Finding Happiness?

After we got the hell out of Hollywood, we spent a few years trying to find a "place that fit." (Thanks Patricia for that line) New Orleans wasn't that place, as much as I used to like it, I found I didn't anymore. The catering company I was working for had me going all over the Gulf of Mexico to catch rights and petroleum platforms, and it was wearing on me.

Taylor was next, and although I knew we wasn't going to make it there, I think Dottie was partial to the small town persona, as so we went back. My company put me on a rig where I could catch out of Cameron, Louisiana and that meant I didn't have to worry about where I would be sent to and I could commute from Arkansas. But wouldn't you know the damn job played out, so there we were back in Taylor, almost broke and no job. I took a chance and went to Texarkana, about sixty miles from Taylor and lucked out and got a Linotype job at a print shop there. Don’t you know, the job there went south also . . . Now what?

We hauled it to Nashville, Tennessee where I'd heard of a job at a typesetting place that paid good . . . I got it. Great . . . Are you getting the picture here that I have found a woman who will walk each and every step with me and I can't sit still? You'd be right . . . Uh huh. It took us a year in Nashville before we packed up and went back to Taylor . . . Talk about a glutton for punishment . . . It is almost embarrassing for me to relate it, but what the hell, it happened.

I found the best job I'd ever had with Survey Boats out of Patterson, Louisiana. We bought a house in Taylor (Gasp! Yes, bought!) A little two bedroom wooden house with a large back yard where Dottie made into one hell of a garden, much to the surprise to a few people in town. Whew! Now we were set. We were able to breathe easier. I had a good job, working a good rotation, and the pay was fantastic. I loved my job on the boats, the man, John Chance, Inc. of Lafayette, Louisiana who owned Survey Boats, Inc. had an open account for cooks to order food, and there was no monetary limit to what I could buy. I was able to prepare everything from Lobster to Prime Rib, whatever I wanted. He liked to say that his men had to be away from home and he didn't want them to feel they were missing out on home cooked meals.

I was happy, really happy, but happiness is a two-way street and Dottie, myself and Baby, the little pooch, were wallowing in it. Life was good.
Oh, but little did I realize that it was about to get much, much better. I think I can safely say unbelievably better. How could one heart withstand all the bliss which was heading its way?

My Novels:

Write To Murder . . . http://www.lulu.com/content/956621

Margaret and David: A Love Story . . . http://www.lulu.com/content/1072842

My Mother's Revenge . . . http://www.lulu.com/content/1132742