I'm not sure what happened -- life slipped by so quickly. The San Francisco Giants are in the world series and have won two games. I'm super busy at work and I've also been attempting to figure out how to write a proposal for my tech writing class -- and I'm not succeeding at it. The document must contain data and numbers -- I don't like data and numbers. The reality of life has taken over as well. I had to put some fires out to avoid complete self-destruction -- you know, sell my soul to put tags on my car and stuff like that. The usual thing. All in the day of the life.
I know that my days of struggle are supposed to have ended. I'm not the stressed out single mom with all the kids hanging on to me and counting on me for everything. But why do i feel as if I am? Still? I don't know how to make the feeling go away. I still worry about being homeless or losing my car and ability to get to work. That's when I don't grab my ukulele and take off on musical adventures or hang out with my friends and listen to cool live music. Live life to its fullest -- even when things were at their worst, the kids and I still managed to have some of the coolest adventures ever. A day to Silver Creek Falls up in Oregon was fun -- picnic lunch, swim in the ice cold river during the summer and walk behind water falls...or even those summer night adventures to the grocery store, or to Denny's where we'd meet with all of my crazy friends from the local BBS's. I remember the days of raising my kids over the phone because I had to work nights...Jeremy would always call because he was scared.
going down memory lane again...! more to come.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Friday, October 19, 2012
Day 8 or 9 - Babysitting Baby J - 40 Days of Writing
This past Friday night was my FIRST night hangin' with Baby Jeremiah...Megan hung with us too...!
7pm: I get home from work. Baby Jeremiah sits in his high chair and Aunt Megan presides...baby Jeremiah finishes eating and it takes both Megan and me to figure out how to unfasten Baby Jeremiah and free him from his high chair. By 7:40pm, me and baby Jeremiah are jamming on ukuleles. I let him use my fluke uke and I play the Kala...I let him try out the Kala but only for a little while...we jam for a long time and Aunt Megan takes pictures...
8:30pm...we put the ukuleles away and head downstairs to play. Baby Jeremiah finds his ball and his Daddy's pitchfork for his costume and plays...the dogs keep their distance as he runs around with it...we play and chase each other around...then baby Jeremiah waves and says, "Byeee!" and heads up the stairs. I follow him of course...he runs over to the wall with the Beatles pictures and says "Beatles!" in his own cute way. We admire the pictures...we play with some of Baby Jeremiah's toys upstairs and he runs around in circles and heads back downstairs saying "Bye!" I follow him.
Megan shouts, "Mom are you watching him?" Of course I am! Geezzzz!
It's around 9:45pm and Baby J is still going strong...he heads back upstairs and this time I follow him into the kitchen where he opens a drawer which luckily only has "safe" stuff...plastic and a spatchula...Baby Jeremiah finds the plastic cookie cutters and puts them on his arms like bracelets...he's very proud of himself! Then he finds the case of canned tuna fish and restacks them in his own way. Then we head back into the living room...
it's well after 10pm and Mama Jen had told me he took a late nap so he might not be tired right away...not tired? this kid is an energizer bunny! I get out my binder with songs for the ukulele singalong jam I'm going to first thing in the morning...baby Jeremiah helps me "organize" my papers (mostly by throwing them on the floor and I let him do it...because he's "helping" me!
Megan suggests that we make a bottle for Baby Jeremiah and I agree...night nights? I say. Baby J shakes his head "Noooo!" Megan heats up the bottle and I lay down with him in his room downstairs. Megan turns on the special lights that make the whole room look like stars are shining...the nice, quiet sounds of the ocean pretty much put me to sleep...but I wake up with a start when Baby J gets up, opens the door and runs out into the downstairs living room...he runs around in circles for what seems like forever...I figure he'll pass out soon. I sit him next to me on the couch...
baby J hangs with me for about 45 minutes and then gets up and runs around again...I attempt to put Baby Jeremiah into his crib, but he screams his head off...oh no, we can't have that. I take him out...FINALLY after midnight, me, Megan and baby Jeremiah and the dogs all crash in the downstairs bed...whew!
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Day 6 - 40 Days of Writing (Ode to Sonia E. Todd)
Dear Sonia, I haven't been able to get you off my mind today...two of my friends Sharon Cousins and Mary Ellen Hubbard Martin shared this with us...I didn't know you, yet I feel as if I know you intimatively well..you are a beautiful person who left this earth a little too soon...yet so real and down-to-earth. Thank you, Sonia, for reminding me to appreciate every day and every moment of my life...sometimes I get so stressed out -- like today I faced a judge and a police officer in court for a carpool lane ticket and I lost..I didn't even have a fighting chance and I knew it. I ignore telemarketers and bill collectors and sometimes it's a battle just to get by day to day...but you reminded me today that our lives do mean something...you were wrong when you said you didn't do much in your life because you touched the lives of so many people around you and continue to do so through your witty, insightful words...your spirit shines through and lights us all up. and you've left behind a beautiful legacy...your boys and husband and all those who knew and loved you. my mom wrote her own obit too...oh yeah, look for her -- she's the loud one in the corner reading a book. and there's one heck of a concert for you...with John, George, Jimi, Janis, Stevie, Jerry, Jim and the gang to serenade you...know that I was touched by you today and that I plan to do everything on your list in honor of your memory...and I'll play a song for you too...some of that "old people" music like Lynyrd Skynyrd! :) hehe!
thanks again Sonia because sometimes I forget...how much I have to be grateful for...fly free, Luv, your Fan
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Day 5 - 40 Days of Writing (I think?)
I am not supposed to be here. It's a beautiful warm day outside and here I sit at work -- really I'm grateful to have a job, it's not like that. But when I walked over to Trader Joe's at lunchtime, feeling the warm sun, I remembered yesterday when I sat outside a cafe on a street in San Francisco sipping on coffee, and strumming my ukulele, surrounded by the welcoming Victorians and flats all crammed together, buildings with porches and stoops, and secret backyards that you can only see when you go into one of these magical houses that look so small on the outside, but stretch far back -- sort of like the flat where we grew up in San Francisco on 2nd Avenue. From the street, you'd just see a wide porch and doors. The buildings are crammed together, yet they stretch far back and the backyards are yet another world that only the locals or the people who visit the houses see -- filled with trees, grass, beautiful plants, flowers, some yards more rustic than others...some with redwood trees even...
When I visited my friend Dean's flat the other night, I remembered the back yards -- a hidden world...I remembered playing in yards, even jumping fences -- a gorgeouc hidden world.
So what am I doing here at work today? I should be outside playing my ukulele or writing, or doing something somewhere, other than here. Then again, I'm grateful to have a job -- some people aren't so fortunate, so it's good to put everything into perspective.
By the time I managed to escape from work, I could feel one of those pounding headaches coming on, pulsating so that I had to squint because any sort of light hurt it, yet I still managed to drive to San Jose to the Poorhouse Bistro -- and yes, I got there super late, still feeling the stress travel from my head, down to my neck and shoulders -- I popped open the trunk and grabbed my ukulele and dashed into the lovely patio area where Bob and Laurie played ukulele and guitar and sang -- my friends from the Silicon Valley Uke Group whom I also see in Santa Cruz a lot -- we're all like one big, happy family. I saw Mary Jo and Diana and Dena from Blues Ukes and Silicon Valley Uke Group -- the chicks from the north, and Annette and Bill -- and Steve Martin who runs the whole thing, and I sat next to Leonard who always shares the most amazing songs. It's always fun to jam with Leonard -- and there was Bill Dawson. I smiled and waved at him -- the three of us, me, Bill and Leonard along with a few others, had stayed up until 2:00 am to jam on ukuleles at Burning Uke X campout. As I pulled my ukulele out and began to strum along to Leonard's rendition of "Bad Moon Rising" on ukulele, suddenly I realized that the headache had disappeared and all was well with the world once again.
Wow, I thought -- this is better than therapy!! When you're stressed out, just pick up a ukulele and play and all will be well with the world! I went up and played three songs -- Science Fiction Double Feature, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and A hard Day's Night -- two Beatles songs -- hey, those are among the songs that make me happy.
When I visited my friend Dean's flat the other night, I remembered the back yards -- a hidden world...I remembered playing in yards, even jumping fences -- a gorgeouc hidden world.
So what am I doing here at work today? I should be outside playing my ukulele or writing, or doing something somewhere, other than here. Then again, I'm grateful to have a job -- some people aren't so fortunate, so it's good to put everything into perspective.
By the time I managed to escape from work, I could feel one of those pounding headaches coming on, pulsating so that I had to squint because any sort of light hurt it, yet I still managed to drive to San Jose to the Poorhouse Bistro -- and yes, I got there super late, still feeling the stress travel from my head, down to my neck and shoulders -- I popped open the trunk and grabbed my ukulele and dashed into the lovely patio area where Bob and Laurie played ukulele and guitar and sang -- my friends from the Silicon Valley Uke Group whom I also see in Santa Cruz a lot -- we're all like one big, happy family. I saw Mary Jo and Diana and Dena from Blues Ukes and Silicon Valley Uke Group -- the chicks from the north, and Annette and Bill -- and Steve Martin who runs the whole thing, and I sat next to Leonard who always shares the most amazing songs. It's always fun to jam with Leonard -- and there was Bill Dawson. I smiled and waved at him -- the three of us, me, Bill and Leonard along with a few others, had stayed up until 2:00 am to jam on ukuleles at Burning Uke X campout. As I pulled my ukulele out and began to strum along to Leonard's rendition of "Bad Moon Rising" on ukulele, suddenly I realized that the headache had disappeared and all was well with the world once again.
Wow, I thought -- this is better than therapy!! When you're stressed out, just pick up a ukulele and play and all will be well with the world! I went up and played three songs -- Science Fiction Double Feature, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and A hard Day's Night -- two Beatles songs -- hey, those are among the songs that make me happy.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Day 4 - 40 Days of Writing...music craziness!
the EPIC WEEKEND MUSICAL ADVENTURE. I'd say this musical adventure weekend was a huge success...even though they played my songlist at the beach in Santa Cruz and I missed it...however, I made it to the Beatles Sing in Pacifica at the Chit Chat Cafe, where Jeanine and her groovy little band led us in all the songs from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club band! the entire coffee shop sang along...people of all ages...younger to older...! I brought my ukulele and played along on some songs...my friend Steve played the guitar and bass...THEN we played and sang more Beatles songs at jeanine's house..! totally random, unexpected fun...HOWEVER, I had already made plans to attend the Ukulele Love In at the Actual Cafe in Oakland, so we jammed with them as long as we could before taking off down the road again for more uke playing...and to meet up with friends.
Then yesterday it was all about San Francisco and the Uke Rebellion. I took BART (and am so glad I did), brandishing one ukulele (had to choose which one, hehe!), and a backpack with music...caught 6 Parnasus bus and got off at Haight and Divesadero close to the Oakside Cafe just in time! one dude on the bus gave me some drawings he made for kids in schools, a mom and grandma with a cute little girl named "Justice" sat in front of me -- their drycleaned clothes hanging up next to them on the bus...we played songs out of the Daily Ukulele for an hour and then sang songs from the songsheets Nancy is compiling...such as the Monster Mash (for Halloween), which was so much fun...and Friday I'm in Love, Take Me On...Secret Agent Man and even Killing Me Softly...I brought the song from Rocky Horror Picture Show, "Science Fiction Double Feature," perfect for Halloween! The guy who sat next to me sang it word for word as I led the gang....anyone who has seen Rocky Horror would know this song! I also sang and played it with my friends Geoff & Caroline at the Actual Cafe, and they knew the words too! so much fun. Then afterwards, we all reluctantly parted ways and I hung out with my friends Dean & Steve at a lovely cafe...the sun shining down...played our ukes...then we walked over to Dean's house and played some more...jamming on My Sweet Lord (George Harrison) and some awesome Pretender tunes...I always learn so much when I jam with these guys! We stayed til long after the baseball game was over. Then we walked down to a really cool Mexican restaurant and ate shrimp and garlic burritos and Steve rode the bus and BART with me to the Bayfair Station where I transferred to a Fremont train and headed home...
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Day 3 - 40 Day Writing Challenge
Okay, it's only Day 3 -- well sort of the beginning Day 4 now, and I've already allowed a day to slip by. This cannot happen! It's a clear, cool day and the golden hills look so billowy and soft this morning. They look magical reminding me of Niles where I traveled to yet again last night.
I discovered Niles less than a month ago -- a fabulous little gem of a place less than two miles from my house up in the hills of Union City. Last February, I pulled out all the stops to help out my son, daughter-in-law and baby Jeremiah, my grandson. Their housing situation in Sacramento deteriorated fast when Jeremy couldn't find work out there in the valley. I needed to help them come home. Memories of all the times we were just one small step away from being homeless when I was a single mom with four kids stung and filled my heart with fear -- I can't let this little family be homeless -- my son, my grandson and daughter-in-law. Jeremy's a hard worker, but times are tough right now. So I took a loan out against my 401(k) at work and helped them move into a house where we'd all share the rent -- it's the only way to do it here in the San Francisco Bay Area. And I sure as heck don't plan to ever leave in spite of housing! This is home now -- it's where my childhood memories reside, and San Francisco is still my favorite city in the whole world. It's a struggle to live here, but no way could I work and make as much money anywhere else.
Anyway, so we didn't stay in south bay, Silicon Valley, where my job was because we couldn't find a house that we could afford to rent -- only in East San Jose, and not a great part of East San Jose -- and places like that. We moved to a different county and area -- and it seems that I'm just now getting to know what's around here since I work across the bay in Mountain View. I have to cross a bridge and drive through three counties to get to my job now -- it's only 20 miles, yet it seems like a journey every day. Sometimes I don't like the commute and grumble about it, but sometimes as I'm driving across the Dumbarton Bridge, I see beautiful egrets stretching their wide wings flying in groups, and the sun setting on the bay is incredible. And we live in the hills -- I'm looking out the window right now at the most gorgeous view ever.
A few weeks ago someone told me there would be live Beatles music at Hayward Memorial Park down Mission Blvd., so of course I needed to investigate, wearing my Magical Mystery Tour t-shirt, with my 8-string ukulele (and matching yellow submarine guitar strap -- I have three now, Yellow Submarine, Revolver and Hard Day's Night -- need to collect the rest. They work well on ukuleles too!). No Fly List is a local band who play a lot of Beatles music and put their own twist on the songs...I was impressed with them and had a great time. The lead singer told me about Niles and Mike McNevin, a musician songwriter who hangs out there and hosts shows and jams there all the time, so of course I had to check it out. I'd driven past but had never entered the time tunnel until that afternoon...it's actually a district of Fremont, but the people of Niles are proud to call it THEIR town.
Ohhh there's a humming bird right outside my window!!! Lovely!!! Something about the hummingbird hovering in one place like that never ceases to amaze me and surprise me. I remember one night a hummingbird hung out on our porch -- when we lived in one of our apartments in Mountain View.
I have no idea how long we'll live here in this place -- this house is only borrowed, rented. And eventually Jeremy and Jen will want their own home and I don't blame them one single bit. But for now, we will make the best of this place...perhaps the only time I'll ever get to reside in a house instead of an apartment -- but who knows what the future will hold.
So, I discovered Niles and have been back to visit the historic street and buildings many times -- I've been to the theater where the silent movies with Bronco Billy and Charlie Chaplin were shown -- apparently Niles has the distinction of being the place where silent movies were filmed until the entire operation moved down to Hollywood. Locals call Niles, the original Hollywood. An old steam engine train runs through the town too. I stopped in Niles on my way home from Burning Uke Campout last month for a free all day music festival and met fellow ukulele friends. We all ended up jamming at the Vine, a lovely restaurant with a patio in the back called "The Back Porch." There's a fire pit and a stage built from actual wood of an old back porch from the 1800's...then I met Mike McNevin and got on his Facebook list (God, I love Facebook, what did we ever do without it? I can't believe some people still don't want to go there -- I feel as if I can stay in touch with people and find out what's happening in the area - between Facebook and Meetup, my life is indeed complete!!!
There's a performance and jam at the Vine every Wednesday evening, and I've gone a couple of times, stopping in with my ukulele on my way home from work. Mike McNevin also hosts shows at this amazing tiny place he calls the Mudpuddle, which was a barber shop -- this small building is from the 1800s and was once even a pharmacy. Charlie Chaplin hung out right in front of the building and Mike McNevin and any local will tell you all the history. A guy who works at the theater will take you on a tour of the theater and show you the old projectors from 1915 -- he'll also give you a history lesson on the area -- a guy named Red who hangs out in front of one of the antique shops will explain that saloons once lined the streets and that there were underground tunnels -- and Charlie Chaplin and Bronco Billy used them back in the day! I looked at the golden hills and realized this would be a perfect location for all those Westerns that were filmed back in the early 1900s. It takes my breath away.
At the Niles Cafe, which is also a historic landmark, a lovely Vietnamese family will serve you the best coffee you'd ever want to drink -- and reasonably priced food too! You never know which family member will take your order -- it could be the young boy in his early teens or maybe the Grandma -- it's wonderful and murals cover the walls here, more history...
Even the antique shops carry their own charms -- old record players, and just the other night one shop sported their grand opening of Christmas decorations -- I'm usually not for Christmas stuff before Halloween, but this was so amazing it was definitely worth it. The store glittered with magic, dozens and dozens of Christmas trees, each decorated with beautiful decorations that had a theme. One tree was filled with ocean-objects from lighthouses to fish and seahorses and another had a musical theme with small guitars, bongo drums and any instrument you an imagine, and the lights, ohhh the lights...! I felt as if I was walking through a winter wonderland and I didn't have to go to Christmas in the Park in San Jose or San Francisco and fight crowds and parking! There's going to be a festival of lights here in this small town...and the steam engine train all lit up will run through the holiday season and I can hardly wait!
So I showed up at the Mudpuddle for an amazing show with Mike McNevin Severin Browne, and Britta Lee Shain, from southern California -- music in the round, a small intimate group -- everyone swapping songs, mostly acoustic with just a tiny bit of electric guitar.. Janet Lenore, a fellow ukulele player who led a workshop at Burning Campout this year, was there with her boyfriend Jeff -- he plays a uke bass, and my friend Mike, who gave me a ukulele and started me off on the whole uke craze, showed up too with his beautiful, booming low voice -- and he sang and led us in songs after the performances.
I'm lucky to live so close to this magical place of Niles and will stop in today on my way out. On this beautiful Saturday, I'm going to drive to Pacifica near the ocean to the Chit Chat Cafe to attend a Beatles Sing-along -- all of the songs from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club band and then some! Then I'll travel to Oakland for a Ukulele Love In tonight at the Actual Cafe -- and meet some friends, some of which are beginners on the ukulele. I'll bring extra ukes for them -- spreading the love of the ukuleles to one and all.
And tonight, I'll get Day 4 done...story ideas are running through my head...over and out. til we meet again.
I discovered Niles less than a month ago -- a fabulous little gem of a place less than two miles from my house up in the hills of Union City. Last February, I pulled out all the stops to help out my son, daughter-in-law and baby Jeremiah, my grandson. Their housing situation in Sacramento deteriorated fast when Jeremy couldn't find work out there in the valley. I needed to help them come home. Memories of all the times we were just one small step away from being homeless when I was a single mom with four kids stung and filled my heart with fear -- I can't let this little family be homeless -- my son, my grandson and daughter-in-law. Jeremy's a hard worker, but times are tough right now. So I took a loan out against my 401(k) at work and helped them move into a house where we'd all share the rent -- it's the only way to do it here in the San Francisco Bay Area. And I sure as heck don't plan to ever leave in spite of housing! This is home now -- it's where my childhood memories reside, and San Francisco is still my favorite city in the whole world. It's a struggle to live here, but no way could I work and make as much money anywhere else.
 |
| The view from our backyard, breathtaking! (and watching fireworks from here was amazing too on the 4th of July!) Thanks Jennifer Long, for the beautiful photo. |
Anyway, so we didn't stay in south bay, Silicon Valley, where my job was because we couldn't find a house that we could afford to rent -- only in East San Jose, and not a great part of East San Jose -- and places like that. We moved to a different county and area -- and it seems that I'm just now getting to know what's around here since I work across the bay in Mountain View. I have to cross a bridge and drive through three counties to get to my job now -- it's only 20 miles, yet it seems like a journey every day. Sometimes I don't like the commute and grumble about it, but sometimes as I'm driving across the Dumbarton Bridge, I see beautiful egrets stretching their wide wings flying in groups, and the sun setting on the bay is incredible. And we live in the hills -- I'm looking out the window right now at the most gorgeous view ever.
A few weeks ago someone told me there would be live Beatles music at Hayward Memorial Park down Mission Blvd., so of course I needed to investigate, wearing my Magical Mystery Tour t-shirt, with my 8-string ukulele (and matching yellow submarine guitar strap -- I have three now, Yellow Submarine, Revolver and Hard Day's Night -- need to collect the rest. They work well on ukuleles too!). No Fly List is a local band who play a lot of Beatles music and put their own twist on the songs...I was impressed with them and had a great time. The lead singer told me about Niles and Mike McNevin, a musician songwriter who hangs out there and hosts shows and jams there all the time, so of course I had to check it out. I'd driven past but had never entered the time tunnel until that afternoon...it's actually a district of Fremont, but the people of Niles are proud to call it THEIR town.
Ohhh there's a humming bird right outside my window!!! Lovely!!! Something about the hummingbird hovering in one place like that never ceases to amaze me and surprise me. I remember one night a hummingbird hung out on our porch -- when we lived in one of our apartments in Mountain View.
I have no idea how long we'll live here in this place -- this house is only borrowed, rented. And eventually Jeremy and Jen will want their own home and I don't blame them one single bit. But for now, we will make the best of this place...perhaps the only time I'll ever get to reside in a house instead of an apartment -- but who knows what the future will hold.
So, I discovered Niles and have been back to visit the historic street and buildings many times -- I've been to the theater where the silent movies with Bronco Billy and Charlie Chaplin were shown -- apparently Niles has the distinction of being the place where silent movies were filmed until the entire operation moved down to Hollywood. Locals call Niles, the original Hollywood. An old steam engine train runs through the town too. I stopped in Niles on my way home from Burning Uke Campout last month for a free all day music festival and met fellow ukulele friends. We all ended up jamming at the Vine, a lovely restaurant with a patio in the back called "The Back Porch." There's a fire pit and a stage built from actual wood of an old back porch from the 1800's...then I met Mike McNevin and got on his Facebook list (God, I love Facebook, what did we ever do without it? I can't believe some people still don't want to go there -- I feel as if I can stay in touch with people and find out what's happening in the area - between Facebook and Meetup, my life is indeed complete!!!
There's a performance and jam at the Vine every Wednesday evening, and I've gone a couple of times, stopping in with my ukulele on my way home from work. Mike McNevin also hosts shows at this amazing tiny place he calls the Mudpuddle, which was a barber shop -- this small building is from the 1800s and was once even a pharmacy. Charlie Chaplin hung out right in front of the building and Mike McNevin and any local will tell you all the history. A guy who works at the theater will take you on a tour of the theater and show you the old projectors from 1915 -- he'll also give you a history lesson on the area -- a guy named Red who hangs out in front of one of the antique shops will explain that saloons once lined the streets and that there were underground tunnels -- and Charlie Chaplin and Bronco Billy used them back in the day! I looked at the golden hills and realized this would be a perfect location for all those Westerns that were filmed back in the early 1900s. It takes my breath away.
At the Niles Cafe, which is also a historic landmark, a lovely Vietnamese family will serve you the best coffee you'd ever want to drink -- and reasonably priced food too! You never know which family member will take your order -- it could be the young boy in his early teens or maybe the Grandma -- it's wonderful and murals cover the walls here, more history...
Even the antique shops carry their own charms -- old record players, and just the other night one shop sported their grand opening of Christmas decorations -- I'm usually not for Christmas stuff before Halloween, but this was so amazing it was definitely worth it. The store glittered with magic, dozens and dozens of Christmas trees, each decorated with beautiful decorations that had a theme. One tree was filled with ocean-objects from lighthouses to fish and seahorses and another had a musical theme with small guitars, bongo drums and any instrument you an imagine, and the lights, ohhh the lights...! I felt as if I was walking through a winter wonderland and I didn't have to go to Christmas in the Park in San Jose or San Francisco and fight crowds and parking! There's going to be a festival of lights here in this small town...and the steam engine train all lit up will run through the holiday season and I can hardly wait!
So I showed up at the Mudpuddle for an amazing show with Mike McNevin Severin Browne, and Britta Lee Shain, from southern California -- music in the round, a small intimate group -- everyone swapping songs, mostly acoustic with just a tiny bit of electric guitar.. Janet Lenore, a fellow ukulele player who led a workshop at Burning Campout this year, was there with her boyfriend Jeff -- he plays a uke bass, and my friend Mike, who gave me a ukulele and started me off on the whole uke craze, showed up too with his beautiful, booming low voice -- and he sang and led us in songs after the performances.
I'm lucky to live so close to this magical place of Niles and will stop in today on my way out. On this beautiful Saturday, I'm going to drive to Pacifica near the ocean to the Chit Chat Cafe to attend a Beatles Sing-along -- all of the songs from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club band and then some! Then I'll travel to Oakland for a Ukulele Love In tonight at the Actual Cafe -- and meet some friends, some of which are beginners on the ukulele. I'll bring extra ukes for them -- spreading the love of the ukuleles to one and all.
And tonight, I'll get Day 4 done...story ideas are running through my head...over and out. til we meet again.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Day 2 - 40 Days of Writing
This morning I barely had enough time to get myself together and out the door -- no time for writing. I had to make that court date that I thought was yesterday. I breezed into the court room right before 9am, feeling like an expert now. I watched people plead "Guilty." One lady plead guilty to her dog being off leash. Ohhh please. Two guys plead guilty for driving solo in the carpool lane -- one guy tried to argue the case and the judge said he wasn't allowed to because he already said he was guilty.
"Whew!" I thought as I watched people accept their sentences one by one. Good thing I'm not going to plead guilty! People still had to pay over $400 for carpool violations even when they showed up in court -- what's the point? My carpool violation trial is next week -- continued once because the cop was on vacation. I have a good argument -- how the heck was I supposed to know the carpool lane would crop up on the right? And it's not safe either.
I never plead guilty. In this country, we're supposed to be innocent until proven guilty! So today when it was my turn, I walked up to the microphone feeling confident.
"You have a speeding ticket from 2007, and you are eligible for traffic school. How do you plead?"
"That was a long time ago," I said.
"Yes it was," said the Judge. I was still a little confused about a ticket that I don't even remember getting.
"I plead not guilty!" For a fleeting moment, the judge looked a little shocked, but she regained composure quickly. I asked to waive time and could I please have my trial in January after the new year? They complied. Whew, I was out the door and on my way to work in no time it seemed.
As I sat at my desk, I kept dashing into the break room across from my desk where the SF Giants playoff game showed on the big screen TV! Nervous coworkers traveled in and out of the break room, and a couple finally gave in and took an early lunch. This apparently was the game that would decide whether the San Francisco Giants would make it or not. I have to admit I was pretty excited -- even though I'm not a huge sports fan, but a lot of people in my family are huge baseball fans, especially my Dad. I knew he was watching the game or listening to it on the radio -- I knew he was excited because my Dad always gets excited about the SF Giants and baseball. He took us to Giants games at Candlestick Park when we were kids. So when the Giants actually have a chance, and when they won the world series two years ago, yes I did get a little emotional. Finally...and my Dad got to experience it too.
It was nerve wracking -- we were on pins and needles right up until the very end! The building engineer showed up, a couple of attorneys and paralegals, staff -- we all cheered when the Giants won it! Yayy! Okay, now time to get back to work!
So, I'm supposed to write something witty or exciting -- work on my fiction, or my nonfiction -- or send my "book" out to be published right now, but instead I'm just rambling on and on, spilling more words on to the page. It's Day 2 of 40 days of writing and it's not midnight yet (in California that is), so even though today was a super busy day -- and I worked on my tech writing project today -- wondering if I'm even cut out for tech writing -- for ANY kind of writing! Maybe I'm just a fraud and I should not even call myself a writer at all.
After a long day and a meeting with my "tech writing" group and fighting stop and go traffic on I-680, I am finally home...I'm watching my favorite old sitcoms -- "Friends" is on right now. and I noticed on Facebook that Kathleen and her family made it to Montana -- remembering Kathleen when I used to babysit for her and her older sisters Eileen and Maureen, a long time ago...in San Francisco in the early 1970s. At first, I was not happy to hear that Kathleen and her two baby boys and her man were moving away from the San Francisco Bay Area to a remote part of Montana. I reminded Kathleen that she was a San Francisco gal after all. Then I felt bad, remembering...so I wrote to Kathleen and let her know....
Hi Kathleen, glad you made it to your new home -- but wow, you are way out there in the boonies! that's both exciting and scary! the second time we lived in Germany, we lived in a small town called Soegel which was 100 miles from the closest military post -- Bremerhaven. One friend who drove up from Friedburg said, "This is where the boonies turn into boonies!" -- we lived among all these tiny towns dotting the countryside right near the Dutch border...there were only a few Americans there so when I got lost while driving my car around to "sight see" with kids strapped in carseats in the back, I couldn't find anyone who spoke English to help me! Finally I understood one guy because I knew what "right" and "left' meant in German and he managed to point the way back home...we lived there for three years and grew to love the area (by the way, Jeremy was born in a German civilian hospital cuz we couldn't make it to the military hospital in Bremerhaven -- in a town called Hasselunne...beautiful town that looked like something you'd see in a fairy tale book! So who the heck am I to say anything about you and your family's journey to Montana, huh? how far is the closest town??? We sang Leavin' on a Jet Plane again at our uke club meeting -- not even my suggestion this time! Luv, Mary Lane
day 2 over and out.
"Whew!" I thought as I watched people accept their sentences one by one. Good thing I'm not going to plead guilty! People still had to pay over $400 for carpool violations even when they showed up in court -- what's the point? My carpool violation trial is next week -- continued once because the cop was on vacation. I have a good argument -- how the heck was I supposed to know the carpool lane would crop up on the right? And it's not safe either.
I never plead guilty. In this country, we're supposed to be innocent until proven guilty! So today when it was my turn, I walked up to the microphone feeling confident.
"You have a speeding ticket from 2007, and you are eligible for traffic school. How do you plead?"
"That was a long time ago," I said.
"Yes it was," said the Judge. I was still a little confused about a ticket that I don't even remember getting.
"I plead not guilty!" For a fleeting moment, the judge looked a little shocked, but she regained composure quickly. I asked to waive time and could I please have my trial in January after the new year? They complied. Whew, I was out the door and on my way to work in no time it seemed.
As I sat at my desk, I kept dashing into the break room across from my desk where the SF Giants playoff game showed on the big screen TV! Nervous coworkers traveled in and out of the break room, and a couple finally gave in and took an early lunch. This apparently was the game that would decide whether the San Francisco Giants would make it or not. I have to admit I was pretty excited -- even though I'm not a huge sports fan, but a lot of people in my family are huge baseball fans, especially my Dad. I knew he was watching the game or listening to it on the radio -- I knew he was excited because my Dad always gets excited about the SF Giants and baseball. He took us to Giants games at Candlestick Park when we were kids. So when the Giants actually have a chance, and when they won the world series two years ago, yes I did get a little emotional. Finally...and my Dad got to experience it too.
It was nerve wracking -- we were on pins and needles right up until the very end! The building engineer showed up, a couple of attorneys and paralegals, staff -- we all cheered when the Giants won it! Yayy! Okay, now time to get back to work!
So, I'm supposed to write something witty or exciting -- work on my fiction, or my nonfiction -- or send my "book" out to be published right now, but instead I'm just rambling on and on, spilling more words on to the page. It's Day 2 of 40 days of writing and it's not midnight yet (in California that is), so even though today was a super busy day -- and I worked on my tech writing project today -- wondering if I'm even cut out for tech writing -- for ANY kind of writing! Maybe I'm just a fraud and I should not even call myself a writer at all.
After a long day and a meeting with my "tech writing" group and fighting stop and go traffic on I-680, I am finally home...I'm watching my favorite old sitcoms -- "Friends" is on right now. and I noticed on Facebook that Kathleen and her family made it to Montana -- remembering Kathleen when I used to babysit for her and her older sisters Eileen and Maureen, a long time ago...in San Francisco in the early 1970s. At first, I was not happy to hear that Kathleen and her two baby boys and her man were moving away from the San Francisco Bay Area to a remote part of Montana. I reminded Kathleen that she was a San Francisco gal after all. Then I felt bad, remembering...so I wrote to Kathleen and let her know....
Hi Kathleen, glad you made it to your new home -- but wow, you are way out there in the boonies! that's both exciting and scary! the second time we lived in Germany, we lived in a small town called Soegel which was 100 miles from the closest military post -- Bremerhaven. One friend who drove up from Friedburg said, "This is where the boonies turn into boonies!" -- we lived among all these tiny towns dotting the countryside right near the Dutch border...there were only a few Americans there so when I got lost while driving my car around to "sight see" with kids strapped in carseats in the back, I couldn't find anyone who spoke English to help me! Finally I understood one guy because I knew what "right" and "left' meant in German and he managed to point the way back home...we lived there for three years and grew to love the area (by the way, Jeremy was born in a German civilian hospital cuz we couldn't make it to the military hospital in Bremerhaven -- in a town called Hasselunne...beautiful town that looked like something you'd see in a fairy tale book! So who the heck am I to say anything about you and your family's journey to Montana, huh? how far is the closest town??? We sang Leavin' on a Jet Plane again at our uke club meeting -- not even my suggestion this time! Luv, Mary Lane
day 2 over and out.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
DAY 1 - 40 Days of Writing
The day began so beautifully. I set my alarm and actually awakened at 6:15 a.m. this morning -- to make a 6:30am "virtual" writing meetup. Yes, I realize this is bordering on insanity, especially for me, but I really must get serious about my writing -- and I mean really serious. We're talking 40 Days of Writing and NANO serious! As the day slips by, many times the words drift through my fingers...this cannot happen. No one mentioned that at 6:30 a.m. it is still dark outside! I didn't know this because I never wake up this early. The house was dark, silent and chilly as I padded down the hallway in bare feet and pulled my tie-dye sweatshirt jacket closer to me as I stumbled to my laptop computer and sat down -- staring at the sign-in screen for a moment or two wondering what am I doing here and why? Luckily I hadn't forgotten my glasses, so at least I could see -- and I had a glass of water...no time to make coffee now, just sign in.
I logged into the "Shut Up and Write" meetup page (you see, I'm desperate now -- I've signed up for everything, seriously! this must happen!) and commented -- I'm here and it's dark. Another person chimed in that she was writing on her iPhone, her preference. For a fleeting moment I wondered -- how does anyone write on an iPhone? How is this even POSSIBLE? I can't even use those touchscreen thingies and stick with my crappy old phone because it has a keyboard! That's amazing. Another perky looking gal is happy that she made it -- she had dreamed that she'd awakened too late.
So the moments seemed to fly by as I madly typed away, forgetting time and space for just a little while -- a scene from my "book," when we move from Oregon to California based on a freewrite idea I'd received in the mail from yet another site. I figure if I surround and envelope myself with words and stories, something magical is bound to happen, right? As I wrote the sun rose and light blended with clouds stretched across the sky above golden-colored hills. The treetops glowed. Oh yeah, we live on a hill and I'm sitting at this table with a perfect view of the hills...I'd forgotten in the darkness.
Soon almost an hour had gone by and I had to break myself away to get ready -- I had to be at the Palo Alto Santa Clara County Courthouse for yet another traffic thing at 9:00 a.m., and then of course head for work. I managed to get out the door by 8am which gave me an hour to drive to Palo Alto, and of course it took that entire hour to fight the traffic across the Dunbarton Bridge and through Palo Alto at commuting time. I parked (and now I know where the good parking is) and dashed into the courthouse, and as I handed over my purse and tried to walk through the metal detector thingie, the cop reminded me. "Don't forget -- give me your peace button." I stopped in my tracks. What? He wanted me to hand over my button? Oh well...no way. And if he does, we've got a problem and they'll have to haul me to jail before I take off my peace button with the ukulele on it.
The cop smiled -- he remembered me I guess. "Just to get through the metal detector!" Whew, oh yeah, okay. I handed it over to him and walked through. But then I had to take my belt off and it was just this huge ordeal before I finally made it through after trying five times. Then I had to gather my stuff and dash up the steps just in time. Court had begun.
But then my name wasn't called by the end of the "C" people -- and I thought, wait a second, I'm supposed to be here. I had to check the court list of traffic criminals (not really, but when you hear the judge speak about all the rules and such, you'd think so!) -- and I wasn't on it. Oh man. NO way. This was the day. I was sure of it. So I had to go to the county clerk's office and wiat in line -- and that's where I found out my court day wasn't today, but tomorrow. Ohhhh man. How will I explain at work that I have to come in late yet again? I trudged out of the courthouse feeling down trodden, jumped into my car and drove to work...
and here I sit..it's lunchtime! signing off...for now.
and, here's the freewriting I did in the wee hours of the morning -- thanking Laura Davis for the wonderful prompts she sends me every Tuesday!!!!
Today's Writing Prompt from Laura Davis (I get these every Tuesday Morning):
Write about a time when you embarked upon something new and challenging, frightening, or
even dangerous-as a way to find an answer, to rediscover something essential about yourself.
Tell us about what you did-the adventure, the journey, the risks you took-what drove you there,
and who you were when you emerged afterwards.
“I’m moving back to San Francisco when you die, Mom.”
Mom smiled slightly – she was a skeleton of herself lying there on that bed, all stretched out –
the damned bone cancer. I didn’t want her to leave – she had grasped my hand and asked in a
husky whisper if it was okay, but all I could do was hold her hand and cry. But my mind was
made up.
“But, dear,” she croaked. “What about Vicki and all your people here? And the kids…” Then
she drifted off into a morphine-induced sleep.
Even my mother didn’t believe I could do it – no one did. So when I took that trip down to
California in the rusty Chevy Cavalier that my son’s friend had given us, making my way further
south, I thought to myself, “I can do this.”
We had said good-bye to my mother, me and my four kids – and scattered her ashes in the ocean
just as she’d requested – one mile off the Yaquina Head Lighthouse in Newport, Oregon. I had
finally let my mother go when I sat in my car and listened to “Freebird” on the radio in the 7
Eleven Parking lot.
I landed a job within two weeks. I had contacted Heald Business College because I remembered
I had life-time job placement with them – so even though it had been 22 years since I’d
graduated in 1976, they would still help me. I smiled as I walked in the door of Heald
Business College which had changed locations in San Francisco since I went to school there
– remembering how my mother and I had argued about business college. I didn’t want to go
because of the dress code. How dare they force people to wear nylons and dress up like they’re
going to work? And why shouldn’t I go to college? My mother had a master’s degree in English
Literature – and she was definitely the most well-read person I’d ever known – reading at least a
book a day for her entire life – at least as long as I knew her. She had books by her bedside even
after cancer ravaged her body – books like “Tibetan Book of the Dead.”
“Because you need a skill – and you’re not ready for college!” Mom had shouted. I thought she
was trying to say I wasn’t smart enough for college because I didn’t do well on the SAT tests
and the only subjects I ever got A’s in were Music and English. But that didn’t matter. I could
be a writer, I argued – and live above a store on Haight Street, wouldn’t that be cool? My mother
shook her head. “What do you really want?” she asked.
It was when I said those people standing on street corners and on stoops in San Francisco who
played their guitars and sang looked really happy and I would love to be happy like them that my
mother totally freaked out.
“You must to go business college!” she shouted in a loud, dramatic voice. “You’ll thank me
some day!”
Twenty-two years later, within a month after my mother’s passing, I walked through the doors of
Heald Business College as an alumni – and I silently thanked my mother. It wouldn’t be the last
time.
Sure enough I still existed and I still got free job placement services – I was sent to a legal
placement firm on Montgomery Street in San Francisco – the financial district with the tall
buildings. And the nice people there immediately set up an interview at a law firm in Palo Alto
– apparently things had changed since I’d worked in San fRancisco back in the 1970’s. A lot of
the larger law firms had migrated down the peninsula to Palo Alto – and the peninsula was now
called “Silicon Valley.”
I landed a job at that first law firm in Palo Alto – and I drove back to Oregon to let the kids
know.
“We’re moving to California in two weeks!” I announced. The kids freaked out – I looked at
them all, Stevie, Melissa, Jeremy and Megan – 16, 14, 13 and not quite five – my four kids
– “It’ll be so wonderful!” I said excitedly. “We’ll be back in the San Francisco Bay Area!
Grandpa’s down there.”
The kids didn’t look too excited, but they went along with it. People said I was moving to be
with a man – others said I was moving down to the land of fruits and nuts, which made me want
to move even more. We had many tearful good-byes as my kids grew up in Oregon.
I rented a 20 foot truck to move all of our stuff. Ten years of our lives in a 20 foot truck. But
the two car garage had become a storage room for assorted exboyfriends, even my brother and
mother. Two days before we moved, with the help of Stevie and his friend Sam, we moved
a truckload of trash to the City Dump – that’s when the tragic accident happened and we
accidentally threw my mother’s heirloom Christmas ornaments off the cliff at the City Dump.
To this day, I will never forget that feeling of loss, horror and dread as I watched the old box that
looked as if it was stuffed with old newspaper hit the side of the cliff and all those ornaments
shattered, the ones my mother had left for me and the kids, and those beautiful handmade
stockings of green, red and blue glitter, and those red satin bows. My heart went off that cliff at
the City Dump that day and I’ve never been able to get it back.
Sam drove the 20-foot truck and I drove the Chevy Cavalier – Stevie and Jeremy rode in the
truck with Sam. In the end, it was just me and my kids and Sam. We moved everything we
owned into that truck, leaving some things behind and we still managed to fill one of those
dumpsters used at apartment complexes.
As the truck pulled out of the cul-de-sac on Krystie Court for the last time that early September
1997 morning, my redheaded four-year-old crying softly in the back seat and Melissa asleep
in the front because she just couldn’t take it, I wondered what the heck I was doing. I doubted myself. Did I make the right decision to want to move back home to the San Francisco Bay
Area? What the heck was I doing uprooting the kids after they’d lived here for almost 10 years?
But the kids hadn’t told me I was an idiot for doing this. And they would have had no problem
with that. Good-bye Oregon and hello California.
We didn’t know the truck would eat so much gas and we traveled on a shoe string budget, of
course. That’s just the way it was. But soon I’d be at my brand new job that paid twice as much
than I’d ever made my whole life! The truck ran out of gas on I-680 outside of Walnut Creek –
and we had to call my Dad and have him wire some money to them.
Somehow, some way we made it. Our first stop – my Dad’s apartment in Sunnyvale, California
and second stop our new home in Mountain View, California.
I logged into the "Shut Up and Write" meetup page (you see, I'm desperate now -- I've signed up for everything, seriously! this must happen!) and commented -- I'm here and it's dark. Another person chimed in that she was writing on her iPhone, her preference. For a fleeting moment I wondered -- how does anyone write on an iPhone? How is this even POSSIBLE? I can't even use those touchscreen thingies and stick with my crappy old phone because it has a keyboard! That's amazing. Another perky looking gal is happy that she made it -- she had dreamed that she'd awakened too late.
So the moments seemed to fly by as I madly typed away, forgetting time and space for just a little while -- a scene from my "book," when we move from Oregon to California based on a freewrite idea I'd received in the mail from yet another site. I figure if I surround and envelope myself with words and stories, something magical is bound to happen, right? As I wrote the sun rose and light blended with clouds stretched across the sky above golden-colored hills. The treetops glowed. Oh yeah, we live on a hill and I'm sitting at this table with a perfect view of the hills...I'd forgotten in the darkness.
Soon almost an hour had gone by and I had to break myself away to get ready -- I had to be at the Palo Alto Santa Clara County Courthouse for yet another traffic thing at 9:00 a.m., and then of course head for work. I managed to get out the door by 8am which gave me an hour to drive to Palo Alto, and of course it took that entire hour to fight the traffic across the Dunbarton Bridge and through Palo Alto at commuting time. I parked (and now I know where the good parking is) and dashed into the courthouse, and as I handed over my purse and tried to walk through the metal detector thingie, the cop reminded me. "Don't forget -- give me your peace button." I stopped in my tracks. What? He wanted me to hand over my button? Oh well...no way. And if he does, we've got a problem and they'll have to haul me to jail before I take off my peace button with the ukulele on it.
The cop smiled -- he remembered me I guess. "Just to get through the metal detector!" Whew, oh yeah, okay. I handed it over to him and walked through. But then I had to take my belt off and it was just this huge ordeal before I finally made it through after trying five times. Then I had to gather my stuff and dash up the steps just in time. Court had begun.
But then my name wasn't called by the end of the "C" people -- and I thought, wait a second, I'm supposed to be here. I had to check the court list of traffic criminals (not really, but when you hear the judge speak about all the rules and such, you'd think so!) -- and I wasn't on it. Oh man. NO way. This was the day. I was sure of it. So I had to go to the county clerk's office and wiat in line -- and that's where I found out my court day wasn't today, but tomorrow. Ohhhh man. How will I explain at work that I have to come in late yet again? I trudged out of the courthouse feeling down trodden, jumped into my car and drove to work...
and here I sit..it's lunchtime! signing off...for now.
and, here's the freewriting I did in the wee hours of the morning -- thanking Laura Davis for the wonderful prompts she sends me every Tuesday!!!!
Today's Writing Prompt from Laura Davis (I get these every Tuesday Morning):
Write about a time when you embarked upon something new and challenging, frightening, or
even dangerous-as a way to find an answer, to rediscover something essential about yourself.
Tell us about what you did-the adventure, the journey, the risks you took-what drove you there,
and who you were when you emerged afterwards.
“I’m moving back to San Francisco when you die, Mom.”
Mom smiled slightly – she was a skeleton of herself lying there on that bed, all stretched out –
the damned bone cancer. I didn’t want her to leave – she had grasped my hand and asked in a
husky whisper if it was okay, but all I could do was hold her hand and cry. But my mind was
made up.
“But, dear,” she croaked. “What about Vicki and all your people here? And the kids…” Then
she drifted off into a morphine-induced sleep.
Even my mother didn’t believe I could do it – no one did. So when I took that trip down to
California in the rusty Chevy Cavalier that my son’s friend had given us, making my way further
south, I thought to myself, “I can do this.”
We had said good-bye to my mother, me and my four kids – and scattered her ashes in the ocean
just as she’d requested – one mile off the Yaquina Head Lighthouse in Newport, Oregon. I had
finally let my mother go when I sat in my car and listened to “Freebird” on the radio in the 7
Eleven Parking lot.
I landed a job within two weeks. I had contacted Heald Business College because I remembered
I had life-time job placement with them – so even though it had been 22 years since I’d
graduated in 1976, they would still help me. I smiled as I walked in the door of Heald
Business College which had changed locations in San Francisco since I went to school there
– remembering how my mother and I had argued about business college. I didn’t want to go
because of the dress code. How dare they force people to wear nylons and dress up like they’re
going to work? And why shouldn’t I go to college? My mother had a master’s degree in English
Literature – and she was definitely the most well-read person I’d ever known – reading at least a
book a day for her entire life – at least as long as I knew her. She had books by her bedside even
after cancer ravaged her body – books like “Tibetan Book of the Dead.”
“Because you need a skill – and you’re not ready for college!” Mom had shouted. I thought she
was trying to say I wasn’t smart enough for college because I didn’t do well on the SAT tests
and the only subjects I ever got A’s in were Music and English. But that didn’t matter. I could
be a writer, I argued – and live above a store on Haight Street, wouldn’t that be cool? My mother
shook her head. “What do you really want?” she asked.
It was when I said those people standing on street corners and on stoops in San Francisco who
played their guitars and sang looked really happy and I would love to be happy like them that my
mother totally freaked out.
“You must to go business college!” she shouted in a loud, dramatic voice. “You’ll thank me
some day!”
Twenty-two years later, within a month after my mother’s passing, I walked through the doors of
Heald Business College as an alumni – and I silently thanked my mother. It wouldn’t be the last
time.
Sure enough I still existed and I still got free job placement services – I was sent to a legal
placement firm on Montgomery Street in San Francisco – the financial district with the tall
buildings. And the nice people there immediately set up an interview at a law firm in Palo Alto
– apparently things had changed since I’d worked in San fRancisco back in the 1970’s. A lot of
the larger law firms had migrated down the peninsula to Palo Alto – and the peninsula was now
called “Silicon Valley.”
I landed a job at that first law firm in Palo Alto – and I drove back to Oregon to let the kids
know.
“We’re moving to California in two weeks!” I announced. The kids freaked out – I looked at
them all, Stevie, Melissa, Jeremy and Megan – 16, 14, 13 and not quite five – my four kids
– “It’ll be so wonderful!” I said excitedly. “We’ll be back in the San Francisco Bay Area!
Grandpa’s down there.”
The kids didn’t look too excited, but they went along with it. People said I was moving to be
with a man – others said I was moving down to the land of fruits and nuts, which made me want
to move even more. We had many tearful good-byes as my kids grew up in Oregon.
I rented a 20 foot truck to move all of our stuff. Ten years of our lives in a 20 foot truck. But
the two car garage had become a storage room for assorted exboyfriends, even my brother and
mother. Two days before we moved, with the help of Stevie and his friend Sam, we moved
a truckload of trash to the City Dump – that’s when the tragic accident happened and we
accidentally threw my mother’s heirloom Christmas ornaments off the cliff at the City Dump.
To this day, I will never forget that feeling of loss, horror and dread as I watched the old box that
looked as if it was stuffed with old newspaper hit the side of the cliff and all those ornaments
shattered, the ones my mother had left for me and the kids, and those beautiful handmade
stockings of green, red and blue glitter, and those red satin bows. My heart went off that cliff at
the City Dump that day and I’ve never been able to get it back.
Sam drove the 20-foot truck and I drove the Chevy Cavalier – Stevie and Jeremy rode in the
truck with Sam. In the end, it was just me and my kids and Sam. We moved everything we
owned into that truck, leaving some things behind and we still managed to fill one of those
dumpsters used at apartment complexes.
As the truck pulled out of the cul-de-sac on Krystie Court for the last time that early September
1997 morning, my redheaded four-year-old crying softly in the back seat and Melissa asleep
in the front because she just couldn’t take it, I wondered what the heck I was doing. I doubted myself. Did I make the right decision to want to move back home to the San Francisco Bay
Area? What the heck was I doing uprooting the kids after they’d lived here for almost 10 years?
But the kids hadn’t told me I was an idiot for doing this. And they would have had no problem
with that. Good-bye Oregon and hello California.
We didn’t know the truck would eat so much gas and we traveled on a shoe string budget, of
course. That’s just the way it was. But soon I’d be at my brand new job that paid twice as much
than I’d ever made my whole life! The truck ran out of gas on I-680 outside of Walnut Creek –
and we had to call my Dad and have him wire some money to them.
Somehow, some way we made it. Our first stop – my Dad’s apartment in Sunnyvale, California
and second stop our new home in Mountain View, California.
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