Previous home: 12. Phoenix, Arizona 1986 - 1987 Next home: 14. Phoenix, Arizona 1988
I moved back to Alaska that winter because my mother impulse-accepted a spur of the moment marriage proposal and moved to Australia, which meant she no longer worked as the Alaskan Field Representative for Devry Institute of Technology, so I no longer qualified for free tuition as her dependent. While the wedding wasn’t till 1988-01-01, Terry and his daughters, Kirsty and Amber arrived on 19 December (mom’s birthday). I don’t recall how much in advance of that I arrived in Anchorage, but I will never forget going to the airport in two cars to pick them up. They came out the doors after security, and Beth and Kirsty, who hadn’t seen one another since saying goodby at the airport in Helsinki in January, started hugging, and mom and Terry not only hugged, but started kissing in a manner that I had never seen my mother kiss anyone before. So Amber and I, too embarrassed to watch the parents making out at the airport hugged one another.
For more details on how their marrige was arranged by Beth and Kirsty, see Amber’s Documentary, The Arranged Marriage
On 2026-05-02 my sister found the letter with which mom accepted that marriage proposal, written in Alaska on 1987-09-06:
