Hello Friends,I want to blog about our days in Oklahoma City, but before I do, please permit me a few melancholy observations about what was happening one year ago. The picture was taken on Friday, March 26, 2010 in a hallway between MDA and the academic area. In the distant background, you can see the very hall that only moments after this picture was taken, we encountered Dr. Giralt (Trudy's Stem Cell Transplant Doctor). She had just gotten her "hair cut" and that experience only added to the very difficult emotions of all that was looming. Dr. Giralt was a perfect gentleman, he remarked that she looked great and offered his opinion that she would "kick this thing" all over the place. She responded with a bravado that is betrayed in this picture. She was gazing out a window presenting the look of a woman deeply concerned. Still with poise and grace fully beyond my feeble comprehension, she gathered herself and we enjoyed the rest of the day and on through noon, Saturday all to ourselves. In fact, I can tell you that those next 24 hours were the most emotionally, spiritually, and physically intimate times that we had experienced in all our years leading up to the time she went into the hospital on Saturday the 27th of March, two thousand, ten.
Now for the next chapter of our "Love Story." We loved living in Oklahoma City. Trudy loved being a stay-at-home mom and we felt as though our lives, our family, our togetherness was in full bloom. Oh, we didn't like being away from Louisiana and our parents, but the great times we were experiencing sure helped. Our children had wonderful friends, and probably we were immersed deeply into more close friendships than any other time of our life together.
Trudy and I were part of a "Care Group" home ministry of our church that was an amazing friendship and spiritual occurrence. Each week we would gather at our house or one of the other Servant Leaders home's for a time of fellowship and spiritually directed discussion. Through the weeks, our group grew in number and it grew in trust and closeness. There was a trusting atmosphere in which people could share openly about their lives. We could call on each other for any need...at any time. The dynamic our "Meeting Needs" Care Group was something we had never experienced before and the impact of that group shaped our lives from then on.
Trudy was involved in so many things in those years. She, along with Dawn Pybas, led our daughter's Blue Bird troop; she was in a day-time ladies care group, she and Dawn, and Gina Merrick had their own custom Mother's Day Out Co-op; and she volunteered one day a week at the child care program at the church. I do believe it was the time of her life that she would agree was her most enjoyable and personally productive. She deeply loved investing her time, energy, and ample creative powers into her role as mother to Wendy and Brian...and she made it fun! Just take a look at the obvious joy and the irrepressible twinkle in her eyes in the pictures. Permit me a quote of the ancient Hebrew expression..."WOW!"
Though we loved our Oklahoma City life, there was this one thing. We were Louisianians in our heart of hearts. Our parents weren't getting any younger and we genuinely wanted our children to have the fullest possible relationship with their grandparents. It was a longing that just wouldn't subside. When Trudy's dad developed some very serious health issues, we knew it was time to get back to central Louisiana. We were home for Thanksgiving holiday in 1986 when one of those "God" events struck. I was always a habitual newspaper reader, so the fact that I had a Alexandria Daily Town Talk (I love that name for a newspaper) in my hands was not unusual, but that I found my way to the employment ads certainly was. Of all the ads, only one caught my attention...there was an opening for a pharmaceutical sales representative for a international firm to work in the central Louisiana territory. So, I clipped that ad and brought it back to OKC with me. After Trudy and I discussed the astronomical odds of anything coming from this, I sent my resume' to the P.O.Box in the ad, and promptly put the whole matter to the furthest back reaches of my mind. However, three days later I got a call from the Regional Manager who was doing the interviews. It seemed that he was interested in my resume' but was wondering why I was applying for a job that would involve a 500 mile relocation. I explained that we simply wanted to live in the Alexandria, LA area because of our roots there and our family situation. I guess that was sufficient explanation because he set up an interview with me...in Alexandria, that would coincide with our Christmas holidays. So, we were back in Louisiana, I met with the Regional Manager and another manager at the Hilton Inn. I didn't know what to make of the interview and there was no indication from the men as to what they were thinking. However, I found out in a matter of just a few days of our return to OKC...the man who would become my manager with Sandoz Pharmaceutical Company called and told me that he was quite interested. After a meeting with a higher echelon manager, I was offered the job. Jeepers! I answered one ad from the newspaper and from December to February, I had a job offer with this huge pharmaceutical company. Trudy and I quickly concluded that this was indeed a "God" thing and we agreed that I should accept the position. After discussing the logistical issues, my manager and I agreed on a starting date of April 1st (no foolin!), 1987.
So, over the next several weeks, we immersed ourselves in the process of separation from our wonderful life in OKC. We announced our decision to our church family with whom we had grown so very close. For a move that we had yearned so deeply for, this was a gut-wrenching situation. I was on the Deacon body and chaired the Finance Committee and had very strong rapport with the staff, especially Joe and Linda Perry. We were Department Directors of a Young Adult Sunday School Department and I sang in the Sanctuary Choir. I was on Basketball and Softball teams for the church. Trudy worked in the weekday child care program and of course there were the...Care Groups. Oh my! Each group had a part of our hearts and it was so hard to tell them goodbye. Care Group members showed up to help us pack the truck and did so through much tears. After spending one last night in our lovely home, we got up the next morning to throw the last things on the U-Haul and make our departure. As we were starting to put the last things on the truck, one more Care Group couple appeared to help. We were especially close to them as they had been with us in the Care Group ministry from the get-go. They even had us listed in their will to take care of their children for crying out loud. It was virtually the final emotional straw. We wept bitter tears as we finally pulled away and headed to Louisiana. The cycle was complete...we wept over leaving Louisiana to come to Oklahoma and now we wept over leaving Oklahoma to return home. Go figure, huh!
Our spirits began to lift though, as we got closer and closer to our families. We had a house rented in Timber Trails subdivision on the outskirts of Pineville. We were one very happy family to finally pull in and have our families there to help us unload and unpack.
God had richly blessed us with our five years in OKC. Our family had surely benefited from that experience. Trudy was great in all this...going to OKC and now in the return. God truly provided the perfect wife for me. Her love for God and for her husband was always perfect and pure and permanent. Thank you Lord, for our Love Story.
Blessings,
Robert
No comments:
Post a Comment