STORY SEVEN

WEDDING BELLS, BALTIMORE AND MORE STUDENTS, OR WHEN ARE WE EVER GOING TO BE EMPTY NESTERS

The first wedding was that of our son. He was attending Milton College at the time, which was located in Milton, a city consisting of some four thousand inhabitants and located in southeastern Wisconsin. He was kind enough to alert us to his plans, and we prepared to take time off work and join the wedding by driving up to Wisconsin from our home in Maryland. We detoured just a little, did some sightseeing, and took a long ride in a large car ferry from Ludington, Michigan to Kewaunee, Wisconsin. We finally arrived in Milton found temporary lodging and had dinner with the bride's family. The mother of the bride was all flustered. Little things, like simple wedding dessert table settings, seemed to be a challenge. Finally, the wedding took place, country style, in a simple and straightforward manner. The guests had a snack with cake and punch and the couple took off for their honeymoon.

The young lady was a math whiz, and our son and she had a lot in common while they were both attending college. They even competed with themselves for top honors at the school. In this respect she was a great motivator for our son. They soon found out to their disappointment, that apart from their formal education, they really had very little in common, and since there were no children involved, that union did not last very long. We were sorry, having been long married parents, but understood the reality of the situation. Subsequently, our son transferred to the University of Wisconsin's Whitewater campus, where he completed his advanced degree. Some years later, when our son remarried, this time in Maryland, we were unfortunately not invited to the wedding. That may have been all well and good, since that marriage is still in progress many years later, and there are two very likable children around because of it.

The second set of wedding bells rang when, as mentioned earlier, I had a "father and son" talk with our youngest daughter's boyfriend. The young man was serious about his intentions and the two decided to become married upon their graduation from High School. We stipulated certain provisions that we hoped, would help them. They would move into the basement apartment, pay a small monthly fee for utilities, while we would continue to support our daughter through nursing school. The plan was accepted and preparations for a wedding were soon under way. Our daughter wanted a big ceremony, and although she was not Catholic, they arranged to be married in his family's church which was of that faith. Our daughter wanted everything to be near perfect, from matching gowns to flower arrangements. She was very demanding about her wedding dress and all the accessories, lest the least little item might be out of order. The church hall would also sponsor food and drinks for an appropriate fee. Finally all arrangements were made and the wedding took place. It really all went well with the pomp and ceremony an official church wedding calls for. We were glad for her and the young man of Irish descent that she tied her knot with.

True to form, they moved in after their honeymoon and while he got a better job in an auto parts dealership, she attended a full nursing program. There was one unforeseen, although not completely unexpected delay that occurred. Namely she became pregnant before completing her school and took a year's time out to have the baby and attend to him. Later, she arranged with her mother-in-law, who still had grown children at home, to take care of the little one, since we both worked, and her in-law family was located only some twenty minutes away by car. Upon her graduation from nursing school, she received an immediate job offer which she accepted. Her husband, who was a good saver, bought a starter home close to his parent's neighborhood and after some four years, our basement was free again, but not for long.

Our oldest daughter had moved back home after her experiment in sharing a townhouse. When the basement apartment was vacated by her sister and husband, she took it over. She had also been working after her graduation for a contractor at the NASA Facility in Greenbelt and was taking some courses at the Community College as well. She always had an interest in the marshal arts and I took her for Tai Kwon Do (Korean Karate) lessons many years ago. Apparently one of her courses that she elected at the Community College was in Karate. She came home one day and said that she was going to marry the instructor, who of course was innocently unaware of her plans. Two months later she was dating him and a few months after that they became serious about each other. In fact, the young man was a police officer in Baltimore and was teaching part-time.

Then one morning our daughter left to help her boyfriend move into an apartment that he was going to share with another officer. Late that evening a police cruiser pulled up in front of our house and the officers rang the bell. When we opened the door they told us, in as calm a manner as possible, that our daughter had been shot and was in the emergency room at Laurel Hospital, not far from her boyfriend's the new apartment. We quickly got ready and drove up to Laurel. As the story evolved, it seems that while moving a box of books, with the police pistol still in its holster on top of the box, he stumbled and with the jar the loaded gun discharged. Her boyfriend was shot through his hand, while the bullet went through her upper thigh at the other end of the room. Luckily for her, it turned out to be only a flesh wound and although painful, would heal after treatment without any lasting effects. His problem was a much more involved one. Not only were there numerous inquiries, but it took several operations and many weeks of therapy to heal his hand; evidently, a faulty holster was responsible for the mishap.

Time came to plan the wedding of our oldest daughter, and once more we went through all the preparations from gowns to plans for a chapel and reception hall. They were married in a chapel at the University of Maryland and we used a professional facility this time, for the reception and dinner that followed. The wedding went off in great style and the band, although not quite as loud as at our younger daughter's wedding, seemed to play much better. The couple left for their honeymoon, and upon their return, moved into the basement apartment that our younger daughter had been using.

A couple of years later, she found out that Baltimore City had dropped the height requirement for police cadets. She applied, passed the series of written and physical exams and entered the Police Academy in Baltimore. She graduated some time later and was sworn in as a Baltimore Officer. It seems police cruisers did not last too long with her, and after several incidents she was assigned a beat on the street. As parents we were more than concerned for her, especially when, during the winter months, she had night duty and was "out there" more or less by herself. Luckily, after the birth of their baby, she left the Force to stay home.

The first few years we were in the Washington, D. C. Area we were not very interested in Baltimore. Our attention turned more and more to that city however, as we explored the area and found many interesting sights and activities. For one, people traveling North on Interstate 95 invariably were shunted through parts of Baltimore, although it was all highway or tunnel. When we still had our old Volvo, we found a Volvo dealer near Reisterstown, a suburb of Baltimore, who did good repair work and we would take our car to him. On occasion we made a day out of it while the car was in the shop, and visited parts of the city that were easily accessible through a good local bus system.

At other times, we took the family to the Baltimore Museum of Art, Fort Mc Henry, Harbor Place, The Science Museum, and a number of other fun and educational spots, including Hausner's off Eastern Avenue, which was a famous German-American restaurant and a place where one could view all types of antique art, china, porcelain, bronzes, and related items. We found that one neighborhood in particular, reminded Molly of her old Brooklyn stumping grounds. The area was called Highlandtown. It was mostly residential with neighborhood shopping streets, consisting of small family owned businesses. There was also an ethnic area with Greek shops and eateries, and others of Polish, Ukrainian or other Slavic background intermingled with traditional American shops. Just out of curiosity we stopped in at a local realtor one day, and he took us around and showed us some properties that he explained would make good rentals, and if we ever wanted to relocate to the area, a possible future home.

We took the plunge, Incorporated, and over the next few years tried the home rental investment business. It was quite a mixed bag and kept us busy with very frequent trips to Baltimore, many for business reasons. The experiences, mostly new to us were astounding. They ran from good to bad, to very bad. The good was when we found a responsible family for rental and they remained in a house for three or more years, were reasonably aware of property, had routine maintenance problems that we took care of, and generally paid their rent on time. The bad was renting to a single, who after the first three months never paid any more rent, got drunk, often smashing walls, windows, or ripping out pipes, and selling any appliances that were there; then skipping out in the dead of night never to be seen or heard of again. Usual repair and replacement costs averaged five to seven thousand dollars per renter of this type. We even tried the court system, once hauling a demented and delinquent tenant to court, where we were awarded a judgment to cover damages and back rentals due, through a court order. We could have saved ourselves the time and effort as well as the lawyer's fee, since after the judgment, the person simply disappeared.

An even worse scenario was one time when we thought we had a very nice young man who wanted to rent a modest row house. He made an impressive appearance and had family in the area. Turned out some six months later, there was a fire of suspicious origin in the house with drug needles found in one closet. No arrests were made, but we tried to be doubly careful from then on. We found that dishonesty applied just as well to the firm that was hired to reconstruct the fire damage. After some lengthy delays, the work was finally completed and it looked all right to us. Over the next two years all kinds of problems, some very major such, as with plumbing and gas lines, emerged all due to faulty workmanship that was solely the responsibility of the contractor. We sued and were awarded a small out of court settlement since our lawyer informed us that it was very difficult to prove shoddy workmanship in court, mostly because other contractors did not want to testify against each other. Under conditions such as these, it is no wonder that our corporation hardly ever showed a profit. Not only were there the normal overhead expenses such as, mortgages, taxes, repairs, insurance and licenses, but in Baltimore City in some cases, ground rent, and on top of that, if one had several months of vacancies, a good deal of rental income was lost.

There was at least one advantage and that was we had the opportunity to offer one home to our married daughter who now worked for the City of Baltimore, together with her husband. They moved to the city and our basement apartment was free once more, but again not for very long. It seems that someone from an out of state area needed a place while finishing their work at the University of Maryland and Molly made the couple an offer that they accepted. Shortly thereafter they moved into the vacated apartment. They were a likable, pleasant couple and we never experienced any problems with them. They stayed for quite a few years and later, when our daughter and her husband wanted to relocate back into our County because he was expecting to transfer there, the two couples traded places, with our daughter and family moving back to the basement, while the other couple moved into the house in Baltimore.

We had spare bedrooms, and partly as a result of the earlier, but now defunct Bed and Breakfast program, Molly always had them filled with students who were attending a variety of schools in the Maryland and Washington area. Some, such as a serious veteran was American, and in his case studied hospital administration. Others, were from foreign countries, such as one young man from Korea. Unfortunately, although he was a very nice man, he had a bad habit of eating late at night and rattling pans and dishes, which woke us. After about six months we asked him if he could not find something closer to his school, and he obligingly but reluctantly did. Molly was contacted by an acquaintance and asked if she would like to have a couple of girls from Thailand who wanted to start their English studies at the local Community College, before transferring to the University of Maryland proper. She agreed and within a month, two petite students named, Soonthari and Mimi came to live with us. They were from Bangkok and had gone to the American School there, so their English was not too bad.

Later another young lady from the same school and city joined the two. Her name was Vanida and she obviously was from a wealthy household. Vanida planned to study computer science and when she finished her two undergraduate years at the Community College, she transferred to the new campus of the University of Maryland in Baltimore, where the main computer science department was located. While the young ladies were with us they often prepared Thai dishes to which they invited us, as we did them in turn when we had special meals befitting certain occasions, such as birthdays, Thanksgiving or social dinners with friends. We were sorry to see them leave, remembering well the first day that they saw snow and ran excitedly outside shouting, playing and taking photos of themselves.

Once again, I am certain dear reader, to have achieved my objective of helping you fall soundly asleep. Thus only if you have any future problems need you complete this STORY or, think of starting STORY EIGHT. Thank you.

©1990 Herbert Holzbauer

published @1997 edition S.p.N.LAUB

This page is hosted by