During this same period I took up photography and became a fairly good advanced amateur. I specialized in making color prints and multimedia productions (slide shows with narration, music, and sound effects). I also taught photography.
My kids and I traveled a lot, to all of the 48 states, and almost all of the national parks (we traveled in a VW bug; so of course my slide show about America was called CNDUSANRVW).
All in all, the years when the kids were growing up was a pretty happy time for me. I didn't ever get married again, which may or may not have been a good thing.
Seventeen years after I moved to Brookings, the school had to downsize some because of financial difficulties, and mine was one of the positions they eliminated. I intended to retire in about four or five years, but first I accepted a position in Langlois, Oregon, a tiny burg up the coast from Brookings. And this is where I discovered COMPUTERS!
I was one of the pioneers in the use of computers in the classroom. I developed an effective computer program which taught students to spell, and used the computer in other ways. It's funny, but small rural schools are often way ahead in technology and effectiveness. I think they want to prove they are just as good as city folk (which they are). And it is not just computers—in their concern for students, their personal touch, their satisfying of students' needs, the effectiveness of their teaching, small rural schools are often superior.
