1994
This was a very cold winter. It snowed several times this winter and one time the snow got to be about two or three foot deep. It was one of the biggest snows that I have ever seen. It got real cold at Victoria’s house. We only had a baseboard hitter but we mostly used kerosene. It was a two-room house, kitchen/living room and bedroom. We did not have a bathroom in the home nor did we have running water. We would run to papaw’s to use the rest room and take a bath. We had a sink and above it we put a fifty-gallon tank. We ran a water hose from papaws house to fill it. We did this to wash our dishes. We had a two burner plug in stove (hot pot). We had a small oven about the size of a microwave to bake with. We did have a microwave and refrigerator. We shared the same phone line with papaw. We did have electric but no cable tv. We just watched videotapes. It was happy times but hard times. It takes a lot of work to get used to marriage. But if you always put God first and let him lead your marriage you will do fine.
Jennifer worked at the Freezer Fresh for minimum wage after school. I had a work-study at school. This gave us a little spending money.
Back to the snowy winter. It finally got so cold that Jenn and I had to close up shop and stay with mom and dad the rest of the winter. Only one problem, after the snow melted we went back to Victoria’s. We had forgot about the fish. The tank was a frozen ice cube. The fish were frozen in the ice. We thawed it out and the fish only lived a few hours after that. That was really bad.
That spring dad done us a huge favor and bought us a white 1974 model trailer for 4 thousand dollars. It was a big trailer with two big bedrooms. We were really glad to get it. We pulled it in and set it up next to dad’s house. We worked hard to fix it up. He had pretty underpinning on it and a front and back porch. We ended up living in that trailer for three years.
In May Jenn graduated high school.
That summer I worked construction with my father in law, Rudolph Gilliam. We worked with Goggin’s Construction on the Prestonburg’s Hospital. I had actually got the big idea that I would drop out of college and work construction. Let me tell you one summer of getting up a 4:30 am and driving two hours working like a slave all day then driving back was all it took to convince me that I needed an education. I was very glad to get back into a class room.
Halloween that year I was Dr. Spock and Jenn was Pocahontas. She was holding our puppy dog on the back porch of our trailer.
The top songs in 1994 were:
I'll Make Love To You -- Boyz II Men
I Swear -- All 4 One
The Sign -- Ace Of Base
On Bended Knee -- Boyz II Men
The Power Of Love -- Celine Dion
Bump N' Grind -- R. Kelly
Stay (I Missed You) -- Lisa Leob & Nine Stories
All For Love -- Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart, Sting
Here Comes The Hotstepper -- Ini Kamoze
