MOVING TO FRESNO AND BECOMING ENGAGED

well, after Lloyd came back he worked various odd jobs till school again started for winter semester. We hung out a lot and really got to know each other better. I was attending school College of Sequoias and working for Bank of America as secretary for the President of the bank. It was one of those jobs that I was fully NOT trained for or able to to do well.....How I got the job is not clear. I was applying for a teller position. Anyway, Lloyd kept working odd jobs till summer and again went back to earn more money at the cattle ranch. :( Hitch hiking home again, with the plan of attending Fresno State College University the following winter semster. This time He was gone even longer--till about November--then working in Visalia till college time. More love letters back and forth during the summer (saved all mine and he saved all his :) . ) Somehow those 2 1/2 years slipped away quickly (in my mind now, but not then). I only have a few flashbacks of those times. The 3rd summer he went back home again to work and to his sister's wedding. I was invited and for the first time got to meet his family--scary. I am very shy so meeting tons of strangers was overwhelming, but good to be with him. Well, after sad goodbyes, I left for home with him staying in Canada to finish working. My father used to say that he was just playing with my heart and doubts in him started creeping up in me.
Needless to say, he did return in oct and asked me to marry him in December of that year. We then moved up to Fresno State for the next semester-me in the dorms and him in a close by apartment. I must say thsoe were probably one of the greatest growing time for me in all aspects of my life! Discipline was not one of my attributes. Fun was my driving force. Those do not go well with attendinbg college. Lloyd worked at a gas station on Blackstone. Many night trips were made on the city bus late at night to go visit with him there. (can you imagine walking along the barren fields that used to line Blackstone--and late at night=DANGER!!!) (that was one of Lloyd's constant lectures and warnings during my life of dangerous situations my niavity didn't grasp! :) )
As a side note, (I cannot figure out how to cut and paste to put this in the right place HAHAHA)while in Visalia, I can remember frequenting "the Dog House" late at night (a coffee type shop specializing in hot dogs and breakfast). That and Merles's were our favorite places to meet and visit. Both were near COS. And then there was our wonderful little Pizza place!
Lloyd was a recreation major at FSCU. It sounds like an easy way out, but it was still quite challenging. His report card came up with all A's with a couple of B's. My major was social Science with a criminology minor. My reaccurring nightmare is being the end of school and finals with never having studied during the year much and staying up all night trying to learn the entire books........and being so stressed!! Well that is pretty much what happened as I
squandered that semester... It will forever be my punishment to have those almost nightly nightmares.......still!!!! What can I say, I would rather have fun than to study and be responsible. (I still have the learning ongoing of self-discipline and accountability in experiences in my life!!!!)
Well, in May we set the date finally for that next October. End of the semester and you guessed it--home hithiking to Canada to earn more money. He could earn tons more on the ranch in a short time than anywhere else. This time he drove a really old cheap car home that he had bought and that shimmied all down the road. Somehow he made it to Canada. During that summer, he worked on building a trailer to transport all of his personal belongings back for the wedding. (Picture this super old shimmying car pulling a large trailer behind!!) His mom and sister joined him on the trek home. Yep, they had car trouble along the way, but many kind people helped him to limp his way back to Visalia. That summer I had worked for long's Drug store.