You Can Take the Girl Outta the Country...

Hello Again, Dear Friends,

This picture is on our first anniversary. Flowers, new dress, and dinning at "Herbie K's," home of the World's Worst Service! That was their slogan, but actually Herbie K's was absolutely our fav.

In the coming year, Trudy was about to find out just what she'd gotten herself into! Good times aplenty mixed with some "tie your stomach in knots" stuff thrown in. Let me start with some of the good.

Next up after our Anniversary, Christmas was just around the corner. We had lots of family and friends over and Trudy loved hosting get-togethers. She must have, I was looking over some of our calendar notations, and we seemed to have people over every weekend and some weekdays. All the busyness was a blast and served to help us grow closer in our sense of partnership in our marriage.

In the Spring of 1973, life continued to move a breakneck speed. We were teaching Sunday School to sixth-graders, Trudy was in her last semester at Louisiana College, and I was getting more responsibility at my job with the Ditch Witch Trencher Company. Trudy loved the simple joys of life...like taking my sixth-grade boys S.S. class out crawfishing. In fact, that was so much fun, we decided to introduce my family to the joys of crawfishing! This picture shows Trudy showing my niece Jacquie, the finer points of this unique activity. You may have read the post about my first glimpse of Trudy; well this picture is a
neat reminder of that for me...for if you could adjust the picture to have her hands on her hips, this would be pretty close...it's the way she could lean back and square her shoulders, and...oh well, enough of my meandering. In May, Trudy graduated from L.C. with a 3.0 GPA (I believe it was a smidgen higher before she married...lol). Next up was a rather big change.

My boss (and uncle) Luther Shackelford summoned me to his office. Bill Durham, the manager of our Shreveport office was also there. It seems that they were planning an organizational change that would involve me. Bill was moving from Shreveport to Alexandria, to become the company Sales Manager, and I was being touted to take over the Shreveport branch office. I was thrilled at the proposition and was highly interested. Uncle Luke inquired as to how Trudy might feel about moving to Shreveport? Well, I didn't know, but I was sure she would be excited...as I was! I was urged to take some time and talk it over with Trudy before I gave them my answer. Well, Trudy seemed to be excited for me as far as I could tell, and for sure, she had the whole "Ruth" thing firmly in her heart...you know, "whither thou goest, I will go; whither thou lodgest, I will lodge." Knowing Trudy was supportive, I accepted the promotion and began the process of relocating.

As part of her final semester of college, Trudy did her student teaching at Menard High School in Alexandria. After completing her requirements for her college class, she accepted a teaching position at the same school for the remainder of the year. Meanwhile, we had done some house hunting and with my promotion and Trudy being a certified and experienced teacher, we had no problem qualifying for a home loan and we made the leap to buy our first home. It was a lovely, brand new home in the brand new Silver Pines Subdivision off Jewella Road in the southern part of Shreveport.

All was well...or so I thought. Trudy finished her last day of teaching at Menard, and headed to meet me at the duplex we were moving into while our home was being completed. When she arrived, me and the guys that worked in the shop at Ditch Witch were almost through moving our stuff into the duplex. After we finished, and Ray and Lewis went home, I began to open my eyes to some emotion on Trudy's part. Seems that moving away from her family was not so easy for her. No doubts as to the fact that she was whole-heartedly doing the move...it was just tough on her. She really didn't want me to even know that she was struggling...all she wanted me to see was her support of me and how proud she was of me! But, transparency such as Trudy consistently displayed is a virtue, not a weakness. Once again, my love for her grew.

There was another difficult time surrounding our move to Shreveport. For the Fall, she had found a teaching position at a local Junior High School. As was typical for Trudy, she was excited and fully prepared for the first day of school. She was equally excited when she left for the second day. However, that evening, she didn't have much to say and when she left the third morning, she had an ominous feeling eating at her. When I got home that evening, she told me that she could not go back. I knew in a heartbeat that she needed my support in this and she got it all. She needed some time away from teaching. She did not return to teaching for fourteen years...just about the right amount of time for her.

I can tell you, that in spite of our awkward start in Shreveport, we absolutely enjoyed living there for almost nine years. We enjoyed worshiping at Brookwood Baptist Church, cultivating some of our most enduring friendships, experiencing the brith of our children, getting Robert graduated from LSU-Shreveport, and seeing our marriage grow in love and oneness. God helped us in all the adjustments we were experiencing. We knew that and were so very thankful.

Next time, "Who's walking down the streets of the city; Smiling at everybody she meets?"

Blessings,
Robert

Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.