October 2, 2011
23 years ago tonight, Jill and I pulled into Olympia with 3 dogs, a new jeep Cherokee and our friend Bob the slob following behind us in a 24ft Ryder Truck with all our worldly goods. We had a few bucks and I think we still had some southern comfort in the glove compartment. That was it.
2 nights earlier we were living in Bermuda Dunes California in our duplex having a pretty wild going away party. A ”we’re moving to Washington party”. The kind of party when a complete stranger comes up to you with that drunken, to close, slobber in your face kind of drunk saying’ “ I hear you are leaving tomorrow morning to move to Olympia”. “I am from Tacoma and you are going to hate it in the northwest”, “It rains all the time. Don’t Do It~ Don't Do It ” (Is it odd that I still remember him saying that?)
So here we were in Olympia Washington on a Sunday evening after driving all night and day. We got kind of a late start Saturday morning after the party.
On our first night in Olympia, we checked in to the Super 8 on Martin Way and College St. (actually Lacey for you purists) and then went and had dinner at Bailey’s motor Inn. I have never been inside Bailey’s again since our first night here.
Monday morning we got busy trying to find shelter. Now is probably a good time to disclose, we had no jobs waiting, no friends or relatives and only one contact, our buddy Nancy. We had a dream and we were young and in love.
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| the home we moved to |
With shelter being high on our list, we viewed rental homes in McCLeary, Shelton and other woodsy remote outlying areas in the fringes of Thurston County and landed out in Carlyon Beach. By Thursday, we had our Ryder truck empty and we were living in our new 2 bedroom, 1 bath, and 2 woodstoves (our only heat) cabin.
We spent the rest of October looking for work which we finally found. The new job was to start a week before Thanksgiving 1988. That job is a story for another time, because it did actually happen and to write about it excites me to no end, we were so young, so naïve and so in love.
We built a life from scratch. It was very hard at times, very cold at times, very rainy at times, but when you are in the middle of a dream, the universe will continue to bless you and turn scarcity into abundance.
No Regrets ~ I love you Jill Renee
It’s a great life!
ps~ we originally wanted to move to Forks
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| Blessed ! Now Jill knits~ and I worry where my teens are on weekends |
Great story Kevin! Thanks so much for sharing it. Can't believe we've known you for over half that time!
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