CHAPTER 4
RETURNING US TO NORTH CAROLINA
In the late 1980’s we were beginning to experience some “emptying of the nest” and were ready to plan for the future; we began seriously discussing retirement options. We quickly agreed that neither of us wanted to endure too many more Connecticut winters. Bill and I were fairly certain that North Carolina would be a likely spot to relocate. But just to make sure, in November of 1987 we decided to purchase a time-share in New Bern, North Carolina. If we planned to move south, we needed to spend some time there; thus began regular trips to North Carolina. Each time we visited, we said to ourselves, “this is so nice, why are we waiting for retirement?” But we could not imagine how we could accomplish such a thing. We both had good jobs, children not interested in moving away, many social events, mortgaged property, church and community responsibilities and hosts of friends. We also lived at the family homestead where we hosted many parties, picnics and even barn dances; all provided many fond memories.
Early in 1990 we thought these “radical” ideas of wanted to relocate to North Carolina were only our own, but by the end of the year, so many unusual events occurred in our lives that we soon realized we were not preparing to move “away” but were actually being called “towards” service elsewhere. Truly we were not ready to retire at ages 45 but we surely knew something different was about to happen.
In 1990, our daughter graduated from Southern Connecticut State University and moved to Dallas to become employed as a social worker. Our son was about to graduate from high school and was looking at colleges in the South to further his golf interests. Bill began looking around for job possibilities in North Carolina (transfer or otherwise). Then some of the incredible started to happen.
- Our struggling little Hebron church found probably the best pastor it has had in its 250 year old history.
- My tax office (yes, I was the elected Hebron tax collector) was computerized, collecting $7 million a year and running smoothly.
- The Youth Service Bureau I was president of was, for the first time, off to a bright future.
- The town of Hebron decided to build a new elementary school and wanted to purchase our property for the project (at a time when real estate was slow).
- And, most importantly, Bill was offered a severance/early retirement package from Travelers Insurance Company that he just couldn’t refuse.
Our friends were beginning to realize that good fortune was just dropping in our laps. Our relatives were as astonished as we.
Truly, it was time for us to move on and the ANGELS orchestrated a series of events in our lives that continue to amaze us.
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