So, it was in 1967, two years into our marriage that these great folks from Oklahoma once again came visiting at my grandparents. Apparently, according to Paula, I never told her about these family members. To this day I am amazed that in two years of marriage and with a year and a half of courtship, I never mentioned them to my wife. Life can be full of mysteries.

So, it came to pass I was pleasantly surprised Cousin Luann and family, once again, were visiting. And on this particular day Paula was working in our church nursery. I had been at work myself, then afterward came to the realization summer guests, The Hodges, had arrived just two blocks away at Gramma ‘n Grandad’s. I excitedly headed over there, all of the two blocks. After visiting for a while, I proposed and Luann accepted we go for a swim in the pool at my apartment building.

I was putting around in those days on a very small 65cc motor scooter. Luann climbed on the back and we made our way to my building. Summer days in Southern California were usually hot days. This was no exception. A swim in the pool would serve as great relief from the heat.

We enjoyed our pool time but decided we’d had enough. Because we were hungry, we decided to fry some hotdogs in my apartment’s kitchen. Paula still was not home. Cousin Luann was still in her bathing suit when she mentioned she hadn’t brought a change of clothes. I offered to scoot over to Gramma’s to fetch a clothing change. While I was away Luann continued to fry some hotdogs.

Well, before I could return, my dear Paula, unaware we were entertaining, came home. So, picture the scene… Paula walks up two flights of stairs from subterranean parking. She has our baby Tammy under one arm and a bag of groceries in the other. She steps into the apartment, the door already open and discovers a young lady whom she has never met clad in a bathing suit and cooking in her kitchen. WOW!

Probably in shock, Paula never said a word to Luann. Instead, she simply walked past Luann looking for me. Paula made her way to the very back of the apartment to a window directly above the entrance to subterranean parking. That’s when I pulled up with Luann’s things and heard Paula’s clarion message, “Thomas Russell, You, get up here IMMEDIATELY.”

Not so amazingly, Luann was gone before I made it in the door. The two young ladies never spoke a word. Before-hand I hadn’t appreciated the quagmire developing of my own making. I was a 19-year-old guy with a lot to learn who hadn’t thought through the implications. My “swim” idea was half-baked.

I was embarrassed and Paula was angry and confused. I too was angry but with myself. At this moment I felt reason should prevail. However, as days passed there seemed to be no satisfactory potential outcome. I could go on but reason did not prevail. Happenstances were such that Paula never did get my grandparents version of what occurred that particular day. As the years have passed, and there have been many, Paula mellowed regarding this incident. In fact, I speak with certainty when I say she came to believe me. Thank goodness because nothing happened.

It broke my heart that years and years passed with my having lost track of Luann. After 50-years I found my special cousin Luann. This was thanks in no small part to ten-years of ancestry research. So, thank you Ancestry.com.

50-years later Luann and I were speakingfor the first time on the phone. And it seemed to me her voice with her cute Oklahoma accent sounded exactly as it did all those years earlier. Well, we have renewed our relationship. Paula and I included a visit with her on a major junket. It was a wonderful visit including the three of us spending the afternoon at the family cemetery in El Reno, Ok. These two ladies are now excellent friends. WOW!  Young men have a lot to learn.

FINDING LUANN       *** FOUND ***