[speaker001:] okay I'll let you go ahead
[speaker002:] okay I uh I have five children all together
[speaker001:] oh uh-huh
[speaker002:] uh my oldest two are already out and about in the world and I uh have a set of twins that are fourteen and uh my youngest is twelve
[speaker001:] oh that's great I always thought it'd be great to have twins
[speaker002:] uh yeah if you like doing everything twice
[speaker001:] well yeah
[speaker002:] uh at any rate um my first two children uh I didn't spend a whole lot of time with them
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] um and you know was a a problem with having five children needing to work a uh full-time job that was more than a full-time job I worked about fifty one hours a week because I worked every worked eleven hours every Sunday
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] and uh so I didn't get to spend as much time with them as I as I should have as I really wanted to
[speaker001:] your first ones you mean it was this way
[speaker002:] yeah the yeah the family well it was with all of them but it was uh more an impact I think on the oldest two
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] because um oh about the time I got out of working that long hours was when the uh when the twins were about three years old and uh they never you know I don't think they noticed I wasn't around that much you know with all the children around the house it's kind of hard to notice that dad isn't around very much um
[speaker001:] oh right
[speaker002:] so what I've tried to do uh now that I've uh finally went back to school and got my degree when I was thirty years old and uh so
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] then I came out and was making as much money forty hours a week as I did fifty one hours a week so I've tried to spend more time with uh the children since then um what I'm currently doing is uh taking a lot of time um
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] helping the kids more with their homework in the evenings um we just started a thing where every other week we go to uh movies there's a movie theater that offers dollar movies on Wednesday nights
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and so every couple of weeks we will go to the movies because that's how often they change the movies and
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] it's working out pretty well um we're spending more time together I feel like I'm a lot closer to the three that are still living at home than I ever was to the two that were living there before um
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and in fact I found that I'm a lot closer with uh I have one son who's gone and I don't even know where he's at um he's taken off for parts unknown but uh yeah and and uh my
[speaker001:] huh that's difficult yeah
[speaker002:] daughter is um has moved out of the house her and I get along a lot better now that she's moved out of the house
[speaker001:] uh-huh it happens that way
[speaker002:] and uh so it's it's it's it's been difficult to try to find the time and I think it's important that we do because um I notice that uh when I had spent two years down in Dallas down there they all have a uh a me kind of attitude
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and I noticed parents not spending time with their children and and going out and doing things and you know I knew like the kids next door were all into cocaine and
[speaker001:] uh-huh um uh-huh
[speaker002:] you know it just you know I saw the family falling apart down there
[speaker001:] Texas is much worst for the drugs I mean it was bad enough every place else but drugs is in Texas are extremely bad
[speaker002:] yeah and so I think it's kind of important that I that I you know nurture the relationship I have with my children now and I'm doing my best to keep that up
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh well that's all you can do
[speaker002:] yeah what's your been your experience
[speaker001:] well I I was going to ask too does your wife work
[speaker002:] um she didn't up until the last oh six months
[speaker001:] uh-huh she just recently started working then
[speaker002:] uh she just recently started working uh she worked a job until we moved to our new house and uh she quit that job because it was too inconvenient and uh she starts a new job tomorrow which should take her out of the house about four days a week
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh huh oh uh-huh uh-huh so that sounds great well uh we also have five children
[speaker002:] huh
[speaker001:] and but ours are all out of the nest so uh as when they were growing up I probably we had a lot of similar things like like you had you know having the time when you have younger ones to take care of you maybe sometimes do not take as much time for the older ones but uh we were we're very active of course at church and uh Boy Scouting and Girl Scouts Four H
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] uh and those activities helped a lot in giving us things to do with the children
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] and uh we try to take a vacation with them every year camping of some sort something that wasn't expensive and uh our youngest is uh expecting her first baby so they're they're all out and on their own they're and we have one to get married yet and they'll all be married uh and they're they're all doing pretty good they uh two lives in Pittsburgh you probably don't know where that is
[speaker002:] certainly do
[speaker001:] okay two of our children live there uh one I like I said lives near Maryland in in around Maryland DC he works right on the border of DC
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] and one lives in Connecticut and our baby lives just a mile over the hill so we'll get to see her a little more than uh what we do the other ones
[speaker002:] yeah that sounds great I've I've noticed uh another thing um when I was younger my father was always working and
[speaker001:] uh-huh well they have to
[speaker002:] yeah and uh you know he uh he worked a full-time job and a part-time job and I never saw him so I didn't have much of a role model to go by
[speaker001:] yeah uh-huh uh-huh to go to follow uh-huh
[speaker002:] you know to learn how to be a a father and a parent
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and that kind of thing because I I can't ever remember playing ball with my dad or catch with my dad or doing anything with my dad
[speaker001:] yeah uh-huh and that does make a big difference
[speaker002:] yeah and it if you don't have I don't I it's my feeling that if you don't have a role model to follow then it's kind of tough you know everybody's not Father Knows Best
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh uh-huh that's that's well none of us are let's face it you know we're not none of us like they portray portray it on those shows I mean life's much more difficult than that
[speaker002:] yeah but yeah yeah yeah I mean the the the capability to uh create children doesn't necessarily mean you have the uh the mental capacity to raise them and
[speaker001:] and uh right right now our daughter our well she's our second oldest she has she's the only that other one that has children she has two boys and she works full time and I have mixed feelings about that she's able to do that and I don't know if she'd be happy to stay at home but yet on the other hand I I've got the mixed feelings that I think you should be at home with your children I'm kind of old fashioned I guess that way but they seem to they seem to give uh quality time
[speaker002:] yes
[speaker001:] to those children when they are together and and so it seems it seems for them that it works out all right so I don't know I I don't think I ever would have had what it would take to work full time and raise a family I
[speaker002:] yes it's it's not easy I've uh you know I've helped out extremely
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] uh well I can't say that but I've helped out as best I could at home and uh you as you know with five children it takes a lot of work
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh yes it does it it yeah
[speaker002:] even if even if someone's home all the time there's still a lot of things that have to be done
[speaker001:] yeah what line of work are you in now since you went to school and
[speaker002:] uh well now I work for Texas Instruments so so I'm in computers
[speaker001:] oh okay okay a lot of the people I've that's called I've talked to work for uh for the same
[speaker002:] yeah and so I've uh prior to that I uh I worked in a food store
[speaker001:] uh uh-huh
[speaker002:] and uh you know work
[speaker001:] which your income would be a lot better now
[speaker002:] uh right
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] yeah it uh it was uh it was a a smart move to make um I was more intelligent than the position I was holding
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh right
[speaker002:] and uh it was
[speaker001:] and it's kind of a waste of a person
[speaker002:] yes I I felt that it certainly was I mean I was smarter than most of the people that I was working for and uh you know every time something new came up I was explaining it to them and uh I had
[speaker001:] you know uh-huh uh-huh uh-huh uh-huh and you you recognized this and was able to you know do something about it
[speaker002:] yeah I uh yeah I uh started back to school in fact I was going to school while I was working fifty one hours a week and that's why I you know if you're working if you're taking twelve credits at night and you're working fifty one hours a week there's not much time left to spend with
[speaker001:] uh-huh well it puts a strain on everybody your wife and your family
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and the only thing you can remember is to try and stay together as much as you can because it's very easy to uh become go your own direction when you're so when you're working so hard and going to school too
[speaker002:] yeah yeah well it it all paid off um so uh you know I got my degree and got the better paying job and
[speaker001:] well that's wonderful uh-huh
[speaker002:] and uh you know we I think as a family we're a lot better off
[speaker001:] uh-huh it sounds to me like uh you're doing well my husband's retired so uh he's been retired for three years now yeah that's quite a change
[speaker002:] uh-huh  yeah well my goal is to try to retire by the time I'm fifty five
[speaker001:] oh well he made it at fifty it was a magic number for him and and uh he went at fifty and he still works part time at other thing you know
[speaker002:] great
[speaker001:] same job as he was doing only he's retired and doing it independently but uh
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] nevertheless retired
[speaker002:] well I'm