Trudy's Amazing Eyes

Hello Friends,Trudy had the most amazing eyes I've ever "seen." When I've told the "Four Leaf Clover" story, as I have below, the reaction ranges from: "Oh, wow...!" to "Sure!" But, hey, these are my memories and perceptions of the very true-to-life creation of God's handiwork...Trudy Ann Benoit Daniel. What a "set up," huh?

For me, one look into those beautiful eyes was all it took. Her eyes were crystal clear blue eyes that radiated with a penetrating clarity framed by her perfect features and pure complexion. Not only did Trudy possess eyes of beauty, she had eyes that opened-up inside her being, the most intricate details of all that she gazed upon.

We were beginning to spend a great deal of time together in our emerging courtship in those early Spring days of 1971. Trudy and I were learning each other in very basic ways...like how to walk with an arm around each others waist and keep out steps in sync...what to talk about...how to express our dreams, you know...all those early, but essential issues of moving toward the "one" heart life we would be embracing in just a few months.

Here is the story of my earliest awareness of her unusual vision. Even before the grass began to turn green, there would be patches of green clover that stood in beautiful contrast to the yet brown "look" of the waning winter months. While we were practicing our new found skills of synchronized arm around waist walking, Trudy would suddenly stop, extricate herself from our walking embrace, and as she was stooping over, she would exclaim: "Wait, I see a four-leaf clover!" She would then simply reach out and pluck from out of a patch of clover...a sure enough four leafed sample! I couldn't believe "my" eyes! I would look down at that patch of clover and all I could see was...well, a bunch of clover. I thought, "Trudy is a little shorter than I, maybe I just need position my eyes to the same height as her eyes? Oh, friend, that was a mistaken thought at so many levels. I was never able to see life, people, nature, or even God with the clarity that came so naturally to Trudy. But, when I got down on hands and knees and searched carefully, I could usually find a four leaf clover...a four leaf clover that Trudy could see from a full standing height...while at a walking pace! Amazing!

Trudy always loved the beauty of God's creation, especially the beauty of flowers and plants. She noticed the beauty of the orderliness of God's handiwork in ways that were compelling to her. She felt at her very best when there was a place for everything and everything was in its place...and those places were symmetrical and beautiful. There was an unbridled joy in her heart whenever and wherever she discovered such beauty...from an arm around waist walk with her beau and spotting a four leaf clover to much later in life, gazing out her kitchen window to delightfully observe blooming flowers, Blue Jays in the birdbath, and a few hummingbirds darting in to the feeders she had strategically placed for them.

Trudy always searched for and saw the best in people, too. Now here, is the paradox I referred to in my earlier post...those amazing eyes that could instantly spot a defect in a project that she had been working on, that could spot any irregularity in the neatness of her house; were stone blind to the defects of her husband, or any of her beloved friends and family. Oh, that's not to say she was never frustrated with me or other people in her life, but she demonstrated a godliness of virtue in that bygones were easily bygones, and quietly forgotten. Paradoxically, what she effortlessly forgave in others, she relentlessly demanded of herself...looks, dependability, orderliness, etc. One of the God-given tasks I never tired of, yet carried on with bemusement, was to constantly assure, nay, advocate to her; that she was not only beautiful to ME, her husband, but that she was entirely beautiful...in inner beauty and in outer appearance...to all of us. I suppose in a wondrously charming way, that was a major part of her beauty, her deferential and humble sense of self. Meanwhile, I should confess, I was secretly happy that no movie producers discovered her with a notion to sweep her away into a life of stardom!

Next time, NSU dates and the crisis that served to cement our courtship.

Blessings,
Robert