New Stuff!

1980 Chevy Monza courtesy of thetruthaboutcars.com

Once the paychecks started coming regularly, so did the "new stuff" My mom bought a new 1980 Chevy Monza and my step-dad bought a new 1980 Chevy dually double-cab pickup (I just wish I could find a picture of one of those sweet rides!). Like Mom's car it was bright red. We were on top of the world. This was the best we, as a family, had ever done, and perhaps that is one of the reasons I will always have such fond memories of Odessa.  We ate out, and not just at McDonald's!  We went to the movies!  I went to work at Susie's Casuals in the Permian Mall and was able to use my paycheck to buy clothes and shoes for myself and not groceries!  Things really seemed to be looking up.  Not only did my family have one small burst of financial prosperity, but this is where I graduated from high school (after attending 15 total in 4 years), where I got my first real job (at the Odessa Police Department), where I met many of my closest friends, and where, when the time came (as it always did) for my family to pack up and move, I was able to stay put, and make a life for myself there. Sure, it could have been any one of the others places we'd lived---Houston, Phoenix, Los Angeles --- places where there were trees, water, activities, mountains --- but it was Odessa. Many people call it "Slowdeatha" but I'm not one of those. Odessa will always be home to me.

Less than two years after this time of plenty, things were changing and the boom was turning to bust.......