10 and Lawrence Street, N.E. Washington D.C. 20017
From: MyMy719@aol.com
Subject: Re: October 3, 1998 -- reunion continued
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1998 19:06:07 EDT
Emotionally unprepared for college? Excuse me, was anyone? I think we all
would have been happy if St. A's had gone on for another year or two!
I knew long before graduation that I would never make four more years (I did
not want to teach and I couldn't stand the sight of blood, so nursing was out)
and I opted for the secretarial course at Immaculata College of Washington.
That was the pits -- I was one of the few 'day students' in a world of girls
from New York/New Jersey whose only interest was in the fraternity guys at
Georgetown. I finished in two years and started a great job for the
International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers(AFL-CIO). I even
got to work with Elsie's Aunt Gerry. The pay was good and the benefits were
even better. I liked that place so much, I stayed for seven years!
In 1972, I married Mike Yourishin (Class of 1965, I think). Mike's is a
familar story -- he tried the Strayer College route after he graduated (so he
could play basketball), but found that classes interferred with b-ball, so he
enlisted in the Army. He spent 18 months in Germany and another 18 months in
Viet Nam, still managing to play ball. Anyway, he returned to college with
the help of Uncle Sam and we were married the summer between PGCC and
Maryland. I was working and the GI bill provided the rest. After Maryland,
Mike got a job as a Special Education teacher at Northern High in Calvert
County and he just started his 24th year there in September.
In 1977, our son, Michael, was born at Providence Hospital. It was there while
we were attending 'baby classes' that we caught up with Bob and Mary Dant.
Their son, Jared, is about 3 weeks younger than Mike so the four of us
finished out our pregancies, compared childbirth stories, and shared the
challenges of new parenthood! We lost touch again as the kids got older and
the Dants moved to Virginia, and so Terry, it was truly wonderful to see them
once again at your house in August.
When Mike was five weeks old, we moved from Springhill Lake in Greenbelt to
our home in Calvert county. Mike was five miles from his school and I quit
working to become a full time mom. I still have not recovered from the
culture shock of moving from city life to the heart of Southern Maryland.
Believe it or not, in 1977, Calvert County had just one fast food resturant
and only three stop lights. You had to be home before it got dark because
there were no street lights either and you couldn't see where you were going!
We are about 10 miles from the Bay (Chesapeake Beach/North Beach that is) and
our development is set between a corn field and a tobacco field. Welcome to
the land of farming and septic systems!
In March, 1980, we had a return visit to Providence and Elizabeth joined the
family. The Dants also returned to Providence a few months after us and Nick
arrived. While we had no repeats to the hospital, Bob and Mary went on to
have Cody a few years later.
The following years go by in a blurrrrrrr......I did return to work at Calvert
Memorial Hospital starting on a part time basis, but as the kids to older, I
increased by hours. While I did not take care of patients in the seven years
I spent at CMH, I did just about every administrative job there was. Working
at a hospital is a great experience, but the pay is not, so in 1985 it was
time for another career change.
For the last 13 years, I have been working in Landover/Largo at the Inglewood
Business Community (that's the office park at Route 202 and the Beltway). I
work for Rouse Property Management, an affiliate of The Rouse Company (the
good people who brought us Columbia, MD, the Inner Harbor, etc., and about 300
shopping malls across the US and Canada). Anyway, we own the park and manage
seven of the office buildings there. We lease the space, get it built out to
the tenant's specs and try to keep them happy so they stick around for awhile.
Once again, I have a job I like, and am fortunate to work with a group of
people who also like what they are doing.
In the meantime, the kids have been growing, attending school and
participating in sports. Calvert county has a tremendous Parks & Rec Dept so
we spent lots of time watching base/softball, soccer and basketball games
times two. When Beth was 5 she announced that she was playing all the same
sports as Michael because she was not going to be a 'wimpy girl'. And she has
been participating ever since.
Michael finished grade school in Calvert County and chose to attend St. Mary's
High School in Annapolis, so our life of commuting started. It was a real
challenge to get a kid from Calvert County to Annapolis everyday for four
years, but we managed and today Mike is a junior at Savannah College of Art
and Design. He is studying Graphic Design and his father and I hope that he
graduates soon! Mike is a great kid, with a wonderful sense of humor. He is
a gentle giant at 6'4"!
The commuting challenges continued as Beth attended Archbishop Spalding High
School in Severn, Maryland and participated in softball and volleyball on the
varsity level for four years. She has a true love of sports and is extremely
competitive. During high school, she made All County, All Met (Baltimore)
softball teams, and in her senior year, she was named Catholic League Player
of the Year in Baltimore for softball. At just 5' 3 3/4", Beth ended her
volleyball carerr at Spalding, but she is currently playing softball at
Wingate University in North Carolina.
While Beth missed out on her mother's height, she did inherit my love of music
and singing and she was always ready to join the chorus. So throughout grade
and high school, we faithfully attended the annual Christmas and Spring
concerts. I always looked forward to seeing and hearing the kids perform.
Unfortunately, because of softball, she always missed out on the fun of the
spring musical, but we managed to take in all the Spalding productions! I was
always telling her what fun we had doing the musicals at At. A's.
And so the years went by, we now have two great young adults who seem happy
and want to do something with their lives. We have been blessed to belong to
our parish, Jesus the Good Shepherd, since it was started in 1984. The kids
have learned about their faith and the love of God in an environment very much
like St. Anthony's.
Mike and I now have the dreaded/much anticipated empty nest and are starting
to enjoy it, although I do need to get used to cooking for two again! In the
meantime, it will be leftovers on a fairly regular basis!
Until the kids are out of school, retirement is a long way off for us, but it
is something to shoot for. For you teahcers out there, Mike kept his money in
the old State retirement plan!
So that's it for Mary McLaughlin - not much and not very interesting - just a
happy life and two great kids. And I am enjoying the updates from everyone.
As my little softball player would say, 'who's up next?'