21987 Wednesday, September 2 1987/The Battalion/Page 5B ^ Retarded couple finds ^difficulty in married life '"lay and Joyce adapt to independence iff." at is sony saying, 'Wig Imrch?’ ne offered J ■ ■ And just J I hours a dJ hours. In- ng his ofTBi osi see hitr,; hi drop in, f! doesn’t talf lavs oil and famil) / pastor cari ig his or ii re not carta he leftover; f “enables Si e being ni i," but afc e day offi 1 - t hem at odjj tl, for youtf ison sai^ gleet yotH ecome suaf io\v — I GAINESVILLE(AP) —Atfirst.it was simple. Clay loved Joyce. And Joyce loved Clay. So Clay and Joyce iloped. I But almost a year after the Car- Hingtons’ impromptu marriage, the mentally retarded couple — both cli ents at the Joe Walter Workshop in Kainesville — say things haven’t gone as smoothly as they imagined. | Oh, they still giggle, hold hands, Bmooch on the couch. But they have Home to realize that life isn’t as easy Hvhen you’re on your own. I “He helps me take the laundry Hownstairs, and he helps with the Hooking and the housework,” Joyce Hays, smiling at her husband. “Some- Himes he just sits there and watches Hw” E Clay writes the checks out, pays Buie rent, gets medicine from the Hrugstore and checks the mail. And Ho, he does not leave his wife to the Hrudgery of the kitchen while he Hatches Vanna White. Well, OK. Hut only sometimes. I Clay spent most of his life under Hie warm wing of his parents, special Hchools, and gfroup homes. Joyce at- Hended special classes at regular Hchools and rarely spent a night Hway from her family’s home in Dal las. I Neither was familiar with inde pendence, but both have had a crash Hourse in growing up since their 1986 wedding. I Kevin Callaghan, the Carringtons’ Haseworker at Joe Walter, says mar- wiages between the mentally re- ■arded are becoming more common as society accepts their handicaps. I “I’d say it’s happening more be- Sause people are beginning to look Ht the mentally retarded as people,” ■pallaghan says. “People are begin ning to look at them as people with Abilities rather than disabilities.” I The Joe Walter Workshop recog- Hizes that the mentally retarded Have skills and can do jobs catered to pheir capabilities, says Glenda Wat- they son, personal and social work adjust ment supervisor. Through working and participat ing in the workshop’s assisted apart ment living program, both Callag han and Watson say the couple’s self-esteem has skyrocketed. “Joyce was of the belief that she couldn’t learn, so she didn’t want to try,” Callaghan says. “It wasn’t six months later that she could tell you things like, I can do this, I can do that." Although the Carringtons’ case worker said he had reservations about the couple’s spur-of-the-mo- ment union, he admits they have adapted remarkably well to indepen dence. “After two weeks it was apparent that they could make it if wanted to,” he says. Clay and Joyce met the County Southeast Work Training Center in Dallas after Joyce, 21, heard through the grapevine that Clay, 24, was not only handsome, but wealthy. “I said, ‘I want this guy,’ ” she says, laughing. Like many young couples, the two courted for awhile, taking in movies like “Police Academy III” and “Pee Wee Herman’s Big Adventure.” It wasn’t long before they fell in love, went to a justice of the peace in Dal las and tied the knot. The next day, they had their first lover’s spat. Clay’s Dallas group home did not allow married couples, and Joyce didn’t want to live with her family. When Clay suggested moving to Gai nesville and working at Joe Walter, the city girl in Joyce rebelled. “She wanted to move back with her parents,” Clay recalls. “She said I was dumb and stupid.” In the end, Clay’s stubborn insis tence on the move won out, and the young couple is slowly adjusting to their new life, although they fre quently return to visit Dallas. They live in a small, but comfort able government-subsidized apart ment in Gainesville with two par akeets, Stephanie and Tom. According to Callaghan, the couple’s rent is $118 per month plus utilities, and they are able to pay their bills through workshop wages and Sup plemental Security Income. “The two of them have been good with money from the start,” he says. “Every month they have managed to save something.” Although Callaghan and Watson help the Carringtons with their fi nances, Clay and Joyce make most of the spending decisions themselves. Callaghan takes the couple to the grocery story and Watson offers ad vice on planning menus, although they say Clay and Joyce now make most of the culinary decisions. “When we need other things, we go to Wal-Mart or K mart,” Clay says, pointing to his feet, “and this is our transportation.” Although the couple’s relationship has been successful, both say it hasn’t been without crisis. When the subject of children came up, Joyce insisted that she wanted to have a baby. Clay was completely against a pregnancy. “I said it would be too much of a problem,” Clay says. “We would al ways have to get a babysitter. Or Joyce would have to stay home and we would have only one income.” Clay says he discussed the prob lem with Callaghan, and the couple finally agreed they weren’t ready for children. But it wasn’t the last of the strong- willed couple’s problems. Joyce still isn’t sure she wants to stay in Gaines ville, but Callaghan says she is start ing to feel comfortable in her new home. “It’s pretty hard to get married and move to a completely foreign town,” he says. “This is a really big chance for both of them. They really have courage.” Roadside attractions on 1-35 include swimming pig show :ed to be a " ; ;>nly husM ;es 13 an^; le sees his 1 - ty people. l; is authentic other p 351 ’; it is inip olU ergencie 51 - iuld in f 3Ci: ' d during : he death c ir day offT vacations 3 ly rejuv fB; _ belter p asK GEORGETOWN (AP) — On a 100-mile stretch of Interstate 35 in Central Texas, tourists can watch a pig §wim and venture below the highway to watch a re-cre ation of Creation. 1 It’s America at play on a summer day. A straight Stretch of highway, tourists yearning for something to tour, lots of billboards and a curious combination of businesses ever willing to quench the nation’s thirst for roadside entertainment. I First, there’s Georgetown’s Inner Space Cavern, dis covered in 1963 by state highway department drillers checking whether the ground would support an over pass over 1-35. I Now, the cool cavern winds 40 feet under the inter state. Underground, a tour guide points out where the northbound lane runs overhead and mentions other noteworthy features. I “This is one of our imagination rooms, and if you’ll use your imagination you can see King Tut,” said tour guide Kim Gray. “He’s sitting on top of a Texas-sized duck foot. Over in the back is a mermaid riding on a dolphin. You might notice that our mermaid is missing her tail. Jaws has it over there.” One of the highlights is the Creation re-creation, a sound-and-light show sufficiently religious to have drawn objections from atheist leader Madalyn Murray O’Hair. The production, which begins in the kind of darkness that only a cavern can provide, happens at the Flowing Stone of Time in the cavern’s Outer Cathedral. In addition to inspiration, the cavern offers educa tion, such as helping end the continuing confusion over stalactites and stalagmites. Directly across 1-35 from the cavern is the Candle Factory, complete with a first-hand look at candle-dip- I Ping- “I was never involved much with candles, except for buying and burning them,” said Ellen Nuckolls, who, with husband Paul, bought the candle business in June from its original owners. For the record, it takes 17 dips to make most candles. The cavern tour continues in San Marcos at Wonder World, which features, according to a brochure, “eons on top of eons of time revealed through layers of sedi mentation.” The tour “tells the dramatic story of the birth of Wonder Cave, from its geological origins to its use as a secret gambling parlor at the turn of the cen tury.” Like many of the 1-35 attractions, Wonder World has a souvenir shop. This one claims to have “10,001 unique collectibles.” There is a certain air of familiarity in many such shops. The giant Texas fly-swatter is ever-popular, as are whips and the usual collection of T-shirts and post cards. Since 1954, Ralph the Swimming Pig has been among the top attractions at Aquarena Springs in San Marcos, just west of 1-35. Due to logistical difficulties, there have been and are now many Ralphs. But only one was named Ralph. “He has to retire when he reaches 100 pounds be cause he can’t swim anymore,” said Erin Harwell, a public relations official for Aquarena Springs. The San Marcos attraction is among the most lasting and popular of the 1-35 sights. It opened in 1946 with its first glass-bottom boats and drew 450,000 visitors last year. “The original Ralph was Ralph and they got him through one of our swimmers who lived on a farm and had taken our attractions supervisor home for Christmas,” Harwell said. “The pig liked to swim. The first Ralph was a natural. They were looking for a new attraction. They had had sea lions and they had prob lems with them because this is fresh water and sea lions don’t really do too well in it.” A typical Ralph can ham it up in the show for about six months before becoming too much of a porker. At any one time there are about six Ralphs — all with dif ferent names — to swim the 13 shows a day. the long, indispej without ^ mes, but’' FITLIFE 1987 FALL EXERCISE CLASSES ■ FRESH START - A LOW-IMPACT BEGINNING AEROBICS CLASS SECOND WIND - A MODERATE PACED AEROBICS CLASS SWEAT SHOP - AN ADVANCED PACED AEROBICS CLASS HYDROFIT - AN INDOOR AQUATIC LOW-INTENSITY AEROBICS CLASS TRIM TIME - A HIGHLY STRUCTURED EXERCISE WEIGHT CONTROL PROGRAM w/ FULL FITNESS TESTING PACESETTER - A BEGINNING WALK - JOG CLASS ENROLL NOW ! ! ! CLASSES START SEPT. 7- DEC. CALL 845-3397 FOR FURTHER INFO. DIRECTED AND SUPERVISED BY THE HUMAN PERFORMANCE LABORTORITES DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & P.E. 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