Betty L. Holden Swan-DeLong

Yes

The highlight of my life was a year-long trip my first husband and I took back in 1971. We started by hitchhiking through the States, visiting relatives in Knoxville, TN and Largo, FL. From there we went to the Bahamas where we spent 3 weeks. Then, on to Europe. We purchased a vehicle in Germany and, with 3 friends, we headed South for the remainder of the winter. We had many extraordinary adventures which someday I will innclude in a book which my husband and I were going to write in retirement. Unfortunately, my husband passed away this past June. The other highlight of my life was the birth of our daughter, Jennifer, in April of '72.

Other than that, I kept my nose to the grindstone, working mostly detail work in quite a few different settings as an executive administrative assistant. Having become totally sick of all the politics involved with corporations, the last ten+ years were spent as an office manager at a family-owned furniture store in downtown Minneapolis. The last day I worked was the day before my husband's surgery that finally gave us the diagnosis and prognosis after which my 24/7 job became my husband's care at home.

New chapter: Less than 2 months after my husband died, an old friend's wife passed away. Afterwards he and I spoke on the phone often, sharing in all the particulars concerning the deaths of our spouses. We had met back in the early '70's, as he and my husband had worked together. Soon we decided that neither one of us wanted to live alone, so we talked about living together, thereby reducing costs of running two households, and the end of loneliness for us both.

Last fall we made two trips from Minnesota to Oregon, hauling as much as 6.5 tons the first trip and pulling a trailer with my car behind a full diesel crew cab on our second trip. It was all very well worth the effort, as I love it here and the two of us are very happy.