I still know how to catch Mardi Gras trinkets.

 

I worked for about 4 years as assistant for a CPA and soon learned that numbers and audits were not my niche in life.  No offense to my Accountant classmates, but  this was not for me. 

 

In 1986, I was offered a job as a Staff Assistant to then-Congressman Jack Fields (8th US Congressional District, Texas).  I worked in Jack’s District office in Houston and handled a variety of areas.  I was especially fortunate to handle his nominations to the US Service Academies.  We had one of the most competitive districts in the country and our program was also one of the fairest.  Jack pulled himself completely out of the selection process and turned it over to me.  I met some of the finest young men and women who were aspiring to fulfill their dream.   I got to work with dedicated local liaison officers and great personnel at the academies. I got pretty good at sitting down to dinner with a full-bird colonel or three star general making “chit-chat”. 

 

For my work I was honored with awards from the Superintendent of the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy Alumni Association and the Air Force Academy Liaison Officers Association.  I got to travel to each of the 5 academies – sometimes more than once.  And I was able to make trips to Washington, DC for various meetings and events. 

 

To my New Orleans education, I got to add politics and everything that went with it. (You can read into that comment whatever you want.)

 

After eleven years with Jack, he decided he was going to retire from Congress.  What does a 50+ year old woman do?  The entire staff was sad at his decision, but we understood his reasoning.

 

He offered me a job in a consulting firm he started here and I accepted.  I sure learned that this was not what I wanted to do.  Jack is a good man with a great business sense, but I just did not enjoy what I was doing.  So, I decided I would jump into the job market and that was a scary thing to do at my age.

 

Again, I got really lucky.  I spotted a job in the newspaper: “Administrative Liaison” at Texas Children’s Hospital.  Sounded interesting.  In 1997, I started working at the “Administrative Liaison” at Texas Children’s.  After about a year, the Hospital hired a new Vice President for Marketing, Public Affairs, International Operations, and TeleHealth.  Sounded interesting to me.  So, here I am now:  the assistant to the VP.  And again, I am lucky.  He is a great boss!  We work hard and we have fun. 

 

The people at Texas Children’s are a dedicated family of caring individuals.  We treat the very ill children and the ones with very difficult and scary illnesses.  It is very rewarding to see the fine work done here.  We are the largest children’s hospital in the country and renowned for procedures that are not done anywhere else.  I feel very privileged to be a part of the Hospital.

 

Along the way, in 1992, after 27 years of marriage, I got divorced, but am fortunate that it was a “pleasant” divorce and my ex and I remained friends.  Some things aren’t meant to last.

 

There is something to be said for the empty nest syndrome and being independent.   I don’t pick up after anyone but myself and the dogs (two cocker spaniels).  I make my own decisions, rule my own finances and don’t have to cook if I don’t want to.

 

Will I ever marry again?  Maybe.  Right man, right time.  But I have this feeling my Knight in Shining Armour got lost in the forest and his armour has rusted.  Not really.  Who knows what the future holds? 

 

And I know I learned a lot.  Like all of you of I have had triumph and tragedy, happiness and sadness.  But for each dilemma or difficult time I faced, I believe I came away from it for the better.  I always felt the tunnel had a light at the end of it. 

 

Many of you may not remember this poem, but it was read at our Baccalaureate service:

 

If you can’t be a pine on the side of the hill,

            Be a bush in the valley but be

The best little bush on the side of the rill,

            Be a bush if you can’t be a tree.

And if you can’t be a bush just be a blade of grass,

            Some highway happier make.

If you can’t be a muskie then just be a bass,

            But be the liveliest bass in the lake.

If you can’t be a highway then just be a trail.

            If you can’t be the moon, be a star.

For it isn’t by size that you win or you fail,

            So be the best of whatever you are.

 

This is what I have tried to live by all these years.  You take what you have and you run down the field with it the best you can.  That is what I really learned.

 

What I do know is that I look forward to seeing everyone again at the 40th reunion.  This is my third year working on the Reunion Committee.  And somehow, “my friends” and fellow Committee members insist I volunteered to be chairman for the 40th.  I don’t drink any more and senility has not set in yet, so I believe it was a conspiracy.  But, regardless, the Committee is doing everything it can to make sure the 40th will be a special event.  And I really enjoy working with all the Committee members. 

 

Hope to see all of you there.

 

Marlene Alexander Moulder