CHAPTER 7
GUIDANCE THROUGH MID-LIFE CRISIS
We actually left Hebron on Thanksgiving Day 1990, drove to New Jersey to have turkey dinner with Bill’s parents and arrived in North Carolina a few days later. After a week or two of unpacking and settling in we began occasionally to fall off the edge of excitement. Our faithfulness was about to be tested.
December through March were indeed difficult times for us. Adjustment to the culture was major; the friendliness of even the grocery store clerks was almost too much for me. The southern accent was such a challenge to us and southern manners so different that we found ourselves either helpless or speechless at times. We had no daily or weekly routines and found this most disconcerting. Bill, David and I drove to Texas for Christmas and got caught in such a severe ice storm in Mississippi that the road was closed. While we were in Texas our dog died of a broken heart at a North Carolina kennel. Then Bill, who worked diligently for 21 years at Travelers, decided not to accept the job he was offered in North Carolina. Meanwhile, David was struggling in college and not adjusting to the move well at all. We also had two auto mishaps within a few weeks’ time: David had a “fender bender” and I landed our car in a ditch. To top it all off, Cindi got laid off from her job in Texas. So, in March 1991, not one of us was employed.
Our stress level was about at its highest ever and our friends and family were worried about us. We were worried too! Just how much could we take? We moved, had no children living at home, had no church family yet, our dog died, and we were all unemployed! Thankfully, Bill’s severance package gave him a year’s salary so we had income to live on.
But what this did for us was unforeseen. We experienced a renewed and deepened faith, a much needed rest from living in the ‘fast lane’ and a relaxation that made us feel guilty. We were like the field that lays fallow; it doesn’t seem to be doing anything but yet it is renewing and revitalizing itself from within. Our marriage also was refreshed and our relationship renewed; it was like being newly married—setting up housekeeping in a new place and asking each other “what shall we do with the rest of our lives?” questions. As I was relating this to a girlfriend, she was quick to respond, “BUT Mary, Thank GOD you are not pregnant!”
While we were having trouble figuring out what was happening to us, the ANGELS were taking care of Bill and me. The winter of 90-91 was delightfully balmy weather in North Carolina: Bill and I took a lot of walks which helped us think and talk about the future. Living in the “Bible Belt” was also a real treat and the atmosphere refreshed our souls. Attending concerts at the college and seeing friends in the community whom we hadn’t seem for 25 years meant more to us than anyone would know. We began to realize that WE were the ones who had left the area 25 years ago while everyone else stayed here!
Yes, the ANGELS watched over us very carefully for about 5 months in early 1991. We came not only a long way in miles but perhaps even further within our hearts with help from the ANGELS.
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