With Glen’s father and his friend coming to New Orleans to represent New Zealand at the World Conference, I got busy and called every hotel and motel in the city trying to find them a reasonable place to stay in the area. I was shocked at the prices and the fact that almost everything was already booked for the time they would be in New Orleans. The only thing I could find within their price range was a motel pretty far from the Super Dome on Airline Highway. It wasn’t very nice or in a good  location, but at least, it was by a bus stop.

Within the week, the two men arrived, and we got to meet them. Glen’s dad, Pastor Townsend, was a very nice-looking man. He was extremely friendly and easy going. His friend, who was also a pastor, would be representing Fiji and Tonga rather than New Zealand. He also had a great personality, and both men had a sense of humor. It was fun getting to know them. We loved hearing them talk and found many of the expressions they used to be amusing. We felt bad about the motel being as old and rundown as it was, but they seemed grateful in spite of the fact they had seen roaches. Some of the other representatives at the convention had booked that motel as well.

We still had the Dodge Charger which barely ran, and since we weren’t using it, we offered it to them to use.  They took the offer, but they did have a lot of problems with it. I also invited them to dinner one evening and they thanked me for having them over for`tea'. Pastor Townsend said he had met Christi, and that she was very sweet and pretty.

Since Mom was visiting and wanted to attend the convention, we went several of the nights. They had interesting displays and even an art exhibit of works by a famous artist who did religious paintings. The speakers were interesting and the costumes from around the world were beautiful and colorful.

We heard from Christi a couple of times during the week. Glen's grandparents had taken her into the outback and to some of the more tropical areas. She acted as though she had seen a little slice of Heaven and never wanted to leave. We couldn’t get her to say very much about what was going on with Glen. Pastor Townsend was talking to his son, and nearing the time they were to leave, he asked what I hoped would happen between Christi and Glen. I told him Australia was too far away, and although I liked Glen, I was hoping they wouldn’t get married. He told me he had talked to Glen, and that he thought I might get my wish. Ah ha, I thought. He knows something Christi isn’t telling us, and maybe we’ll soon be getting our daughter back home.

Christi actually missed most of summer that year. The time she spent in Australia was during their winter, and she was away from New Orleans when we had our summer. Eventually her Visa ran out, and she was forced to come home, but when her plane landed in Los Angeles, she knew a couple of guys she had met from there during the year she went to school in Texas, so she decided to spend several days there before coming home. Eventually she did get home, and it seemed almost like she had turned into a different person. She expressed herself more forcefully and wasn't as shy.

We never got the whole story of what went on between her and Glen. She said he had a bad temper, and that he liked to drive extremely fast and scare her. The more she protested the faster he would drive. He must have gotten aggravated with her because she said he slapped her once. We were glad they broke up, because although we realized she could be aggravating, we didn’t want our daughter marrying a man who would hit a woman.

At one point the grandparents insisted that Christi get out and find work. It might have been that she had to either be working or the country wouldn’t allow her to stay longer. The only thing she could find was some door-to-door sales work, and I don’t think that suited her. She wasn’t able to sell much. They were hard-working people, and maybe they thought she was lazy. When she came back to Metairie, she didn’t write Glen, but she and his sister did exchange letters for a while. They had gotten to be friends while she was there. It was many months before she quit talking about how wonderful Australia was.
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At forty-six, I was starting to have some health problems due to heavy monthly periods. Once when I became anemic, I had a D&C (Dilation and Curettage) that involved an overnight stay in the hospital. It had helped for a while, but I was starting to have that problem again. My gynecologist wanted to do a hysterectomy, but I kept putting it off, hoping I would get better.

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Something else was in the works that would cause big changes in our family. Chevron Oil was merging with Gulf. The company was offering retirement packages for all who wanted to retire. You were only 56, but it was what you’d been waiting for. You definitely wanted out. Your mind was made up. You’d been with Chevron over twenty-five years and you’d decided you were going to take them up on the offer.

The retirement package was equal to six months full salary and the next six months at half a year’s salary. You could take the whole amount as a lump sum if you chose to. I knew there would be no way to dissuade you, so I didn’t even try, although it would be six years before you could even get early Social Security. I wasn’t convinced we could survive that long, but you believed we could.

Your last day to work was in early December of 1985. You had some vacation time coming which would pay you through the end of the year. You didn’t even tell the men under you that you would be leaving. You didn’t want a party send-off or to have to deal with the goodbyes. The boss who headed up all the drafting divisions and his wife took us out to an upscale restaurant for dinner and that was the extent of it. You took the retirement package as a lump sum.

Chevron would allow us to keep our health coverage and would continue to contribute a sum each month for as long as we lived, unless we chose to change plans. You also had a life insurance policy, which would decrease as you aged.

Luckily, CD rates were at historic highs, paying as much as 17%.  You kept out just enough for us to live on and tied the other up in CDs for ten years. In addition to the salary package, you also took a lump sum on the Chevron retirement plan which you had paid into all those years. It was a lot of money at one time, but it would have to stretch for many years.

At the moment, we had no plans to move away so I would continue working. I had left Christian Print Company when they were talking about moving into another county, and I was now working for another large printing company near the river. I was glad I had a job because as much as I loved you, I wasn’t sure how too much togetherness would work.