Riches, Loss and Redemption: One Woman's Journey

Eicholz Eicholz Marti

Description

An educator from Indiana moves to California, a new culture, to start a new life. She soon finds she is ill-equipped for her new surroundings, but rises like a storm to overcome or conceal any deficiencies. She is arrogant and self-confident, becoming a high society lady hosting lavish events and outlandish parties.She and her husband travel world-wide. They have multiple homes. They care for their family. They entertain their friends. They give back to their community. They support various charities. They never ever discuss their own needs, wants and providing for their future. In all the excitement and pleasure, they neglect themselves and the spiritual divine spark that brought them together.This story is one of having wealth, going through a calamitous downfall, collapse and failure and coming out the other side with simplicity and contentment.It is a life filled with abundance, affluence, some would say, a life being lived in the lap of luxury.It is a life filled with languish, distress, misery, desperation, wretchedness and dashed hopes.It is a life filled with sorrow, remorse, penance, sack cloth and ashes.It is a life filled with recovery, redemption, atonement and satisfaction.It is life filled with love, praise and forgiveness.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Memoir

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 08 juin 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781456626785
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 7 Mo

Extrait

RICHES, LOSS AND REDEMPTION
One Woman’s Journey
 
 

 
Marti Eicholz

Copyright 2016 Marti Eicholz,
All rights reserved.
 
 
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
http://www.eBookIt.com
 
 
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-2678-5
 
 
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

“RICHES, LOSS AND REDEMPTION: One Woman’s Journey” is the sequel to ‘MARTHA RUTH, PREACHER’S DAUGHTER: Her Journey through Religion, Sex and Love’. It is not necessary to have read ‘MARTHA RUTH’ to enjoy “RICHES, LOSS AND REDEMPTION” which is a stand-alone manuscript.
‘Martha Ruth, Preacher’s Daughter’ spans over three decades, providing a glimpse into a little girl’s childhood that was spent moving around Indiana as her father preached and ministered in various communities during the post-depression 1940s and beyond. As she became of age and moved into adulthood, she followed her own path, despite the restrictions and expectations that were imposed on her as a member of a conservative fundamentalist preacher’s family.
By the age of eight she knew she wanted to be a teacher and so began her lifelong pursuit of her dream. It is this primary focus that carries her through difficult times and helps her develop a deeper understanding of herself and humanity. She describes how finally she recognized, nurtured and embraced real love and sexual intimacy.

Now, in ‘RICHES, LOSS AND REDEMPTION’ she reveals the next forty years of her life. Martha Ruth, the educator, has become Marti. She leaves Indiana for California. She starts a new life.


 
 
 
This book is dedicated to those who supported me even during the darkest of times. I extend my greatest gratitude.
OPENING
The sun was shining its warm golden light over the island of Maui.
It was Sunday, and Robert was all nestled in their condo perched on the top corner of the first row. This oceanfront condo rested among nearly 30 acres of manicured tropical landscaping.
Robert was standing in the all glass encased kitchen overlooking the beautiful ocean views toward West Maui. It was absolutely stunning, gazing at the emerald-blue water and the palm trees swaying. It was tranquil and it was private. Robert was alone.
Marti was back in the Seattle area caring for her business venture, as this was not her weekend to be on Maui. Since Marti started her venture she spent only a week a month in the islands.
Robert would spend this Sunday doing the laundry, preparing healthy dishes for the upcoming week and getting ready for the Golf Championship Tournament. He was the “czar” of the Men’s Golf Club. He enjoyed the game, but even more, the comradeship of his male cohorts. Robert’s buddies got a kick out of calling him the “czar.” He was organized, maintained rules, was fair, patient and created a fun environment, but everyone always was aware who was “boss.” The buddies really didn’t mind. They were aware of the ones who wanted to “give putts, punch the ball out of the rough and permit a mulligan.” Robert wanted everyone to play by the same rules.
Suddenly, the phone rang. It was a close neighbor asking about the notice in the paper about Robert’s unit being up for sale. Robert had no knowledge. He was in disbelief, in denial. He was speechless. He quickly closed the conversation and turned to the paper. Yes, he saw the notification about his condo being up for sale before an auction would take place due to a filing of bankruptcy.
Robert immediately called Marti. She confirmed the findings. Yes, she had filed for bankruptcy. Yes, they had lost all their material possessions. Yes, the savings were gone. A fortune had vanished. The only thing Robert could manage to say was that he could not talk to her at this time and he would not be calling as usual. He always called between 6:30 and 7:00 p.m. every evening for a chat, to check-in and say a warm loving goodnight. Not now! All Marti could say was, “I understand.”
As the phone lines disconnected, Marti felt the end, the finish. She knew this dreaded moment had been nearing. Now it had arrived. Her head was full. It felt as if it would burst into millions of pieces. Moisture flowed like a river from her eyes flooding her face, cheeks and drenching her shirt. She cried to Jesus. Since her very earliest days as a small child, she felt Jesus had resided in her heart. Where was he? And why did he let her get to this point? How did she get to this point? And why did she bring another with her? Yes, Jesus wanted her to use her talents. Yes, he granted her the opportunity to make choices. Jesus was with her when she did well. Now, Jesus was watching to see how she was going to handle things when they went sour. Her whole body shook. Her screams of agony and despair were smothered by the pillow she pressed against her face and head. How did this happen? What went wrong? Where were the forks in the road? How could the preacher’s daughter in rural Indiana end up living in the lap of luxury—and then seeing it all dissolve before her eyes? She prayed to Jesus to show her what she needed to know. Finally, after hours of wailing and total exhaustion she fell asleep. It was a long sleep filled with visions, memories, sights, sounds, smells and touches of riches and squalor.
The rest of Robert’s Sunday was spent gagging and incessant vomiting. He managed to crawl to the phone and call the boys.
Well, here’s the story of how they got there…
THE BEGINNING
In my dreams I remembered seeing Robert for the first time, observing him interacting with teachers about his mathematics program and having our first drink together. I could see and feel our immediate connection with similar economic backgrounds, ideals, religious training, and both working in the field of education. Sharing stories we discovered that when I was a youngster living in English, Indiana, trying to be accepted, Robert, living in New Albany, was a teenager delivering flowers to the local funeral home. We giggled, thinking if we had only known we would eventually meet as adults and become lovers.
Our meeting and our love affair was magical. Our decision to make a commitment to each other was beyond comprehension. It seemed to just happen. And we basked in the joy of it all.
I recalled the day Robert and I flew out of Indiana to California. I realized this truly was a new beginning and a dawning of exciting new possibilities. This was starting a new personal era. I was embarking on a journey, beginning a meaningful cycle, opening doors to new relationships, exploring an unfamiliar dimension of my-self.
It takes courage to embrace change willingly. All my past experiences had poised me for this moment. All the triumphs and the seeming defeats contributed to my current readiness for change. The joys and the heartaches, the hopes and the sorrows, the loves and the betrayals, the friends as well as the enemies, even the moments of utter despair, made me the unique person I am today.
I felt nothing but gratitude, blessed by the experiences and I silently gave thanks. I let it all go. My memories would serve a good purpose. They would still be there when I needed or wanted them. There was so much I simply wouldn’t need any more in my new existence.
I felt alive. I had been given an incredible gift of a fresh new adventure.
Robert and I arrived in California. Together we had felt a creative urge from the universe. We opened up and tapped into its tremendous power and there it was for the taking, LOVE.
Now we were starry-eyed with absolute faith that we had found the perfect person to spend a lifetime with.
We felt a connection, a relationship, based on total acceptance, without judgment.
It was our hope that we would be able to love each other with an absorbing spiritual, emotional, and physical bond that would continue to grow throughout our lifetime.
We were entering a new stage of our togetherness. We were getting married.
It was a sunny Sunday morning, June 24, 1973, Robert’s birthday. The Atherton Gardens were exhibiting extraordinary beauty and quietness. The lovely shape of the trees in full foliage, the delicate rows of colorful blossoms, the mass variety of multiple shades of green plants displaying exquisite gentleness of form and movement captured my attention. Lovely! An immense sense of joy welled up inside of me.
A few steps away were close colleagues and family to share in our moment of committing ourselves to each other.
We were surrounded by love.
Robert and I created our own ceremony. Douglas Norris, the minister, from the nearby United Methodist Church officiated.
Those present were the boys, Bob and Alan, Robert’s brother, Jack, Bill Larkin, Robert’s best friend and Jean, the O’Daffers, the Fleenors, Robert’s co-authors, and the Basteliers, Robert’s sailing buddy and his wife, Carol.
Readings were carefully selected for a member of each family to deliver.
Guest: Bill Larkin delivered words from George Eliot:
What greater thing is there for two human souls, than to feel that are joined for life—to strengthen each other in all labor, to rest on each other in all sorrow, to minister to each other in all pain to be with each other in silent, unspeakable memories at the moment of the last parting!
Guest: Charlie Fleenor read words taken from Kahlil Gibran’s…The Prophet:
“Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed, for love is sufficient unto love.
Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and most needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that rings its melody to the night.
To wake at dawn, with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of love;
To re