Randy was 29 when he decided to return to school.  He had two small children in the home and after struggling to make ends meet he decided that he needed to leverage his talent in math.  Math was always Randy’s strength in school but he couldn’t spell a lick.  In fact he always liked to point that out to his students over the years, that even if you have a disability (dyslexia) if your good at math, you can always get a job. Over the years many people took it upon themselves to point out Randy’s spelling shortcomings and forecast that those deficits would keep him from success.   Randy took that as a challenge and pretty much said “I’ll show you”.  He passed the CBEST the first time he took it (even though his seminar instructor told him “you’ll never pass CBEST”).  I wanted to put this out there tonight cause we are currently reviewing scholarship applications for students at Del Norte High and we want you all to know that you matter.  We want you to know that you should not listen to other negative opinions when they try to tell you you won’t succeed.  That’s their stuff, not yours.  If you work hard, don’t ever quit and you believe in yourself, you can do anything you set you mind too.  Good luck and get that college degree, even if your the first in your family ever

I first met Randy when I was in 6th grade while riding home on the school bus. It was a Friday and If I remember correctly Randy was with David Anderson (who lived in my neighborhood) and was going home to David’s house for the weekend. You see, Randy went to Redwood School and  David and I went to Crescent Elk, so it was unlikely for our paths to cross.  As for this first meeting, It wasn’t until years later that I remembered this day. Which was a good thing, cause had I remembered sooner I probably would never have given him the time of day.  But I digress. So anyways we are on the bus and some tall boy with black hair starts teasing me unmercifully. It made me so mad and of course I called him a few choice words that day. And then the incident was forgotten.  

Several years later in the fall of 1973 I again noticed a cute tall dark haired boy. Apparently my type.  I was a junior and this guy Randy, he was a senior. Polar opposites we looked, with him in his letterman’s jacket and me in my bell bottoms and flowered top.  The jock and the hippie chick for sure.  The real estate brokers son and the cop’s daughter. I must confess that Randy was on crutches that fall from a football injury, and this alone may be the reason we ended up together.  Those who knew him back then know that it was Randy’s norm to be in the parking lot with his buddies during breaks and lunch. But because he was on crutches he was slowly walking from his math class in D hall to drafting each day as I walked from my math class to a classroom right next to the drafting class. Once I noticed him I will admit I wore a lot of mini skirts those first two weeks that got his attention. Randy used to say “I chased you until you caught me”. 

So as most know we married the next year. We were married by Judge Peterson in his chambers as a favor to my dad. After a short ceremony the Judge told us that should we ever decide to divorce we would have to get another judge in another county, but that’s a whole other story.  So back to the beginning of this story when I  first met Randy, it was maybe 10 years and two kids into our marriage when I was looking at Randy one day and it suddenly dawned on me who he was and that nasty boy on the bus blasting memory came rushing in. You! It was you! He looked at me puzzled and I recounted my memory of the day on the bus story.  Guess what? He had remembered all along from our beginning in high school, he knew but hadn’t wanted to remind me of what a turkey he had been that day we first met on the bus.  I will say he did apologize for it that day, so i decided to keep him.