About Mrs. H
I
saw men set foot on the moon while
I was a kid sitting in front of the television in our family’s den on July 20,
1969. For years I’ve had an avid interest in space and astronomy, among other
things. I still have the first telescope I bought when I was in elementary
school—a 50 power Tasco. My family has grown used to being dragged outside in
the backyard at night or down some lonely country road to view a meteor shower,
eclipse or comet. This summer they indulged me as I showed them the proper way
to view a partial solar eclipse from the rim of the Grand Canyon.
I
went to school with football legend Earl Campbell. In
college, that is. He was a junior at the University of Texas when I was a
senior. Unfortunately, that year Earl pulled a hamstring, couldn’t play in
many of the games, and we had a lousy season. There was many a day, I watched
him hobble on crutches into the Communications Building where we both had
classes. Thank God he healed and stayed a football player instead of being
forced to earn a living as a TV broadcaster! An action photo of him taken by one
of my journalism students during an Oilers’ playoff game years ago still hangs
in my study. My husband the Aggie
later had Earl autograph it for me.
I
thought I was going to be the next female Dale Robertson (that’s
a sports reporter for the Houston Chronicle for those of you non-athletic types)
while I was working on my journalism degree at UT. In fact, I held sports
writing jobs on a couple of papers while I was in college, back when coverage of
women’s sports was rare to nonexistent. Nobody had even thought of a WNBA back
then. They were just starting women’s competitive sports in colleges! (In
those days when you talked about university women's athletics, you spoke of the
AIAW not NCAA.) I had the opportunity to work in the first sports information
office established for women at UT. It began operating my senior year. I covered
women’s athletics as well as boys high school sports, especially football,
during my newspaper career. By day when I was not in class, I was working at my
job in the State Capitol writing summaries of legislative bills on such
interesting topics as insurance benefits. By night, I worked at a dream job
writing stories of the glorious wars of the Central Texas gridiron.
I hoped someday to become a writer and a full-time sports reporter.
Someday came in the form of a job as news director at another of my alma maters,
San Jacinto College, where my duties included covering nationally ranked teams
in men’s basketball and women’s volleyball.
The
day I walked in on the naked coach in the whirlpool . . . (ah
ha! I just wanted to see if you were still reading.) Actually, it was one of San
Jac’s social science instructors, not one of the coaches, but it did happen in
the men’s locker room at San Jacinto College. My job as sports information
director frequently required me to interview the men’s basketball coach in his
office, which happened to be in the men’s locker room. (Remember, this was
back in the days few women reporters covered sports.) Usually I could get some
male student or staff member to go in ahead of me and check to see if the coast
was clear, but on that day, no one was around. So I hollered out a warning that
I was coming in and headed (with eyes averted, of course) to the coach’s
office. Now if the man had just stayed seated in that whirlpool, I wouldn’t
have seen a thing. I wouldn’t have even known he was there! But he just had to
go and stand up. And he didn't think to use a towel. : )
The basketball coach and I had a good laugh over that one. I didn’t
know anybody could turn that shade of red.
Teaching
by accident. At
least that’s what I call it. Upon the sudden retirement of one of my former
journalism instructors at San Jacinto College, I was asked by the college
president to fill the vacancy. He gave me a weekend to think about it.
I said “yes,” and more
than 20 years later, I’m still teaching.
I
hugged the mailman the
day he delivered my masters degree diploma from the University of Houston-Clear
Lake. (Don’t worry. He was a family friend.) I couldn't help it. I was just so
excited. I can’t count how many hours of blood, sweat and library research
went into that little scrap of paper—all while I was holding down a full-time
teaching job—but I sure was proud of it. Believe me, when you earn your
college degree, you, too, will know that feeling of pride and achievement.
It’s even stronger than the one you had when you walked with your class at
high school graduation.
I
married the milkman. Yes,
it’s true. My Aggie husband Paul and I have been married for nearly 20 years.
We met at an old dance hall way out in the country near LaGrange, TX, at a
surprise birthday party and dance for one of my uncles. One of my aunts went
looking for a dance partner for him just as the band was getting ready to play
the “Grand March,” the traditional opening number at Czech and German family
functions in Central Texas. My aunt approached my sister first, but she
declined. I accepted. We danced together the rest of the night, and my cousins
grinned the whole time, like they were a bunch of matchmakers. And I guess they
were. With his ready sense of humor and wonderful smile, Paul danced his way
into my heart. I like to tell people I married the milkman because during all
the years I’ve known him, Paul has worked for Oak Farms Dairy in downtown.
He's still a great dancer, too. Too bad he married someone with two left feet!
Eighteen
years and two kids later. We
have two wonderful teenage daughters, Amy and Alison, who are in to softball,
horseback riding, superheroes, and boys. Home
and family are the center of our lives.
Going,
going, gone. During
the spring, summer and early fall, our family is usually gone in the evenings
and on weekends, following our daughters to numerous ballparks to watch them
play softball. Amy plays for Lamar High School, and Alison play for a West
Houston, 14-and-under tournament team, the Tejas Titans.
For many years I played teenage and women's softball, and Paul and I
coached the girls till they were 12. Now we just catch their fastballs and
changeups and enjoy yelling and giving the umpires our two cents from the
stands.
While
reading romance novels, I
walked the floor nursing my daughters when they were infants. It was then I
realized I wanted to become another Susan Elizabeth Phillips, one of my favorite
romance writers. I’ve been scribbling on manuscripts ever since. None
published . . . yet. I’m an avid fan of S.E.P., Nora Roberts, and local
authors Barbara Dawson Smith, Heather MacAllister, Cheryl Bolen and Jan Freed.
I’ve met or seen all of those ladies in person at one time or another; some
are very good friends. One of my favorite lifelong pastimes continues to be
losing sleep between the covers of a good book. By the way, did you know the
"Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood" is really part romance novel?
The
original “web slingers” at
HCCS-Northeast would be the Guided Studies faculty. Long before many of your
other instructors had e-mail addresses, we Guided Studies instructors had our
own web pages and were giving internet-related assignments in our classes. My
interest in the web has grown ever since I started giving those series of
mini-web lessons to my students some five years ago. Those web lessons have
morphed into “Study Skills Online,” the orientation course you are about to
embark on this semester.
Then Fabio asked me to shoot a book cover photo with him. Actually, he didn’t. I just wanted to make sure you were still awake. I hope you enjoy the time you are with us at HCCS. While college is a lot of work, it can be fun and rewarding, too, as you meet new friends, share new experiences, stretch your boundaries and abilities, and learn to take responsibility for your own learning. Then, you, too, will know the joy that comes with earning a college degree—the kind that makes you want to hug the mailman—and I’ll have the pleasure of watching you stride across the stage to pick up your diploma! : )
Have
a great semester.