Brenda and I went from sleeping in a double bed, to a queen-sized bed, to a king-sized be, to two double beds in the same bedroom, to separate bedrooms, to separate houses.

Now we're back to separate bedrooms in the same house.

I got an eight-month temporary job, out of town, in Atlanta, at a good hourly rate ($25). There was a chance the job would turn into a permanent position.

It did and I took it.

The benefit package included vacation, paid holidays, health insurance, and retirement, plus a performance bonus that historically averaged 10% of your base pay.

You could also contribute to a 401k and buy company stock at a discount.

Many employees had all company stock in their 401k. Like Enron.

I had a mix.

I lived in a rented apartment. I rode a bike to work, after my truck died.

For a year, when Balder was overseas, I drove his car.

Balder moved to Atlanta when he got out of the Marines, to attend Georgia Tech, so if I had to go anywhere--like to a funeral, a wedding--I could ride with him.

Brenda bought a trailer in Wewa, near the prison.

I thought I would work at Lucent Technologies until I retired, them move to Wewa, to Brenda's trailer, and be a Wewahitchka, Florida writer.

I visited her on long weekends, before the truck died, or in Balder's car, while he was overseas.

When Jean graduated from college, she and Owen moved to Athens, Georgia.

With Owen and Jean in Athens, and me and Balder in Atlanta, Brenda decided to move to Georgia too. She sold the trailer, quit her job, and moved in with me, in my apartment.

She found a good job in Atlanta, with a cable TV company, managing the installation of a voice-over-IP phone system and the installation of a predictive dialer.