Reflections of Haylee's birth and blessing

When dad had his brain tumor removed one of the things that it damaged was the part of your brain that helps you decide what is important and what is "nice". It was a hard thing to deal with for the year he lived after surgery. I wasn't around much, but I dare say that it often led to much extra stress. Karl had joined the military and we were in Monterey, CA for his Chinese training. I was pregnant with our second, Haylee. Mom and Dad came out for the birth of Haylee the end of July. She was due July 24th, which is about when they arrived. Dad loved Monterey. He loved to eat there and drive around on the beautiful coast. We spent a lot of time on the warf when dad came to visit. Waiting wasn't too big of a deal until Dad decided that he NEEDED to go home. So I talked to my Doctor. He was a good and understanding man. He generally pushed not being induced, but understood our condition. We scheduled the induction which was a mess, but when they finally got me in everything went smoothly. I was happy to have my dad there for the first few days of my sweet baby girl. He cuddled her and kissed her, but he was happy to go home. He had yearbook stuff he NEEDED to get done.

My mom and dad had driven out and Dad couldn't wait to get home so they bought him a plane ticket and flew him home. Of coarse mom didn't want to drive home alone so she convinced my aunt Sue and Grandma Alta Munns to fly out and drive home with her. Flying was something that Grandma had never done. I was thrilled to have her there to see my new baby. Something I never got to share with her with any of my others. That is the only time she had been on an airplane and she swore from the time her feet hit the ground that she would NEVER DO IT AGAIN! I was grateful she had on this one occasion.

Haylee's blessing was similar. We moved just a month after she was born to San Angelo, Texas. There we stayed with an older lady name Mary Lou Roberts. She had a little one bedroom apartment attached her carport. We got to be good friends with Mary Lou. Casron loved her and would stand at the screen door watching for her. It was a fun relationship we had with her. This was a great thing because Dad did his best to finish off his time as a school teacher. It was a high priority of his and the only time he had off to come down to Haylee's baby blessing was a long weekend in October. That weekend just happened to be stake conference. So we talked to the Bishop and the got special permission to have the blessing at home. Our little one bedroom apt was much too small for mare that about 5 people. So we asked Mary Lou if we could use her house. She was happy to let us use her place. She excitily shared with us that before there were enough members of the church there in San Angelo that her home was their meeting place so had been dedicated as a place of worship. It was a neat experience. Again I was happy to have my dad there for those special moments. He didn't feel very good that weekend, but her was there! It also gave some good friends of ours that lived down in San Antonio, Bruce and Maurie Pomaroy, a chance to see him before he passed away.

Meg

Memories form Uli (our German exchange student)

During my high school year as a German exchange student I lived with the Munns family. From the first night at what was going to be my home for the next ten months (I was dead tired after a 20 hour journey, yet so keyed up, that I kept babbling in rocky English) it was clear to me, that Terry (later I called him „Dad“ and he remained it, even though I haven’t seen my American family for over 12 years now) was the glue, that kept everything together. He radiated a contentment and a sense of delight, that was reassuring.

I often wondered, how he managed to keep calm in the midst of all the teenage drama that surrounded him at home and at school. But even though he sometimes rolled his eyes (or rather he lifted his eyebrows) on something we kids did (the Munns’ had to endure a big part of my not so pleasant teenager-days – sorry for that!), the deep love for his family was always present. At the same time he challenged us to do and become the best we could. He wouldn’t accept excuses, but kept encouraging until we could be satisfied with ourselves – a true father and teacher. Thank you for that!

My writing, His eyes, and THE LIP...

My dad made it very clear to me that I was not a good writer.  Something he was very talented in and I obviously didn't get from him.  He would tell me that I can write more run-on sentences than anyone he knew.  On top of being a bad writer I was horribly slow at typing.  I remember his frustration one weekend night when he took me up to the school to finish typing a paper that I'm sure I should have had done WAY before that day.  I think that he may have taken my rough draft and finished it for me...maybe, I don't remember, but I do remember him being very frustrated.   Despite all my follies I want my kids to know a little more of the wonderfully fun man he was.   So I'm trying to start writing a bit of my memories of him.

One of my favorite things about my dad was his bright eyes typically full of excitement.  One of the funniest things though was his face when he was mad.  He would tuck his tongue between his lower lip and his bottom teeth and push his chin out.  If this was the look you encountered with him You knew that you had done something wrong.  Although you usually knew that you had done something wrong long before you saw the lip.

Meg