The Escapades and Misadventures of the Trevinos

After reading the preceding life histories of our classmates I feel like my life has been episode after episode of 50’s and 60’s sitcoms  
  
Moving out of McAllen…1970  
Episode One: “The Honeymooners “ starring Mike Trevino as Jackie Gleason.
Mike playing the part of  Ralph Cramdon, the mouthy bus driver and me the ever-patient wife Alice.  I should have had an inkling of my future life every time MY Ralphie boy would say “One of these days Alice, POW! Straight to the moon”.  Well we married and found a little honeymoon cottage in Pharr.  OK you smug world travelers…you just didn’t know how exotic and uptown it can be when you live on South Cage Street. ..and best of all it was free and furnished (Imagine Mike when he heard that). It was free only until it was sold and guess how long that took…two months!  All too soon the honeymooners had no where to go.  Luck still being on their side, a young soldier who was returning from war bought their little cottage and said stay here with me because I travel a lot and it would be doing me a favor.  Again the free word!  The happy threesome lasted for only one month when this very patient wife found out she was pregnant and it was going to get a little crowded. 

House Hunting We Will Go …still 1970 
Episode Two:  The Jefferson’s with Mike playing the part of George.
With Mike’s success in landing a very prestigious job at the new Jr. High in San Juan, (haha) “we were movin’ on up”...on up the Valley at least to tropical San Juan.  We turned the cutest little lean-to into our new cottage and future home of our first daughter, Tori, who was born in 1971.  It was a very convenient location  because Mike worked right over the canal at the Jr. High. Nothing could be better than walking to work and getting to come home for lunch…we lovebirds were so happy.  That is until our neighbor’s 40 year old son and his motorcycle moved back home to Mama‘s house.  Our sleep schedules were wrecked.  Our little neighborhood was also  a little Peyton Place because across the street was the “San Juan Trailer Court”.  We had a plethora of characters coming and going.  I don’t remember having a TV but who needed one when you had a window into the world of trailer court living.  Every new little family needed a dog, so we got our dream dog, a beautiful Irish Setter.  Mike named her after Neil Young’s song, “Cinnamon Girl”.  Everyone loved our sweet little family until our wonder dog started bringing us gifts.  No one had fences so she would prowl around the neighborhood and wait until everyone hung their laundry out to dry, pull it down, and bring it all to us. Our garage sometimes looked like a Ropa Usada.  It wasn’t long before we needed to pack our bags and move on or be evicted…where to next?

Back to McAllen…1974
Episode Three:  The Beverly Hillbillies  The Clampetts being played by The Trevinos
Our family didn’t discover black gold (oil that is), but we both landed jobs in McAllen ISD…  So we bought our mansion and moved back to Beverly Hills (McAllen that is).  Of course being a nouveau riche, backwoods family we bought too small.  It wasn’t long before I was with child yet again and we needed a bigger mansion.  Our son, Nick, was born in 1976, and when he was TWO weeks old, we moved into our next house…we hadn’t gotten any smarter in the last 6 years.   We actually stayed in this mansion until  episode four.  Over the years we had to build on two more bedrooms to house our next two daughters... Jackie in “81 and Taryn in ’82.  Our children grew and before long all were college bound.  During our short time as empty nesters, Mike walked our 3 daughters down the aisle and we discovered gold for real…our grandchildren.  We have 7 precious nuggets…14, 12,  8, 8, 8, 7, & 2. 


Episode Four: Yours, Mine, and Ours   
Cast includes: Mike, Barbara, and their family of 14 and her younger sister, Judy French and her family of 16 (soon to be 17)
This is a 2005 American family comedy about two families with 20 children and grandchildren who moved to New Braunfels and bought some property with a 3/1 barnominium on it .  They lived joyfully in their barn until the need for more bathrooms became an issue.  It soon became apparent that the adult parents needed to build their own house across the meadow.  We are again in a cottage but this time built for 3.  We hope to live happily ever after with the barn across the meadow bulging at the seams with children’s laughter, a fire pit roaring with adult children and teens partying until the wee hours, and memories always in the making.

Highlights of the past 44 years:
Our marriage, children, and grandchildren
Barbara’s retirement in 2000 (huh…coincides with the birth of my first grandchild)
Mike’s retirement in 2005
The beginning of the Trevino/French Commune 2005 (huh…coincides with Mike’s retirement)  
Trevino/French Travels began in 2005...we finally made it to Europe…a number of times.  We visited Mike’s homeland in Spain,  Barbara & Judy’s in Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and are checking off our bucket lists in the good ole USA.  All of our children live in Texas except our eldest and she is in North Carolina…so needless to say this Nana racks up many air miles visiting the east coast.
Thanksgiving HOLIDAYS at our house…we host from 70-80 people every November and remain sane!  Thankfully our married children are taking over a lot of the responsibility and we can sit back and enjoy the view…it looks pretty good from a porch swing under the palapa.  

We will see where Episode Five takes us, but I know it will include the original cast, Mike, Judy and I living out the remainder of our lives on our very own “Green Acres”.  Let’s not forget to keep an eye out for the misadventures of the Three Amigas (Barbie Jo, LaVernie Jo, and Nancie Jo) buying, decorating, and renting rooms for the next ’65 Reunion at The Shady Rest Hotel right here at Petticoat Junction, TX.    

Mike and I had a wonderful time at the 50th Reunion and feel so blessed to have been able to Welcome Back Mr. Baker…(hee hee Mr. Kotter…get it).  
Love to all you ‘65 Sweat Hogs, 
Barbara