Then

 

Michelle Thomas

Hey guys, here is a wonderful profile...enjoy!

    Lets see, I just celebrated my 18th Wedding Anniversary on the 7th of November. I have four beautiful daughters; Chelsea 17, Courtney 15, Catie 11, and Cailin 9 (I’m not biased or anything). Chelsea will be graduating this year from High School. It doesn’t feel like it was that long ago that I was graduating. My girls are very artistically and musically inclined (they get that from Dave, their father).

    I have moved all over since High School. I went to Cal Poly SLO for a year (found my first love and first heartache), moved to Ohio for a few months (went for a visit, had my appendix rupture and ended up in the hospital for almost a month), moved to Oxnard, California for four months then moved to Reno, Nevada for a year.

    Took some classes at UNR, met my future husband and then moved to San Jose, California. During our six years in San Jose, we moved quite a bit (I guess we’re restless or just trying to avoid the in-laws, take “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” & “Monster-in-Law” and you get a mild version of my mother-in-law).

    Dave’s work transferred us up to Washington state. We lived in a quiet little town 24 miles north of Seattle just off the Puget Sound. We were there for three heavenly years. I absolutely loved Washington, it broke my heart to leave. When we came back to CA, it was under the condition that there was at least a one hour’s drive between the in-laws and us. That’s how we ended up in sleepy old Manteca.

    We were in Manteca for six years. We had the best neighbors and friends there. I had home-schooled my girls and took them to endless hours of dance and band practice. I even found time to brew my own beer, root beer, and cream soda; had a nice sized garden and looked forward to our weekend BBQ’s with the neighbors or hanging out by the pool. I still get melancholy thinking about it. It’s one of those decisions I wish I could make all over again. But, oh well, life goes on.

    We have been in Fremont now since July 2003. We moved to help Dave’s parents with the business as Dave’s dad has cancer and they asked us to help. They own a private Montessori School with 900 students from the ages of 6 weeks to grade 6. I work there as the Human Resource/Payroll Manager. Working for family has its benefits and its set backs. The nice thing is, I have pretty flexible hours, however I probably put in 60-70 hours a week. I try to do as much as I can from home but some things, you just need to be there to be effective.

    I went back to school this year just at the local community college, to take my GE’s and I will probably transfer to a four year college once my babies are in High School. I’m interested in pursuing a career in nursing but since they don’t have a part time program and my family comes first, it will take me a bit of time to get there.

    I’m a lot chunkier than high school, I have been battling a thyroid condition for the last four years. It’s been a hard pill to swallow when you go from a size 4 to 12 overnight and all the exercise and proper nutrition do nothing to help but I’m starting to deal with it better.

    Lets see we have a several pets; three dogs, Lady MacKenzie a sheltie, Huckleberry Finn, a Lab mix, and Becky Thompson a Rott/Lab mix; four cats, Ms. Kitty, Turkey, Kiki, and Luna, a green cheeked conure named Skittles who says “Here Kitty, Kitty”. It drives the cats nuts because they think its me with a treat and come running. We used to have a five foot iguana but it got out one day and we never saw it again.

    I love to camp and try to go as much as possible but since working for Dave’s folks, it hasn’t been nearly as much as we used to. I love Yosemite, Sequoia, Angels Camp and Big Trees in Calaveras County, Mt. Madonna in Santa Cruz. In fact I want to buy some land in the Angels Camp area and build a log cabin for my retirement. I can see me as a little old lady pitching a tent with my dog, a bottle of wine, and a good book to read and not returning until I’ve finished my book.

    We actually have a small pop up tent trailer but are thinking of upgrading to a trailer. We go camping year round in all sorts of weathers so having the convenience of the trailer is nice but I just don’t want to lose the feeling of camping.

    I love to read mostly history pieces and historical romances. I like suspense and mystery too. I’m not much of a tv or movie person but Dave is a tv junkie. Dave has worked for Adobe Systems for the last 15 years and walks around the house with his laptop. We truly are opposites but you know what they say. Dave thought staying at a Motel 6 was camping before he met me.

Feel free to share my email with fellow alums. I would love to hear from the past. Who else have you been in touch with? Have they changed much? How’s Pinky, Julie, Jill Joyce, Pam, Keith, Paul, Honcho, David Tashman, etc...? I think it’s wonderful that you are putting this together. Maybe we could organize our own reunion over the summer or something.

 

 

Now

 

Family