“You could do this job”

We were very happily settled in the English village of Rufford in West Lancashire. All the family were enjoying school, work, church and general activities, of which there were many. Malgwyn had worked for IBM for 14 years and a local bank for 2 when a colleague gave him a tiny advert cut from a computer magazine, saying “You could do this job”. That was in October 1982.

It wasn’t until December 16th that Malgwyn finally got round to calling the agency to see if the job was still available. He talked for over an hour on the phone and on putting down the receiver turned to me and said “I’m going to London tomorrow, Thursday!”

I’m trying to keep the story short so I’ll skip some of the details, and keep them for another post. Suffice it to say that he got the job that day and by Friday evening we were planning the biggest move we would ever make. It was both exciting and scary! And it was most definitely “a God Thing” but we had seen nothing yet!

Take your time

We decided that the children and I would stay in the UK until the end of the school year. They were aged 13,12, and 5 so it would not be helpful to move them mid term. Our other thought was that it would give us time to sell the house.

Just before Malgwyn left at the end of January, we had a farewell party for him. We invited many friends and family members to an open house between 6pm and midnight. Most of them came at 6 and stayed till long after midnight! A good time was had by all, and we went to bed tired but happy.

How long does a house sale take?

As we were preparing for church the following morning the phone rang. Somebody had learned that our house was for sale and could they come and see it? Malgwyn explained that we were just off to church and wouldn’t be back till after 12. They said they would come around 12.30!

We rushed home from church to tidy up a bit after the mess of the previous night’s party, and apologised profusely when the family arrived.

About 4 that afternoon Malgwyn said goodbye to the children, who were staying home with my mother, and we both got into the car to head for the airport for the start of his big adventure!

The phone rang.

My mum answered, then looked at us and said “It’s that family, they want to buy the house at the asking price!”!! We leapt out of the car and agreed that they should see the estate agent the following morning, then we ran back to the car, (mustn’t miss the plane!) but both of us were in tears, overcome with something much greater than ourselves that seemed to be taking charge of our lives!

It was like the control panel of our life had been taken out of our hands!

It was exciting and scary!

And it was definitely “One of those God things!”