"the beat goes on" (continues)

When I say I was angry that Lee had joined the Army, in actuality it was fear. Fear of having to be separated again and fear of Lee being injured. It was 1964 and Viet Nam was going full throttle. Several of Lee's buddies had been drafted and then did not receive their direct commission after they finished Nursing School. The other reason for him to join is that I would receive a check every month for approximately $120.00. We really needed the money as our coffers were getting pretty depleted and we could not make my paycheck stretch any further. Times were very different then, I was only allowed to work 3 months and then I became unemployed. As always with Lee he had made the correct decision. Never in a million years did we fore-see that Lee would make this his career for the next 23 years.
His year in New York had come to an end which was "bitter sweet." Sure there was the distance which certainly proved to be an huge inconvenience, but the experiences he garnered were priceless.
About a month after Christmas Lee was in a head on collision while returning to school on a Sunday evening. As I have previously mentioned he always had a car full of fellow students who needed transportation back to school. Luckily, that particular night there were only 2 other students riding with him. Lee called me from the hospital around midnight, he had suffered some lacerations of the mouth and around his left eye. Oh! and by the way he broke the steering wheel with his head. His passengers suffered some minor injuries as well. It was approximately 0100 when I arrived at the hospital, Lee looked very bruised and swollen, however I was so grateful that the injuries were not more serious. He was walking and talking and I was somewhat relieved. Several days later I had a Dr. appointment and Lee accompanied me. His face was really a mess with both eyes swollen shut and both eyes looked very bloody upon examination. The doc took one look at Lee and said "what did the X-rays show? Lee answered, "they did not take any X-rays!! The Dr. was not happy and promptly ordered some X-rays which revealed that Lee had a fractured skull. Consequently, Lee was put on "bed rest" for a couple weeks.
Oddly enough our second child was conceived during this time period. Lee really received a lot of joking and kidding about that from his classmates.
As with my first pregnancy I was only allowed to work 3 months and then abruptly I was unemployed. Now things were really tight financially. Times were tough then and woman had no recourse or "rights." I fought for an unemployment check, I even went to the Unemployment Office and stood in line, like anyone was going to hire this "hugely pregnat woman." However, I had paid for unemployment insurance for 5 years which was automatically taken out of my check, and by gosh I needed that money to support us for a few more months.
I'll stop here for tonight. LIVE, LOVE AND BE HAPPY!!
Carol