Gary graduates from University of Illinois

The months preceding Gary's day of completing his orthodontic training were very stressful.  I was pregnant with Kelly and we knew we would be losing our insurance through the school when we left Illinois. We were trying to figure out if we should stay until Kelly was born, or just go. Gary needed to publish his research before he could graduate, there were some hic-ups there. We were also looking for a job to support our family upon leaving Chicago. Not many people were hiring, there was a war going on in the middle-east and I think people were nervous about the future of the economy. I remember one afternoon when we were sitting on the outside stairs of our small home completely overwhelmed and I said, "Oh, by the way I lost the diamond in my engagement ring today". It was such a small thing with everything else going on, we just couldn't even think about it. Fortunately, Gary's previous employer, Dr. Larry Bell, (while he was in high school) offered him a job in his orthodontic practice in El Cajon. Prayers were answered, we were going back to San Diego. We packed up what few belongings we had into a very sketchy moving truck with our vacuum strapped onto the back. We laughed and made jokes about it all the home, wondering if it was really legit and if our stuff would really make it to El Cajon. Gratefully, it did. We unloaded our stuff into Kirk's garage and spent the summer living with our parents, which was the worse summer of my life. Because we didn't have insurance anymore, I was forced to apply for Medi-cal. That was truly a humbling experience, especially when I thought things were going to be better when he graduated and this definitely did not feel better! We had three children and I was 7 months pregnant with Kelly. We lived with Gary's parents during the week and my parents over the weekend. Fortunately we were able to find a house to rent from Liz's aunt in El Cajon. It was a beautiful 3 bedroom home in Fletcher Hills, and we would be moved in before Kelly arrived. Yea!!