Best Know A Classmate: Millie

Millie is 97 Kix's first ever repeat interviewee. In the first installment, conducted in 2006, she told us about her newly potty-trained child, her physics teacher husband, and the Masters in English she was seeking. Things have changed!

Millie! You moved to Oklahoma City, so the next time I visit Wichita, we will not share a few hours together over scones and tea.There is not a frowny-face emoticon sad enough to adequately represent my feelings! Tell us why you’re in Baptist country.

Chuck, my husband, decided to stop teaching and start a second career in Medical Physics. In May 2013, he graduated with a Masters. He has a two year residency here at OU-HSC, and then he needs to find a job, preferably in Wichita.

And if you time your visit for when I’m visiting, I’ll hook you up at the homestead.

Let’s go back in time a bit - you had a son, Charlie,  and that boy is now how old?

Charlie will be 11 in December. He’s in fifth grade now.

He has started conversations with me about superbugs and quarks. What topics are his current favorites?

Just this evening, we discussed the difference between stitching up and surgery, general vs. local anesthetic, the superiority of electric cars (cars are a big thing right now), and Star Trek.

What kind of Star Trek is his favorite? The original series? The next generation? The new movies featuring the dreamy Chris Pine?

Unfortunately it’s original. I hate William Shatner. It came about because MeTV was showing one episode a week on Saturday nights, and it was good bonding for Charlie and I. I just meant to get him hooked and quickly transition to next generation, but we are stuck until we’ve seen all the episodes of original. We’re about ⅔ done.

Why do you hate Bill Shatner? His strange vocal choices? Overacting? ALIEN WOMANIZING?? Did you know that he and the black communications lady, Uhura, shared the first televised interracial kiss? Maybe that’s a fun fact you can use to teach Charlie about racism.

I’d say the odd vocalization and then the lack of acting ability. It bothers me less than when we started this trek through Star Trek. I do remember about the kiss; Charlie tends to not notice things like that, so in a couple years I’ll tell him.

Kirk loves the ladies

I guess we should mention that your husband went to school in OKC for two years while you and your son were still in Wichita. That had to be a super bonkers situation.

We needed health insurance, and I needed to work full time to support Chuck’s school habit. The best place for me to do that was Wichita; we saw each other about once a month, although when he was writing the thesis it was more like once ever six weeks. Skype helped. We had to create our own normal for Chuck being gone, and then we had to re-adapt when we lived in the same place again. Cheryl (Arensdorf) Rundle just joked this weekend that she sees me more now that I’ve moved to OKC; I reminded her that I’m not having to work full time and be a functional single parent. :)

Your husband has chided you on Facebook for not wanting to watch the original Robocop movie. Why will you listen to Rush, a terrible, terrible band that your husband likes, but you won’t watch Robocop, a legitimately good movie that he likes?

This is actually the last question to answer, because I’m having a hard time giving a good one. I really like Rush now. Their drummer is amazing, and I have listened to the drum solo at the beginning of “One Little Victory” at least 10 times in a row sometimes. I acknowledge the “weirdness” of Geddy Lee’s voice. I appreciate that they don’t sing about love all the time, since I’m pretty unromantic.

As far as Robocop--I saw 5 minutes. Someone cursed at least every other line. It was wooden and predictable. Why would I watch more?

"RoboCop is a thriller with a difference." -- Roger Ebert, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for criticism

So the other huge event that happened since your last interview involves your husband and the urinary system. Can you explain what happened to him and your family during that ordeal? (And what continues to happen, I suppose?)

I started a really long answer, but I’m going to shorten it up. In May 2009, we found out that my husband’s kidneys were pretty much destroyed by IgA nephropathy, also known as Berger’s disease. Basically his filters were scarred over, and had developed that way over time. He spent 3 months in dialysis and received a kidney from his sister August 25, 2009. Since then, he takes lots of drugs, drinks lots of water, and puts up with lots of nagging. He’s had several biopsies of the good kidney to ensure its functionality and gets lots of blood tests. He’s only had three trips to the hospital, which is pretty much where he has to go if he gets sick. To keep the “foreign” kidney in his body, he takes immunosuppressants, and then takes lots of drugs to counteract the effects of the immunosuppresants.

So that’s us; he ideally will have this kidney for 30 years before we have do decide what to do next.

It seems weird that you can biopsy a kidney over and over again, no problemo, but then it gives out in 30 years? Where do you think kidney science will be by then? Are you thinking mechanical kidneys, or healing nanobots?

I think it’s that the fight of keeping the immune system suppressed but letting there be enough immune system that the body can deal with a cold and such eventually wears out the kidney? Also, the original disease is autoimmune which also makes the balancing act fun. We would love that you could culture your own kidney--I think that’s the only way around the immune system problem, which mechanical would not do. Nanobots would be pretty cool too, though.

Do you want to talk about health insurance? That’s a pretty timely topic you have a lot of experience with.

Health insurance works great when you’re healthy. When something happens, you discover the problems of the system. I have spent, and continue to spend, a lot of time dealing with health insurance.

Here’s what I like:

Medicare was there to fill in gaps in our personal health insurance to make sure dialysis and the transplant were covered for up to 3 years after the transplant. Once I could reach reasonable people, we were always able to get things covered and bills straightened out.

What I don’t like:

People who don’t do their jobs right and bill us for three blood tests under three separate accounts for the same person, not using the insurance info I’ve provided again and again and again. I now carry copies of every insurance we’ve used in the last 4 years because I have to.

Just this week, we found out that our current insurance company has a pre-existing condition exclusion window of 6 months that they mention NOWHERE in their literature or website but only bring up when you try to get services covered. We can void it with a certificate of continuous coverage, but I didn’t know I needed that until now.

Idiocy in policies. For instance, one insurance policy had a cap on what they would pay post-transplant, INCLUDING the drugs that keep the transplant successful. If they stop paying for those drugs ($2,000 per month), he loses the kidney and we go back to dialysis, which they would cover fully, even though it costs 2,000 per treatment at 3 treatments a week. Idiocy.

I’ll stop now.

Will you tell the story about the kid in your class who was talking s*** about Medicare?

Oh, I taught low income children; when we were discussing Obamacare and such, he was explaining to us how the only people on Medicare were poor, lazy, fat people who needed to get a job. I said, “Wait, I’m on Medicare to help with my husband’s costs…” the room got very silent. It was a great teaching moment.

How old was this kid who had such strong feelings about Medicare? My wife taught a third-grader last year that was in love with Mitt Romney and became visibly upset when the president was mentioned. Any parent who talks politics enough around their little kid to make that kind of influence must be unbearable.

It was a sixth grader. But we had kindergartners in tears after Obama was elected because they had been told at home that Obama was Satan. They were truly scared.

Hot?

And I believe you said that your brother was trying to reconcile his staunch Libertarian beliefs with your healthcare situation?

Actually, a brother and brother-in-law struggle with that. I had a different brother just use our situation as an example with the class--it’s all good to say that we should take care of these things locally and not rely on the government, but then when local resources aren't there, what is one to do? Let a 32-year-old die because the insurance doesn’t want to pay for immunosuppressants?

How many years have you paid your out-of-pocket health insurance maximum? Because if you’re like me, you thought, “Oh, I’ll have one bad year here, but I’ll be back to paying a normal amount next year…”

Since the transplant (4 years), we meet the maximum for Chuck, but not for the family. And of course copays and such don’t count toward that total… We were never even close before that. Now I just assume we will every year, so I put the money aside. Part of the problem is having to get blood drawn at the hospital so they can check the tacrolimus level; this costs 10x as much as getting a doctor to draw and analyze the blood. Unfortunately, when we tried the doctor route, we didn’t get the blood results for three months and then found out he was at toxic levels...so we go the hospital route.

I am grateful,in a way, for the whole kidney thing--I’m much more knowledgeable about health insurance (so you’re welcome), and I think it also made me a more definite or a harder person. I worry much less about silly things, because instead I can worry about blood levels and preexisting conditions.

I don’t know how to properly wrap-up this kidney dialogue, so I will just say that I’m glad things are at least routine now, and you (presumably) aren't losing sleep over this anymore. And I want to issue a very public thank you to Chuck and yourself for going through your health scare before I did, so that you could provide me with great advice and support.

Now on to the meaningless questions! What is your favorite word?

I think a word that I've started using a lot is “quite.” I blame it on Doctor Who.

What is your least favorite word?

I’m not fond of cursing--I think there are so many other words out there to express deep emotion that do so better.

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

I love reading George Weigel’s biography of John Paul II; I reread it every couple of years. I love teaching, particularly teaching middle school to underprivileged children. I love baking and cooking.

What turns you off?

Blanket or harsh criticism. I tend to be overanalytical and self-deprecating already, so unkind words can make me shut down. That said, I've heard enough that I also know how to move past them and do what I need to do.

What is your favorite curse word? 

See above.

Okay, what is your favorite use of a curse word in a movie? Is it the “Yippie ki yay…” line from “Die Hard”?

Hm….still going to have to pass.

What sound or noise do you love?

Wind in the trees, cheers at Nebraska football games, laughter of family, the noise of good china and good silverware clinking. Enthusiastic singing at Mass.

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? 

Ooh...the thought of not teaching seems a little foreign, but I think that I would have liked to be a stay at home mom with lots of kids. I think I could have been a personal shopper.

What profession would you NOT like to attempt? 

I love cooking, but I know that I would not be able to handle the pressure of professional chefdom. I also do not want to be a motivational speaker.

Do you still buy those gigantic bulk bags of flour for all your Czech baking needs?

I did in Wichita (25 lb. bags from Hudson Mills), but I can’t find them yet in OKC. So far I've made three batches of cookies and two of breads for Christmas.

What was your favorite class at BC?

I still find Father Orr’s Christian Vocations class useful; I loved all my English classes and the crazy people I got to take them with; and again, any math class with Nathan was fun.

How do you feel about getting older, fellow thirty-something?

I find it hard to believe that I really am over thirty. I have to stop and realize that I’m 34 when someone asks my age. At the same time, gray hairs are starting to take over, and have since the transplant; my joints sometimes creak in the morning; in 4 years I will have a highschooler. I try to appreciate where I’m at and not look forward or backwards too much.

Better Know A Classmate: Juli

What do you remember about your first day at Bishop Carroll? What was your very first class?

hmmm...first day, I was a little nervous about the size of the school compared to SFA across the street, but I remember being so excited about meeting all these new people that it quickly absorbed the anxiety. My first class memory was in Mrs. Barton's English class. We had alphabetical seating assignments so I was behind Mikey Harp, and Mrs. Barton would balance gracefully atop the bar stool seat at the front of class. I marveled that she was who she was and could get away with that...

You were SUPPOSED to say, “I remember walking into my first hour Old Testament class with Sister Mary Anne and sitting to the right of you!” I recall Sister Mary Anne noticing you occasionally wore a choker necklace, and she was surprised they were back in style.

You DO remember! Well, I was hoping not to make you feel uncomfortable with not remembering so I avoided that one. Except, I don't remember Sister Mary Anne noting my keen fashion sense... It was a very cool choker though.

Juli in 1993, basically

Are you serious that you didn't say Old Testament because you thought I wouldn't remember? Because I didn't know if I should bring it up either, because it's creepier for me to say it. HURR A PRETTY GIRL SAT NEXT TO ME HURR HURRR HURRRR. But it was memorable for me, because I was going from a K-8 class with 6 girls in it to a high school class with 106 girls in it, and I was overwhelmed.

I DID remember sitting next to you in a religion class freshman year, but I wasn't sure of the semester... 6! There were only 6!?!? Wow, I didn't realize that. SFA had at least 12 in each of the 3 classes in our grade. Fun fact: SFA class of '93 was the first year that SFA had 3 rooms per grade.

Your husband has a website detailing the goings-on of your household. The "About The McClure Family" section states that you have three children, but everyone knows that you have four kids. Am I to believe that managing four children is detrimental to website upkeep? 

I had to smile when I saw you asked about this. I tease Mike about it every once in awhile or whenever someone makes a comment to me about our "expanding family". It was long before number four, Maddox, came along that Michael started losing vigor on the upkeep of our site. It began as a pet project for him when his sister moved to Colorado so she, and the rest of our family, could stay up-to-date on the goings-on with the McClure clan. He also used it to test out different web design concepts and programming styles. He's pretty cool like that, fine-tuning his craft and all:) Now he is regularly helping others with their pet projects so he doesn't have a lot of extra time to update ours. With FB and Instagram, we are still keeping tabs on all the activity the family can handle to hear about.

The site lists you as a "Purchasing Specialist". IF that is accurate, tell me what is so special about your purchases. Describe a typical workday in mundane detail, please.

HA!!! I like that..., special purchases... Well, it is now inaccurate and two positions ago. I'm still at Cessna. Within Cessna, Purchasing Specialist, a title used in the procurement profession, means you work with suppliers in a more strategic manner-negotiating contracts, improving their quality, work with them on developing new technology, etc. I moved from Purchasing Specialist to a role on a Business Team that was specific to our two largest jet aircraft (Sovereign and CX). On the Business Team, I was still focused on supply chain efforts and worked to focus on the issues specific to improving cost, quality, manufacturing and ROI to the model lines I was responsible.

Those were good times but I'm SUPER excited about what I'm doing now...

I'm dubbed Sr. Engagement Manager. (no, it has nothing to do with getting people hitched!) Some people say I'm a party planner extraordinaire. My team is responsible for planning and coordinating all the logistics, details, and marketing efforts that go into an aviation related event for Cessna. Daily, I work with all areas of our internal Marketing and Sales teams, external suppliers, and creative companies to pull together events that are as far out as 9 months and as far away as Asia, Latin America, or Europe. I've even gotten to use some of the Spanish skills Senora Roberts taught me back at BC!

Wait..., you said mundane...so, I take a lot of phone calls and get a TON of emails with "opportunities", try to keep my team focused on the priorities and motivated to get them done, encourage the management teams to make decisions before deadlines/expedite fees kick-in and juggle budget dollars so we can make the most amazing displays/events/parties. Was that mundane or detailed enough?

So you’re throwing parties that you don’t get to attend? Are you ever eating ramen noodles at your desk, thinking about the aviation executives enjoying the caviar and cocaine brunch you arranged for them in Italy?

HAHAHAHAhahaha (me laughing at your cool and unassuming wit) I do go to the big events but not the small ones and we avoid cocaine on the menu, especially the mid-morning gatherings. My preferred lunch is Lean Cuisine or Smart Choice vegetarian selections and I do tend to eat at my desk often.

Aircraft executives enjoy brunch

How vegetarian are you? 

Very, if it bled, I don't eat it. 

When did that start? 

I was actually vegetarian on the trip to Cancun. It was around the end of junior year.

Do you remember when we were having dinner (and drinks, featuring very large hurricanes) in Cancun with some people from Louisiana? Do you remember the phrase one girl used to describe it when underwear was improperly wedging itself?

I DO!!!! That was so fun. A definite highlight of the trip. Did I thank you for inviting me to that?!?! Thank you. I'm not a 100% sure I recall the exact word she used...was it snuggy? She didn't call it a wedgie though.

The Louisianan said that the phrase they used instead of wedgie was, "My butt's hungry." We laughed a lot about that. You know, because of the all the rum we had ingested.

I'm embarrassed I forgot about "hungry butt". That was hysterical! And she said it with an accent so it made it more entertaining.

Are you more of a “it’s inhumane” vegetarian, or a “it’s more sustainable”, or “it’s healthier”? 

It's healthier. 

What is the worst vegetarian food, and what is the best meat dish? 

Hmmm, I don't eat bad vegetarian food... As for meat, i really used to like poultry-chicken mostly, and I do miss my mom's Thanksgiving dressing. Mmmmm, dressing....

Pad Phet is the best vegetarian dish on earth. (Ignore the shrimp in this example image.)

Your oldest daughter is entering high school and has a Facebook page that states she is single and she is "Interested in: Men". Tell me how that sentence makes you feel.

Oi! and whew... (Honestly the first time I read it, I almost got sick. IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING?!?!?) It is surreal to have a child (can I call her that?!?!) this age at our age. Especially since I remember a lot about what I was thinking, doing, watching, saying and where I was going when my parents weren't around.

You mean the mall? Going to the mall without your parents’ consent?

Yes...that is exactly what I meant. The mall...

In all seriousness, I keep reminding myself that I still turned out alright and this is the best time for her to learn the hard life lessons with less severe consequences and now's the time when I can see if Mike and I have done a good enough job as parents to get her through it.

It still freaks me out though...

On Facebook, on October 2, 2010, you stated that you made mashed potatoes, and that you "never made them from scratch before". WHAT THE HELL, JULI????! WERE YOU MAKING MASHED POTATOES FROM DEHYDRATED POTATO FLAKES???

...oh, for shame! I was, alas, making instant mashed potatoes until that point in time...My grandma Hein and aunt Mickey were the only two women in my family that ever made homemade mashed potatoes.

Yikes.

Did you mash them with the skins or without? What are your feelings on garlic in mashed potatoes? Also, your aunt was named Mickey?

Absolutely with. Garlic is a definite requirement. Mickey was her nickname. Both her and my grandma were Margaret Ann's so they started calling her Mickey and it stuck. I loved it growing up and found it intriguing that she is, in fact, a HUGE Mickey Mouse fan, as well as the correlation to the beloved 80's hit "Hey, Mickey!".

You teach yoga. What kind(s)? Is there a yoga teacher certification process? My wife says during the last 10 minutes of her yoga classes, there is silence while everyone lays there and relaxes. Is she being scammed?

Yep, I teach yoga. No, your wife is not being scammed. Savasana (a.k.a. the nap, as it has been called) is one of the most critical and, for some, the most difficult.

My classes range in intensity from prenatal to power. I teach an intermediate class at the NW Y here in Wichita. It is vinyasa/ashtanga class which means I focus on alignment and flow through poses/asanas. In my own practice, I love doing arm balances!

To teach at the Y, I had to go through their general group exercise instructor classes and take the yoga specific 64+ hours of initial yoga instructor training. I have been going to yoga workshops or instructor trainings on my own since 2009 when I first started teaching. Recently, I started an internship program with Yoga Central where I audit or teach most Saturday mornings. My intention is to become RYT 200 trained in the coming years. With my new day job and the travel schedule it requires, the timeline is getting pushed out a bit...

Would you like to hear some of my father’s complaints about the traffic the northwest YMCA has created around his once serene area?

I am interested but I wonder if they are appropriate to be in writing?

My dad, thinking about the intersection of 21st and 135th.

What do you say to people who think they are not bendy enough to practice yoga?

THAT is WHY they need to do yoga... it is a practice for a reason. You have to do it to get more from it. Jus' sayin'...

What is your favorite word?

...that is a really hard-hitting question...I'm a fan of words so it is difficult to narrow that down to one. 

[several days later...]

i think I will pick "duty". It makes me laugh to hear people say it & I like laughing. My kids caught on that it was a trigger word for me & now they crack up too which just makes me laugh harder. Not worth waiting for, huh?

What is your least favorite word? 

But...

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? 

People with faith and a willingness to believe and trust, especially when there are no particular reasons to do so. I love seeing how they allow themselves to be excited and enable themselves to be successful.

What turns you off? 

Excuses.

What is your favorite curse word? 

With four kids, I tend not to curse. Usually, I say things like, "FRUIT!" or "SUGAR!". If am sans kids, I've been known to drop the f-bomb. I know..., not so creative, right? but I like to think I'm a cussing purist:)

What sound or noise do you love? 

rain/thunderstorms

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? 

I am doing something that I have always wanted to do now, but if you want me to think of something I'd try, I used to dream (like when I was 8) about being an interior designer for extravagant homes or at least where money was no object, a landscape designer, rock star/professional singer or maybe a celebrity stylist! 

What profession would you NOT like to attempt? 

Any profession that has to deal with defecation...oops, I'm a mom... so...yeah...

What was your favorite class at BC? 

Immediately after I read this question, different English classes popped to mind: Ms. Billy Ramsey, Mr. Barber, Mrs. Depenbrock (sp?) and I had good times in Yearbook and Mr. DeMars' class even though he was cantankerous beyond words...maybe that was just Peter and Greg's affect on him:)

Is there anything you would have done differently in your time at BC? 

While many may know I did things that were not in my best interest academically, socially, spiritually or physically, I believe the choices and consequences of those choices that I made only served to "season" the person I am today. You could say they made me spicy! :D

Between this answer and the earlier one about your oldest daughter, I’m thinking I was oblivious to the wild and dangerous side of high school Juli. I was probably distracted by those choker necklaces.

You are cracking me up! You were not oblivious. You were at many of those occasions.

Well, it’s not like I opened a door at one of Keeler’s ragers and saw you in a Requiem for a Dream “ass to ass” situation, or whatever. You might be being hard on yourself for normal Class of ‘97 partying. Or I’m just clueless.

Whoa! Sooooooo did NOT do any of that... I may be scarred now... It was pretty normal partying, I suppose, but a lot of it. Just weird to think of my kids doing the same thing.

Juli made better choices than Jennifer Connelly's character in Requiem 

How do you feel about getting older, fellow thirty-something? 

I LOVE birthdays (all birthdays, even yours!) so getting older hasn't bothered me. It is, in fact, a month long celebration every year so I look forward to it;) August 1st (July 15-Aug 15, don't dispute the time. It will only make it longer;) You can send gifts, happy birthday recordings, and well wishes anytime. There's pros and cons to the whole deal, but the pros are definitely winning in my book.