Hello Friends,The icy temps of late 1981 brought strange brewings into our eleventh year of marriage. This picture of Trudy and Wendy is their entry into the radio station snow contest in December of that fateful period. We didn't know if it was chosen to be the winning entry because we forgot to listen to the afternoon broadcast...but those girls had loads of fun building that "chilly" fellow.
We were dealing with an offer of intrigue from my employer...American Air Filter Company. I had been offered a nice promotion if we would move to Oklahoma City, where I would manage the branch office there. I was favorably inclined, but we had just sold our house on Pines Road and bought a house on Hayes Drive. We had the move planned for late December. After telling my boss that I didn't see how this timing could work, he said: "No problem! The company relocation program includes a feature to protect you from a housing problem. You list the house for 90 days and if it doesn't sell, the company will buy the house at the appraised value." Well, after some serious talking and praying, we decided that I would accept the transfer. Everything was working like clockwork...the company took care of all the move costs and paid for our trips back and forth with house hunting and so forth. The packers and movers came to our Pines Road house and took all our belongings to OKC...and the house we owned on Hayes Drive...we actually never spent a single night there! That's one for the books...even for Robert and Trudy Daniel. I mean, who buys a principal residence and never lives in it? Uhhh, us, that's who!
We made the move and since the housing thing was on hold, we moved into an apartment (Company expense), and started acclimating to our neat new surroundings. We did everything we could find to take in the sights and attractions of OKC. We joined the only church we visited...probably would joined the first night, except they didn't have an "invitation" on Wednesday night services! We fell in love with Putnam City Baptist Church. The Perry's, Pybas', Merrick's, Edward's, Henkle's, Coppage's, Sibley's, Colclasure's, Rieken's, Evan's, and many others became our extended family. Trudy felt horrible, moving so far from our family, but she soon found OKC to be her home...with so many friends...so many activities...and not having to work! She formed a network with Dawne Pybas, and Gina Merrick to have a "Mother's Day Out" Co-Op to do some really fun things with the boys (Brian, J.J. Merrick, and Justin Pybas)of these families. She and Dawne also became the co-leaders of a "Blue Bird" troupe for Wendy, Angela Pybas, and some other girls. Trudy found her kindred spirits in those dear friends and they helped her and our kids have an absolutely great OKC experience.
Trudy and I also became "Care Group" leaders in our church. Each Thursday, we would assemble four to six couples and build some awesome Christian relationships that would help all of us navigate through areas of personal, family, and individual Christian growth. We were involved in Sunday School leadership, music, and Children activities. It was a great time for our family. As for me, I was able to just about exhaust my sports fanaticism. I played on some terrific basketball teams with some great teammates. I also played on the church softball team, with even more great friends from church. We also had family around as my Uncle Rafe and Aunt Betty, my cousins, Karen, Dennis, and Dale; were OKC natives.
Oh, the rest of the story on the housing debacle. The Hayes Road house had not sold in the 90 day period, so I called the H.R. Department of my company. The manager was apprised of my situation and my urgent request to get the process started so that the company could buy my house. He called me...and sheepishly told me, "The house buying provision" was only for senior managers! No matter what I said, no matter what my Area Manager said, Corporate wouldn't agree to buy our house. Finally, they agreed to continue to pay our rent and to allow us to move into better housing until we got the house sold. So, they moved us into a nice, new duplex. That helped, and thankfully, Uncle Luke and Aunt Jo were our real estate agents back in Shreveport. I don't know how they did it, but they found us a buyer, and with their help we got the house sold with very minimal closing costs...whew! We moved to OKC in January, and we moved into our new house on Mantle Drive, in July. We were very happy to have that behind us. It was a mess, but everyone involved, including our OKC real estate agent, Virgina Rudd, worked together and God granted us a good outcome.
The newly added slide show to the right, includes a few pictures of the houses in Shreveport, the OKC apartment and Mantle Drive house. There is a picture of Brian crawling on head, and his second birthday, in the OKC apartment. Trudy must have been a bit rankled with him that day...she made him an "Oscar the Grouch" cake! But, we still loved the boy and were glad to give him his "Duke'es Hazzard" presents.
I suppose I look back on those OKC days with great fondness...Wendy and Brian were in such fun stages of their development, Trudy was positively in love with being a stay at home mom, and our family simply blossomed. AAF was a terrific job, PCBC was a great church, and we were blessed with friendships that I just can't imagine our life without them.
Next time, the OKC years draw to a close and Trudy's family moves back to Central Louisiana.
Blessings,
Robert
P.S.: I have to relate a present reality as a personal prayer request. One year ago in February, Trudy was dealing with even greater upheavals than even the move to Oklahoma City. Knowing that at best, recovery from the Stem Cell Transplant event would be incredibly long and hard...Trudy arranged to retire from teaching. In some ways, that was a celebration, but in other ways, it was an ominous cloud surrounding the harsh reality that she would be submitted to this procedure that filled her with dread. Her last day of teaching was February 11, 2010. We held her retirement reception on Sunday, Valentines Day. With no "down time" we left Monday, headed for MDA in Houston for the appointments that would set the timing for the transplant. Another portent of things to come was the meeting that Wednesday with Dr. Giralt. He told Trudy and me that there were no fully matching donors. He was visibly upset as he told her that her condition gave no other options...she had to have the transplant, but with no perfect matches, the odds had become much less favorable. She had to have the procedure and she had to have as quickly as possible. There was not a single day after that I did not see in her eyes, the playing out of this dilemma's unspeakable heaviness. I know that in addition to myself, Wendy, Brian, Katy, and Effie will be grateful for your extra prayer attention over these next days, week,s and months. Thanks for all you do to help, and thanks for checking-in here at the blog...Robert
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