Post #74 – Women’s Memoirs, Writing Prompt – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
Memoir Writing: My Next Adventure Continues
I’ve had emails from a number of readers who wonder what happened in my move to Corvallis. A typical question is: “Well, did you get the house?” Therefore, I thought I’d write two more blogs on this topic. The second will be next week.
Memoir and Journaling
If you’ve been following this blog over the past couple of months, then you know that my husband and I sold our home and made our way to Oregon. As background, let me add that I moved to California in 1970. Forty years in one state — lived in only three homes — says a lot about my history. Although I grew up in Oklahoma City and earned an education and several degrees in Washington, DC, Boston, Stanford, and Chicago, I have been reasonably fixed for 40 short years. When we moved to Gilroy in 1997, after selling our technology company, I thought we had found nirvana and would never leave.
We had 10 acres of relatively undeveloped land when we started. We planted 134 Italian and Californian olive trees, 25 Meyer lemon trees, dozens of pineapple guava bushes, heirloom ollalieberry plants, and much more. We built a Point House where we could gaze across the agricultural valley that spread before us. We added a Thai House that let us look at our olive trees and study the deer that kept us company. We even put in 150 stairs down our hillside to an Live Oak Deck with a trestle bridge that crossed one of the lower branches of a California Live Oak that ended in a ladder down to a path that took us to a picnic area we built under our Lone Oak, our third 400 year old oak tree on the property. We called those steps “our stairmaster in nature.”
We loved the property, a quiet place with a 2000 acre county park across the street. So why move? Two of our sons now live in Oregon and wanted us to join them. We postponed the possibility until we realized that our two grandsons are 6 and 8, ages when grandparents are cool. If we waited until books were finished and the housing market recovered, they would probably be teenagers (well, I fully intend to finish our Writing Alchemy book before then) and think grandparents are decidedly uncool.
Therefore, now was the time to move. Once we made up our mind, we turned to action. So the blog journaling of our move from Gilroy to Corvallis began as we made our way out of California (marked, by the way, by a speeding ticket) and into Oregon.
I last left the saga when we made an offer on a home. I decided it best to not blog until we had some resolution to our housing. Our first offer was rejected. We had a specific amount of money we agreed to put into our next home. It’s easy to get caught up in loving a place and paying more than one should. Given the housing market, we knew we were making a fair offer. But the house hadn’t been listed for long and I think the owner wasn’t yet ready to sell. Being ready is a psychological state. She countered with a ridiculously high amount plus said we couldn’t move in until February or March. So, obviously, we walked on that place.
So it was back to looking again. Corvallis is a delightful college town with about 50,000 people. This means there are only so many homes on the market. We began to name the places we saw — plastic house, dark house, clutter house, etc. We even went back to some of them to see if we overlooked a gem. One place we revisited three times trying to persuade ourselves that we could make it work. We didn’t need a lot of space, but we needed two studies, a place to teach women’s memoir writing, and room for houseguests (including Kendra who usually spends one to two months with us each year). How hard could that be?
Well, it was difficult but we made an offer on a second place. Californians moving to Oregon are concerned about every seeing sunshine again. Therefore, when we found a home with an open interior and six skylights in the combined kitchen and family room, we were hooked. If there is even a single ray of light, we get to see it. The other evening, we looked up and even saw the almost full moon through a skylight. We made an offer and with minimal negotiation had a deal.
One Month’s Adventure: November 22, 2010 – December 21, 2010
We drove out of Gilroy, California on November 22 and we took possession of our new home on December 21 — one month later. Of course, we didn’t have any furniture but we still hosted our Eugene and Portland families for Christmas Eve. A neighbor loaned us card tables and chairs and our real estate broker loaned us a Christmas tree and cooking pans. What more did we need. It was perfect.
Another Part of the Adventure: December 22 – January 21
When the furniture arrived, the hard work began. Of course, it was a little like a major party with more gifts than could be opened in a single day. Each gift had been carefully wrapped in white paper, just waiting for me to open it. Let me assure you that even sparkling white mixing bowls given to me by one son and a cast iron skillet given to me by my father more than 40 years ago were greeted with aahs and oohs. You can really miss treasures like these when a month goes by. Well, I completed the opening of these presents in a month. During that time, we also took trips to Seattle for the Picasso exhibit and Portland and Eugene to see family. We’ve found the train to be a marvelous form of transportation between Corvallis and Portland. We can get work done as the trains even have electrical outlets at each seat. I can’t imagine anything better. I am back to regular blogging and soon will return to finishing my sections of Writing Alchemy.
But first, we get to do something that we haven’t been able to do in 13 years. I have a winter birthday and once the children were old enough, my husband treated me to a regular present of a trip. Nothing fancy, just a get away. But when we moved to our country property, we found that we could never get away because that’s when the rains came. (It turns out there are concerns even in nirvana.) We always worried about too much water running toward the foundation of the home, so we stayed to take care of the place. We put in many improvements over the years so ensure that the rain water was property diverted — a culvert, a street drain, metal pieces across each drive opening, but we still felt the need to stay local, just in case. This year, we’re going away for my birthday, reinstating that gift of time after the 13 year hiatus.
Perhaps our new home is nirvana.
Memoir Writing Prompt: One Month
Looking back at the November 22 to December 21 month as well as the December 22 to January 21 month, I realize how much can happen in just 30 days. So here’s your writing prompt for today:
1. Look at your calendar for the past month or review your journal entries. Then write for 10 minutes about the events and changes from those days that are shaping your life. What were you doing 30 days ago? I’ve moved physically and emotionally in just one month. Where were you emotionally 30 days ago? Have any of your relationships changed in 30 days? Has anything happened that may change your future? Would you like changes to happen next month? Are you taking the steps today that are necessary to make that a reality?
Thirty days doesn’t seem like much. Yet a close examination may help you see the relevance of taking actions today that will move you in the right direction for tomorrow.
See you next week when I discuss the “changes inside.”
