THE LONG GOODBYE

The Reeh's at the company beach

Dearest Friends,

John spent about a month in Indonesia, shadowing a guy named DM (who, almost 20 years later, would come to work with John at the company he helped start in Houston).  When DM and his family left, not only did John step into his position, we pretty much stepped into their lives, inheriting most of their staff, and possibly even their house (can't remember for sure).

A beach picnic

Not only were there different kinds of houses for Mobil families and P.T. Arun families (P.T. Arun being the Indonesian company that Mobil was partnering with for this LNG plant), there were different styles of housing in each side of the compound, depending upon a person's pay grade.  Since none of those for John's "class" were vacant at the time, we were to take a different one, with the option of moving when a better one came available.  John met and had dinner with a family who would be living next door to us, so was able to send pictures, not only of what our house looked like empty (not a speck of color anywhere!), but also of what it could become with a little TLC (whew!).

The clinic.  I believe the supermarket was right next door, in a similar building.

Our side of the compound was called Balik Poppin, and the Mobil side, where the Reeh's lived, was known as Bukit Indah.  Their  houses were a bit more Americanized than ours, with central air and some carpeting, which I was a little envious of at first.  But, as it turned out, ours were better suited to the climate, and would end up having less problems with mold and mildew.  So, as they say, "When in Rome..."!  Anyhoo, Peggy was kind enough to go around and take lots of pictures of the compound for us (the ones you see here) as soon as I sent that first letter to her, and they went a long way towards easing our concerns and helping us make up our minds.  I had purchased a new backpack for each of the kids, and had gradually been filling them with anything I could find that might entertain them on the long trip over, plus a few wrapped "very special" gifts (their first Gameboys?).  They were allowed to peek, but not touch, until we were actually on the airplane, so they were both rarin' to go!  We no longer feared what lay ahead, but we did have a few concerns about what we were leaving behind.

The School Yard

The Pool

John did indeed make it home in time for the final pack-up; in time for a slew of final weight-adding-get-togethers hosted by friends (we'd surely lose it all as soon as we got to Indonesia, right?  What with all that outdoor activity, and no fast food anywhere?); in time to help me host a giant pre-birthday/going-away bash for our kids and all their friends at the roller rink; and most importantly, in time for one final Hill Country fling with the Sanfords!

Rafting in New Braunfels

Our main worries now were our families, and our dog Munchkin.  Taking a dog to Indonesia was probably not the best idea in the world.  Indonesians do not keep dogs as pets, and are mostly afraid of them.  There was a vet there, but dogs were definitely not her specialty.  Plus, your dog could not fly over with you.  They must be shipped over after you have arrived and are there to accept them on the other side.  Our Munchkin was no spring chicken.  She was at least 12 or 13 by then, so the question was, which would be harder on her?  To make that long journey alone?  Or to be deserted by the only family she had ever known?  We opted for the journey.

My sisters were already planning their trips over to see us, but our parents were no spring chickens either.  My folks couldn't believe we were taking their grand-babies away to some godforsaken country that they had no intention of ever setting foot in, and John's parents, well, that was our biggest concern of all.  Over the past several years, John's dad had been having some episodes where he just wasn't himself -- hiding stuff from us all, forgetting how to do things that used to be second nature to him, getting lost, etc. -- but he refused to admit anything was wrong or to see a doctor.  Finally we had to force the issue, and found that he'd been having "mini-strokes".  He had a more serious one, that caused temporary paralysis on one side, the year before.  Though he was mostly recovered from that, our biggest fear was that he'd have another while we were gone, and Theda would be left to handle it all alone, since John's only sibling lived halfway across the country.  But, amazing person that she was, Theda insisted that we go.  She knew that if John passed up this opportunity, he might well end up out of a job.  "Besides," she said.  "I've always dreamed of traveling to exotic places, and I can't wait to come visit you and the kids!"  So, we went.