One never knows the twists and turns, the fates of life, until they happen. This had been a second marriage for both Flo and Ritchie and I knew the latter had grown kids. I really didn't
think twice in the sense of Flo leaving me anything. They had both worked very hard at the bakery getting up at crazy hours for Richard to
bake and Flo to make breakfast--though Ritchie quickly learned he would
have to be the cook of the house!--and deal with all the suppliers and government tape, keep the books and do all that she could. They both were savers in the sense that if they spent it was for the best for both of them. Richie leased a new Cadillac every year , when Flo got dressed it was in the best and their house had the finest China, silverware, furniture, etc.  Neither were the spendthrift I was!

After
a week or two Richie asked me to come over for dinner and showed me the
Will(s) that he and Flo had. It was simple in that if Richie died first
everything would go to Flo and then to me while if Flo died first
everything would go to Richie and he would leave everything to his kids.
Ironically I was the executor of the Will when Richie died. Flo and
Richie had given me a lot of money for Our Weigh which they lost and I
knew they were there if and when I would need them. I had Flo's aloe
plant in her Mexican pot and I still have it 30 years later.

Ritchie would die 6 years after Flo.

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During
the 80s I had Leap Year birthdays in 1980--that was held at The
Sandpiper and I was 11 years old--in 1984--Michael opened his house to
celebrate my 12th birthday while I invited the guests--and in 1988, at
the age of 13, I invited a group of people to the Golden Spike buffet,
where they served the best restaurant carrot cake I ever had, included
in the guest list 'The Snoop Sisters", otherwise known as Michael's
mother and aunt

It
seems that in the 1980s I kept up my record of moving every 5 or so
years  first living on Riverside Drive and then off Sunrise Boulevard.
This time I went from a 1 bedroom to a 2 bedroom apartment. I really
liked the latter apartment. The story was that I hated house work so
much I just packed up and moved instead of cleaning!

Along with apartments I was changing jobs and, sometimes, it seemed like every
other day! I was either quitting because I wasn't making money or I was
quitting before I got fired though I did get fired a couple of times.
There were also some good jobs but they ended because the restaurant
closed. At one place I had 3 jobs as it underwent 3 different owners,
names and themes. I really enjoyed being a waiter and never entertained
the idea of going into management though I had many offers. First of all
it would take me away from enjoying meeting customers and becoming friends with many of them--in most places I usually had the most 'call parties' and
made the most in tips. Another reason was that as a server I worked 5-6
hours an evening whereas management was another word for 'slave labor'!
The big mistake I made was not declaring more in tips and I suffered for
that when it came to collecting Social Security.

One of the best jobs was with Wag's, which was owned by Walgreen's who were getting away from lunch counters in their stores. Wag's was like Denny's, only better food wise and, of course, they had me
working for them! What made it different was we got free stock for each
year we worked, we got a paid Anniversary day off plus paid vacations,
holidays and health insurance. They also had a 'savings account' where we got 15% interest for whatever amount we 'deposited'. All of this was very rare in the restaurant business in the 1980s. When I quit Wag's I walked away with close to $5,000 after cashing in my free stock and 'savings'. Strange
about stocks--I never bought any but was given them from working at
Weight watchers and Wag's making good money off both.

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The 1980s of my life could be summarized by using numbers in all categories.