As The Head Lights Hit The Wall, I Knew It Was A Police Car Sitting In My Driveway

It was about 1993. My kids and I loved to drag out our pillows and blankets, lay on the livingroom floor, snuggle up and watch tv together. We did this a lot. Yes...Little Mermaid and what ever they wanted to watch, even if we've watched it a million times before. Or I would read to them.
But on this certain night it was just Stephanie about 7 years old and Amanda Rae about 4 years old and myself. Jeremy was 16 years old and out with his friends. The girls had fell asleep so I turn off the lights and the tv, laid with them as they loved to cuddle.
I don't remember what time it was when the living room door opened. I could tell by the light that had hit the living room wall... was that of a police car. Jeremy says to me, "Don't get up mom, I will tell you in a minute what happened", I asked him "Is that a Policeman outside?" "Yes" he tells me. He promised to tell me what was happening and I knew that he would and be honest about it, he has never lied to me. Still to this day and he's 32 now, hasn't!
So...my son goes through the house, flipping on all the lights and hollering "Mom?" as he did. After doing this he goes back outside and talks with the Officer. My son comes back into the house, shutting the door behind him. He sits down beside me and tells me the whole story, how he was at a party, the Police showed up and busted it up. The Officer that brought Jeremy home was one that I knew because we got to know a lot of them when there was a drive by shooting of Jeremy's sister, Stacie's home. Jeremy told me the whole story, this Officer wanted to talk to me but Jeremy wanted to tell me first. That's why he came into the house and did as he did. Jeremy told the Officer that he would have me call him in the morning, that he promised he would tell me everything, he never broke that promise. I called that Officer that next morning. Everything was okay! I am VERY PROUD OF MY SON!

Happy Easter Mama, R.I.P. (My letter to my mama)

Dear Mama,
Heaven 2001, R.I.P.
Written Easter Sunday, March 4th, 2010
Hi mama,
Lillian and I came to see you today. We placed 3 beautiful roses in your vase. One for Lillian and her families. One for Debbie and her family. And one from Me and my families.
Then Lillian and I went to the Sportsman's Bar where you and dad (Bill) use to go. We had one beer together, (something her and I have never done before) and talked about how we missed you. I couldn't get her to play a game of pool with me though. LOL.
Mama... I miss you so, so much. A lot has happened since you went away. The day of your funeral one of your tulips actually came out and bloomed in the snow. I knew then you were finally okay and out of pain.
Well, Jeremy grew up to be so handsome, is going to be 33 years old this year. He's still very much in love with Stevanie and and she very much loves him. I'm glad that you were still here when they were married. They have a little boy, his name is "Nike" Jeremy Steven Campbell, (looked so tiny like Jeremy when he has born) yes... Nike like the tennis shoe and that's just how Nike will tell you if you call him Mikey. He is 6 years old now and mama you should see him skate. Yea he skates just like his daddy, though I bet you already know this. Mom, wish you could hold him and tickle him and give him Halloween candy or hide eggs and watch him look for them, watch his eye light up when he sees all those presents on Christmas Day that are for him. He's so adorable mama.
Stephanie grew up to be absolutely beautiful, is now 23 years old, married Jacob DeBerg, she met him at the Campbell's family reunion. He was a friend of Rick, Kathy's husband. In December she had a little baby girl and I got to watch her be born, later I cried that night cause I was wishing you were here. Her name is Araeah Faith DeBerg. She looks like Stephanie, and guess what, you remember how everyone said that she had your lower lip, Araeah has it too! Stephanie and I talk about that a lot. She is so beautiful.
And my little Amanda Rae, she has grown up to be absolutely gorgeous. she's a little lost right now. Could you please keep an eye one her for me. Give her a little guiding, she'll be okay I know. I worry about her and I can't help it, she's my baby girl. She bought a 25th Anniversary Corvette on her 19th birthday, it sits out here at our place, it cost too much to drive. I gave her my old car. Hard to believe she is going to be 21 this month and that really scares me! I am going to take her to the Holiday Inn in Caldwell, so she can get her first Birthday drink at the same place I got mine.
Well, mama a handsome and very sweet and gentle man swept me off my feet, his name is Gerald. He treats me like a queen. I know that you would be very proud of me, I have a 2001 Dodge, Dakota pickup a lot like Lillian's that dad left her when he died. We have a 5 bedroom home with 3 quarters of an acre lawn and 1 quarter of an acre of field and also a 2009 GMC pickup. I still have Little One who was born right after you died.
Well mama, I love you and think of you every single day and talk to you often, I hope that you hear me. Holiday's are still really hard for me. I always seem to cry. I promise to write to you again some day.
I LOVE AND I MISS YOU! Hugs and Kisses
Your Loving Daughter
Tonie

Written to my mom
Beverly Jean
January 02, 1937 - January 23, 2001

Yes... My Mama Was A Truck Driver, With 18 Wheels Beneath Me!

I was 21 years old and drove a 1976 Peterbilt Cabover, This truck had a whopping fuel capacity of 450 gallons, had a 15 speed overdrive trans and a 400 Cummins BC 3 engine. There wasn't very many ladies driving back in 1978 when I was. I drove for 3 years for Western Agriculture in Caldwell, Idaho. I hauled McDonald's French Fries out of Simplot's. I first drove on a sleeper team while I was learning. This was before the required CDL's they have now. On the day of my first solo trip which they were sending me to San Francisco, California, oh these guys were good at teaching me good lessons. LOL! The guys got me, my very own cap that said "How's Your Peter Built?" And yes, you bet I wore it! My boss sent me out knowing that if I drove and rested when and where he told me that it would put me in the San Francisco, California area about 3:00 in the afternoon, just in time for the beginning of the 5:00 rush hour! And that is what happened. I inched my way to my destination. OMG. But I did learn.
After a few trips like that, people started calling me "Mama Trucker" and Jeremy... they called him "Pee Wee Trucker". How funny...they called my truck "Play Pen On Wheels". I never drove the winter months, my biggest fear was of jack knifing. NOPE, NOPE!!!! Another big fear was getting a flat on my cab.
One trip coming back from California, I had to stop and pick up some huge plastic containers. At this place, they also made those plastic children's strollers they use at Marine Land in the shape of a Dolphin. These guys thought a lot of Jeremy and enjoyed playing with my little guy, so cute. They let him climb all over one of those dolphin, it hadn't been cut for the legs, no wheels or anything, just fresh out of the mold. Because Jeremy was having so much fun with it the guys decided it needed to follow him home. And that.... it did. For several years we would take that dolphin to the lake so I could push Jeremy around in the water, cause it floated. He played on it for many years. Thank You Guys!
Jeremy is the one in the photo above, he is my son, he is now 32. He was born June of 1977. He was a year old when I started driving. My little guy went with me every where I went...YES... Even on the truck.
My last trip was to California in 1980. I was coming back, 20 miles outside of Fallon, Nevada there is a little hill with a corner and at the bottom is a cattle guard. As soon as my rig got to the cattle guard it died right there in the middle of NOWHERE!!! There just happened to be a wide spot just on the other side of the road so I managed to get my rig coasted that far. There, Jeremy and I sat, not a single car went by finally about an hour of sitting there, another semi went by and I caught him on the CB, asked him to get a hold of a mechanic and ask him to come out, because I had a dead rig. A second one came by and I got a hold of him too on the CB also and asked him to do the same, he said he would. 3 hours we sat there, but my prayers were answered and the mechanic showed up. We rolled my cab up and he managed to get it running... Thank The Good Lord. The mechanic told me not to turn it off for any reason because it won't start again. THEN he told me that if I'm going to sit here for any longer that he advised me to lock me and Jeremy up in the cab and not answer the door to anyone, I asked him "why?", he went on to tell me that the weekend before there was a truck driver and his wife murdered and they had a little baby left there to starve. Guess what, I got the heck out of there and head straight for home. That was my last trip. Now there are hundreds of women driving. I have one other story to add to this but at a later day. It is a sad one and a long one to tell. I wonder if my son remembers ever riding in my truck for those 3 summers?

Stephanie's Text Message to her brother, Jeremy and his response

Stephanie thought she would pull a fast one on Jeremy. It kind of back fired on her. This is how it went.

"HAY BUBBA DO ME A FAVOR TEXT ME RIGHT BACK JUST HI OR SOMETHING MY FRIENDS DON'T BELIEVE THAT RETARDS CAN TEXT........STEPHANIE"

BUBBA'S RESPONSE-"YES SIS YOU DID VERY WELL TEXTING ME THIS TIME, BUT I'VE ALWAYS THOUGHT MENTALLY CHALLENGED WAS MORE POLITE TO CALL YOU!"

"Satan's School For Girls", Leann Hutchins and Me!

I married Frank Joiner Jr. at the age of 16....Yes, I'm from Weippe. Through out all my years growing up in Weippe, Idaho my Best Friend was Leann Hutchins. We spent a lot of time together, through thick and thin! Frank and I lived in a small house in town. I don't remember why he was not home for that night. Leann came over to spend the night with me, so not to be along. It was a Friday night. I remember that because Leann (same age as me) grew up as a Seventh Adventist. They don't do certain things during their Sabbath...like watching tv! Guess what we was doing....YES WATCHING A SCARY MOVIE on tv. That movie was "Satan's School For Girls"
This 8:00 movie was really scary! Leann and I was on the edge of our seats through this whole movie. Funny how something back then would scare us to the edge, like this movie did. Leann and I was getting right into. Towards the end and the scariest part of the movie, the phone rang...OMG...Scared us girls so bad, we both jumped out of our seats, looking at each other... SCREAMING. It wasn't until the phone rang a second time, that we realized it was the phone ringing. We turned off the sound just in case it was Leann's mom and sure enough it was. I look back at this night quite often. My children have heard this story and so have others that I've gotten to know through all the years. Every since then I have search for this movie cause I wanted to see it again. Wondering what it was that made it so scary then and wondered if it would be scary now.
I was living in Santa Rosa, Califonia about 13-14 years ago. My good friend, Bill Cox and I went to the big Mall there. We had stopped at a shop and was looking through some movies. Guess what I found....YES...."SATAN'S SCHOOL FOR GIRLS". There was several old movies on this one DVD. You bet I bought it! We watched it once we got back home.
WOW...funny, man movies have really come a long way. It was so very scary then but now....wow. Movies have really come a very long ways from what they use to be. But, at the time it was really, realy scary! Thank You, Leann for giving me such a great memory and something to talk about all these years.

A True Story About The Baby Chipmunks My Dad Brought Home In His Lunch Box

I was very young. We was living in Tamarack, Idaho. Debbie (my little sister) was probably 3 or 4 years old, I would have been 7 or 8 years old. My dad had the coolest logging truck EVER, it was a really pretty purple.
While dad was working they had sawed down a tree with out realizing there was a nest of baby chipmunks in it. I believe there was 11, don't quot me on that, I do know there was a lot of them and I'm pretty sure there was 11!
Dad felt really bad for these baby chipmunks. He decided that he would bring them home and when they got a little bigger, being able to take care of themselves, we could release them. He put them all in his lunch box, fed them bread crumbs from his sandwich, he closed the lid, making sure they had plenty of air and not get hurt. I believe their mom was killed when they fell the tree.
When he got home he placed the lunch box on the table, went to take his shower as he did every night. He forgot to tell mom about these little creatures. When she opened the lunch box all these little guys went ping, ping, ping every which way. Mom let out a scream like nothing us girls had ever heard before. We went running in to find out what was going on.
My poor mom! Debbie and I got to see a couple of these guys bailing out of dads lunch box. We got so excited and thought it was the coolest thing ever!!!!! We've lived in the woods most of our lives, grew up with chipmunks but never as a pet or pets as in this case. All these cool little guys had scattered every where. Dad came flying out of the bathroom with his bathrobe on to find out what was going on, soaking wet. Once he realized what was going on and realized he didn't tell mom about what she would find in his lunch box. He bursted out in laughter and then so did my mom. Us girls were so excited and happy.
We all then chased every one of them to catch them. Mom found a box to put them all in with jar lids for food and water. BUT little did we know or at least think about, they can chew and that they did! By morning when my folks got up to get dad off to work. These little chipmunks had chew through the box and was climbing the curtains, and running up and down everything.
Dad went to work and mom searched for something to put them in, that they couldn't chew their way out. Mom came up with an idea...surely it would work she thought. The clothes hamper in the bathroom was made out of some sort of medal, with holes in the back they would have plenty of air. This would work until we could get something like a cage or something to put them in.
We all went to bed that night, the chipmunks were asleep and cosy in their new little home. A day later, by morning....GUESS WHAT.....they were out and playing in the curtains and running around, YES AGAIN. The thing now is I don't remember what happened to them after this. I'm sure mom and dad found them all a good home in the woods where they belonged. They were so much fun to play with and they sure brought a lot of laughter into our home.

My Grandson, Nike Was On Fox 12 News

This is a photo of my grandson, Nike, age 5 at the time, he also was on the news on Fox 12 News Channel on March 6th, 2010(a couple of weeks before Jeremy's news piece on Channel 7 NBC's News March 20th, 2010). He was so cute. Just go to http://www.fox12idaho.com and write in "rollerdrome" and you will find this video that has Nike in it. He is a AMAZING LITTLE BOY, he is definitely his daddy's son. Jeremy and Stevanie (my daughter-in-law) has done a GREAT JOB raising this little boy. You can bet this young man will be in the Olympic's one day!!! I'm a PROUD GRANDMA AND MOM!

FOX 12 NEWS AT NINE
"Still Open for Business"
Posted: Mar 06, 2010 9:33 PM MST
Updated: Mar 22, 2010 10:45 AM MDT
Nampa, Idaho -- The Rollerdrome roller-skate rink is still open for business after 62 years. There were around 200 people there of all ages on Saturday.

Every week it's a party at the Nampa Rollerdrome. Adults and kids have been coming to the Rollerdrome since 1948, and it's the only place in the Treasure Valley where you can break out those wheels on the weekend.

"I haven't been here for about 20 years, but I was raised here. Pretty much every weekend as a child," said Denise Becker.

Malt shops, sock hops and drive-in movies may be almost obsolete, but skates still roll on their original hard wood.

"It's still got the original floor out there," said Rollerdrome staff member, Lee Luckman.

"I get people in here all the time that say, 'I haven't skated in 35 years,' and then you just have to sit around and watch them and make sure they don't hurt themselves, because they're going to fall at least once," said Luckman.

Sixty-two years of the Hokey Pokey, Limbo and speed skating.

Skating has evolved a bit, though. The four wheels have shifted, and the question now is skates or roller blades?

"The kids that grew up on roller skates, and the adults that grew up on roller skates will never give them up," said Luckman.

"I am very thankful that it's still open, just because I really thought they would close it, but it's good family fun," said Becker.

It's located in downtown Nampa. The big skate sign is right off of 1st Street.

In addition to their speed and hockey leagues, they put on great events -- all-night skating sessions, birthday parties, prize days, and fundraisers, just to name a few.

It's not a bad idea for any day of the week. Go to www.namparollerdrome.net for more information.