More Summer 1980.

I began my new job with Dean Robinson with great enthusiasm. I was never so happy to go to work in the morning and come home at night. On the job I was in my element and at night I was with Barbara. She lived out in the country near Spaulding so after dinner and a shower I would head to her place and we would talk for hours. We found much in common. She had two kids to raise and so did I. We were both emphatic that our kids would be very much a part of our life. We discussed in depth that whatever course our lives took our kids would be a part. There was a country song by Don Williams that was very popular at the time. The song, “Lay Down Beside Me” spoke to the both of us. It is still one of my favorite songs today. It was difficult for us to spend much time together because we were so involved with the kids. Three of which were teenagers then there was a four year old. Falls Creek , Baptist Church camp, was coming up in August and we targeted that date because we would have a whole week with no kids. Sometime towards the end of July I received a phone call from Kingsbury Homes. They had made a mistake in laying me off they said and would like me to come back. My first reaction was not no but hell no I was happy working for Dean. After more thought I realized with the Kingsbury job came benefits like health insurance, vacation time and on and on. I had a talk with Dean and he understood completely, accepted my resignation and wished me well. Now just one more obstacle. My full week with Barbara in early August. I told Kingsbury I would come back but they needed to start my employment on August one but I would not be available for work until the second week after Barbara and I had our week together. They went for it. The week before our vacation week with temperatures ove r 100 degrees every single day Barbara’s air conditioner at her house went out. The repairman said he could get it going if he had one particular part which he had had a hard time finding. He said if we could go to OKC and check all the suppliers we might could find it. We made a list of all the suppliers and off we went. We spent a whole day looking with no luck. Towards the end of the day and very near the bottom of our list we got lucky. We placed the broken part up on the counter just as we had done at a dozen other places. The parts man took one look at it turned went into the parts area and returned with a brand new one. We were elated. We returned home and the next morning the air conditioner was going again.. Something I would like to make clear. During the time Barbara and I were going together we NEVER spent one night together. Holdenville is a small town, gossip travels fast. Neither of us wanted our kids to hear bad things about us. Yes we were together every minute we could be but when bed time came we went to our own homes. Even today after 38 years of marriage I don’t want her kids to think I wasn’t respectful of her.

Things had really turned around and we were both very happy. My job required travel. Usually I was only away for two to four days at a time. I was always excited to head home and as soon as I got there I would call and tell her that as soon as I washed off the ” trail dust” I was headed her way. We participated in all the kids activities, then we stole whatever time we could to be together. This went on for the remainder of 1980. We would have holidays at both family’s.

During the last few years with my first wife I lost some good friends. They simply didn’t like her and didn’t want to be around her. The feeling was mutual so it was just easier to not go around them. I missed them terribly. Barbara asked me why I was not friends with Gary and Ricki Sullivan any longer. I explained to her that our relationship had been strained to the breaking point. She said ” that’s just not right you and Gary have been like brothers for many years. You need to fix that.” So I called Gary. He was glad to hear from me and I told him I would like them to meet Barbara. They already knew her and were happy to hear we were a couple We went by one night and spent several hours with them. It was great and we picked right back up with our friendship. Man everything was falling right into place and I was happy.

Next. 1981. Things keep going our way