The Spiral Notebook
How Our Life Changed for Ever
by
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One of the many Christmas’s we will never forget Monday December, 24th, 1984 Today was Christmas Eve. Everyone was excited about the next day. We were getting last minute presents and details ready. The kids played with their friends. Terry Don kept trying to guess what was in his presents under the tree. They were all excited about the microwave oven dad had gotten me for Christmas and all Terry Don talked about was having nachos and no more cold sandwiches for lunch. That night we went to Art and Karen’s house to exchange gifts. (They lived next door) the Fords were there also. We ate, listened to music, opened presents, and had a good time. Art gave Terry Don a glass of wine. He thought he was hot stuff. After we got home around 10:30 p.m. we made the kids get ready for bed so that Santa could fill the stockings. Terry Don wanted to get up at 4 or 5 am. Terry told him 10:00 am, we agreed to 7:00 am. Marla lay awake until after 1:00 am. I didn’t think she would ever go to sleep. We put gloves and candy canes in Marla & Micah’s stockings, put a sling shot in Terry Don’s. He had wanted that sling shot for over a month. Marla & Micah got toys and clothes and so did Terry Don. But we had bought him a microscope that he wanted very, very much and my folks had gotten him a B-B pellet gun. We had gotten them some ninja shoes at Kangs. After they were under the tree, we went to bed. Tuesday Christmas Morning December 25th, 1984 I woke up at 6:30 am to hear Marla and Terry Don whispering in Marla’s room. I got up to check it out. They had already looked in their stockings and tried on their shoes. (Terry Don’s fit and Marla’s were too big). They were so excited and begged me to let them get up so we could open presents. I told Terry he might as well get up, because they were too excited to sleep. So we got Micah up, the coffee on and the cameras ready. They were so excited with their gifts. Marla had gotten a cabbage patch doll from Granny and Papa, and Terry Don loved his microscope and gun and clothes and etc. Ha. They played with their things and I got some food ready for Christmas dinner. We were to be at the Ashlocks house around 11:00 am to have dinner with everyone. After we ate, the kids played and we sat around talking and taking pictures. Ervin (Clarence’s brother) had brought his son Lee who is about Terry Don’s age. They went to the park for awhile. We left at 5:00 pm to come home. We were tired from lack of sleep the night before. The kids played “Life”, the game we had gotten them for Christmas, and with the microscope. Wednesday December 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 1984 I don’t remember all that happened during these next four days or the events in which they happened. Wednesday, Terry had to go back to work. I’m sure I cleaned house one of those days did laundry and ran errands. I took Marla to exchange two pair of pants that were too big. I had gotten him (Terry Don) a nice pair of maroon pants at Frougs that didn’t fit. We went to several stores to try and find a replacement. We finally ended up at Sears where he bought a pair of red pants with a navy stripe down the side. My first thought was, “my goodness what in the world will he wear with them?” But that’s what he wanted so I let him have them. I also remember a record he had been wanting at the mall. He told me if I’d get him the record, I wouldn’t need to pay him for all the times he had babysat Micah plus he had taken orders for me one day while I was gone. I had told him I would pay him but never did. We went to Hastings Record Store in Woodland Hills Mall. They had only two copies of the album “Nucleus” (rapping music) left and he got one of them. I also got Marla a record for babysitting Micah. He was so excited about that record. He went straight to his room when we got home and recorded the songs onto a tape. Keaton, his best friend, had loaned him his box so he carried it around all the time playing that “funky music”. HA. I always had to tell him to turn it down. I remember Cory Roberts came over one day and they shot their guns in the back yard at targets they had fixed along the fence. Terry Don loved his microscope. He had us look at all the slides he had, plus water, salt, pepper, and sugar. I remember one night be had his dad help him fix it where it would reflect the image on the wall. We turned off all the lights and reflected different things on the wall and on paper. He loved it! It had a camera on it to take pictures of different things. I had gotten him a roll of film for it. It is still unopened in the buffet drawer.
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About the Book
The diary of Billie Bettis is supremely surprising. When we read her Diary, chronicling the events at the time, we were shocked that this story was never revealed over the years since we have known them. Her diary sat idle for years in a trunk and with it her heart, feelings and emotions. The dust covered spiral notebook never known nor revealed to anyone, until her husband ,Terry, discovered it and sent us a copy to read. What was revealed inside will be alarming and eye opening for all readers. Wife Carole and I have known Billie and her husband, Terry, for more than a two generations. We count Billie as a wonderful friend, but never figured this 95 pound swizzle stick of a woman to be a tower of strength. Her extraordinary strength and commitment to GOD shines through in her discovered Diary.
About the Author
This book was written from a real life event. The names and people in this book are real. Billie was seeking a way to sort through her emotions and at the same time writing in her diary was what she needed and her outlet to cry out and try to deal with the emotional events that sometimes get worse rather than better. My wife Billie wrote in her diary about an incident that happened in our lives that has touched and continues to touch us and our children for over 24 years. She will explain it in this book the events and how it has transformed her family and direction in life. She will also talk about what held her family together when most families are ripped apart or destroyed. It was really ironic how this all happened. Billie and I were strumming through a foot locker in the attic and I picked up a spiral notebook, Red, to be exact. I ask Billie, "What is this?" She said: "It was my outlet that I wrote in everyday for a long time." I asked her if I could read it and she said, "I don't care go ahead." I started reading it and instantly knew what she was talking about. I felt like I had invaded her thoughts and privacy the more I read and at one point as I was reading I leaned back in the chair put my hands on the spiral notebook and looked up at GOD and prayed. It was at that time I found out many things about her that I never knew. Her feeling and love for her family among a few. Billie and I live in New Mexico today. Billie is working for an assisted living center as Food Services Director and I work for a major pipeline construction company. We have been married for 43 years. We have five wonderful grandchildren and three loving daughters. We still have our challenges with life and major events that impact us in many ways. We will write about one major event that occurred in 2010.