Burlington, Iowa

Years ago, maybe 1961 or so, Daddy was offered a job in Burlington, Iowa.  The Sylvania Plant in Shawna had announced that they were closing.  They had offered some of the employees jobs in Burlington and sent the employees there to see if that offer would be a fit for them.  Maybe they sent these employees to set up the equipment being transferred from Shawnee to Burlington...or perhaps it was both.  At any rate Daddy went to Iowa.


We stayed home, of course; mom and all five of her little ones.  Did she cry herself to sleep every night Daddy was gone?  Did she wonder how we kids would adjust to a new home?  Would we buy a little farm?  Did she wonder if they would find a church that would welcome them?  Would they make friends?  Did she wonder if she would ever get back to Prague, Oklahoma?  How would she be able to leave her sisters, her mom, her dad?  Did she worry that Daddy might accept the job without consulting her first?  Back in those days, we did not have a phone so that could have been a real possibility.  Would he decline the offer?  What was going to be her future?




Uprooting our family of seven must have been heavy on both mom's and dad's minds.  Weighing the certainty of a new job in a new state and the uncertainties of the future without a job back home -- what a dilemma.  We all know how the story ended.  We stayed right there, bought another farm, and Dad got a job at Tinker.  It all worked out just like it was suppose to. 




I love you.




All these years, I thought about what my mother went through during that uncertain time and wondered how she handled it.  Just as I was writing this, I started thinking about how different my own life would have been had Daddy taken that job.  So glad it turned out the way it was suppose to.  I have friends and family like you.  Love you all.