[Magdalen] Thanksgiving--Swamp Mom-in-Law!

[Judy Fleener]

Great story, Jay.

On Mon, Jul 10, 2017 at 9:51 PM, Jay Weigel <jay.weigel at gmail.com> wrote:

> Prayers of thanksgiving are in order for the last of my Swamp Rats to get
> married. Michael Jones, who was one of the first Swamp Rats, married Kelly
> Loveday on Saturday last. I can now breathe a sigh of relief <g>
>
> Michael my Adam got in and out f scrapes together through high school but
> somehow survived them. They worked at Dollywood in the summers, played loud
> music in the basement, chased girls, and of course managed to endear
> themselves (and irritate) several sets of parents. Then Michael split off
> from the group and dropped out of sight. By his own account (told to me a
> year and a half ago) he got heavily into drugs and dropped out of school
> his last semester. One day, he said, he woke up in a nasty house, looked
> around, and wondered what he was doing. He somehow managed to get himself
> together enough to call his mom and ask if he could come home. She told him
> only if he went to detox and got good and clean first...which he did. After
> that he straightened up, took the money his grandparents offered, and went
> off to the evangelical college they specified, where he spent three years
> before transferring to UT to earn his degree in English...,magna, he told
> me, without pride. He also embarked on a brief, ill-fated marriage to a
> girl he'd met at the evangelical college, which lasted about 3 years. After
> UT, he headed for New England and a master's at Emerson, then a PhD in
> English Lit at UConn, where he taught for a number of years. He moved back
> to Tennessee several years ago when his mother became ill and has been
> living there and teaching at ETSU and looking after his stepdad (who was my
> P&A instructor) since. I don't know exactly how long he and Kelly have been
> an item. but I'm delighted that they are now married.
>



-- 
Judy Fleener, ObJN,SSH
Western Michigan