In the summer of 1979, the Army moved us from Seymour, Tennessee to Fort Belvoir, Virginia. After all, my father had made the Majors list and was in a Captain’s position. He was also in the Army Corp of Engineers and Fort Belvoir was their headquarters location at the time. This was my father’s third tour at Belvoir.
Most of the summer was spent trying to sell our house on Eldorado Circle in Seymour. The school year was starting to approach quickly and my mom, my brother and I still lived in Tennessee, while dad was getting settled into his new assignment. After having listed the house with a real estate agent, my parent’s decided to sell my owner. My grandfather made a sign and we put it in the front yard. Yes, the summer was interesting. Eventually, the Simpsons bought the house (No, not Homer and Marge).
The move to Fort Belvoir was like moving into a place both familiar and foreign. I have lived there in the early 70’s, though my memory of such was no longer in my head. After two weeks in visiting officers housing, we finally had a house on 21st Street. Today a search for T-436 21st Street will not reveal a house. Seems the house built in 1913 has been replaced at taxpayer expense. Oh well.
I was going into the 6th grade in 1979. My brother and I would for one year attend the same school: Markham Elementary. This would be the first year I would play the viola and the first time I would meet Edwina Marquand.
Along with horses, Edwina Marquand had a bit of a thing for me. Though I liked girls, I became too enamored with Keleigh Linn to fully notice. Edwina and Aileen were one of two sets of twins in my 6th grade class. On a side note, I believe Keleigh Linn Sylvester on FaceBook is the “other woman”.
Anyway, in 7th grade, though both Edwina and I went to Hayfield Intermediate School in Alexandria, Virginia, we did have any classes together. From time to time, I’d see her in the hallway and say hi. Yes, I liked her too by then, but time was not on my side.
One day in the summer of 1981, my father came home to inform us we were moving to Fort Ritchie, Maryland. My parents had been looking at possibly buying a house outside the DC area, but now that was off. The Army had a pressing need for my dad’s expertise as the Facilities Engineer in the mountains of Maryland. One weekend we drove up for a visit and a few weeks later we had moved.
All contact with Edwina Marquand were now broken. When I get nestalgic for finding former classmates, I do Google searches for her. Via Intelius, I have found an Edwina Marquand with past addresses at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. She is the right age, could it be her? I’ve no idea.
So Edwina, I’m putting the search out to the Universe. After all, I finally connected back with Leo, I mean Alex Fleig on Facebook. I found Glenneth’s blog site and even came across Tracy Janner via MySpace and then Facebook. I know it is possible to reconnect, go through the “what have you been doing all these years stage” and the, most likely, go about our merry lives.
Ok Universe. Surprise me.
