THE NEXT 10 YEARS
THE NEXT 10 YEARS
So I guess being a hippie just wasn't in my karma. I could have left my parent's house and done anything I wanted, but I didn't. I continued going to Junior College in Jacksonville and working part-time in a department store. After 2 years of commuting 50 miles 2-4 times a day I decided I needed to move into the city and moved into Mrs. Wolf's Rooming House the week between Christmas and New Years 1969. I had reconnected with a girl I worked with at one of my part-time jobs and she set me up on a blind date for a company New Years party with a guy her husband worked with--Russell, of course. Within 5 minutes of being in the car with him I got one of those gut feelings: I'm going to spend the rest of my life with this guy.
We spent every evening and weekend together after that. Six weeks later "the rabbit died" and without hesitation, we decided to get married. My family, Russell's roommate and my best friend all went to Savannah, GA, to witness what my parents thought was my worst mistake so far. Russell's best friend from childhood was stationed at an army base in Savannah and offered his apartment for the party after. And his wife was a great sport to pull together cake, food, and a Justice of the Peace. So we're going to get married on a Saturday, but every JP is busy except one and he's blind but very nice so we're set. As we're getting ready to go to the JP's house we experience a total eclipse. How strange is that? We get married immediately after a total eclipse by a blind Justice of the Peace. Someday I'm going to have an astrologer sort that one out for us.
I didn't give any of this much thought until I finally did get into yoga and the metaphysical many years later. I settled into married life as an Air Force wife and mother and all that went with it. It was very comfortable for me since I had grown up as an Air Force Brat. I didn't give spirituality much thought. I was too busy being "wife/mother". We didn't go to church as a family, but my children did attend church with friends off and on and Sunday school. When they were going to a Spanish public school in Zaragoza they had to take a catechism class which caused us some problems. They were told that they were going to Hell because they weren't baptized. The loving God I wanted to believe in wouldn't punish a child because she hadn't had water sprinkled on her head. I wanted them exposed, but not terrorized. The schism between me and organized religion got wider and deeper. I told my children that God was in their hearts and if they were doing the right thing they would feel good and vice verse. It was so much easier not to think about it since I didn't have any answers anyway. I couldn't deal with "life" and that all by myself so I didn't try. The years drifted by until Russell was transferred back to the US and he decided to get out of the Air Force. That's when all Hell broke loose for me!