88 Day Challenge, Day 46/88

A Day for Writing

The Moving Life - Part I

After a lifetime of moving, and often feeling unsettled, I found myself making what I thought would be my last move in my life.  I was 69 1/2 years old.

1.  Born in California in 1947

2.  Moved to Hawaii mid 1949

3.  Dad in Navy and sent to Korea.  1950-1952.  We relocated to Wisconsin to be with my dad's family. 1950

4.  Dad's returns and we settle into the Great Lakes Training Center around 1953 for two years.

5.  Dad's transferred to California again. At this point, he is going overseas and returning every six to eight month. It's 1955.

6. 7. 8. We move from the S.F. Bay area to San Diego,  following the ship. This went on for a few years with a side trip at least one more time to Illinois and then back to California. 

9.  Finally, in 1960-1961 we started to settle in Chula Vista, Ca, just a stones throw from the US-Mexican border.  My dad retired in 1961 from the Navy and he immediately moved us all back to his family home in Rhinelander, WI.

I was thrilled. I loved my grandparents and all the cousins I had back there.  My Uncle Cap had a house on Post Lake with a dock attached to the shore.

The cousins and I loved to tramp around in the swampy area and we thought ourselves very daring as we avoided the muddy areas we call quicksand. We hunted for frogs and I discovered what a snipe hunt was. I found a green garter snake that wrapped itself tightly around my arm and then showed me who was boss when he bit the middle finger of my right hand. That was the year I discovered how sharp fangs were and I've never forgotten that feeling.  However,  I didn't developed a fear of snakes and I've held that memory close to my heart for 65 years.

10.  I remember the house we lived in so clearly.  It was a two story bungalo with an enclosed porch - basement and attic included. It was located across the street from a park the edge of which dropped off to a wide creek.  The area was covered in trees and shrubs and trails broken by previous generations of children who explored the world of the creek. I was always alone but didn't mind.  Can you imagine that happening today?  No doubt the creekside would be overrun with encampments.

I loved this time in my life, remembering cousins, family, creeks, and a secret room hidden behind my bedroom closet. I watched the Aurora Borealis from my bedroom window at night. 

This was the year I didn't think twice about exploring the mysteries of our bungalo.  One day I climbed up onto the kitchen counter to explore the tops of the cabinets (they didn't attach to the ceiling) and I found a paperback book.  Curious, I took it down and being a great reader, I thought I had found a treasure.  I suppose, in a way, I had.  It was a copy of D. H. Lawrence's famous, or some might say infamous title, "Lady Chatterly's Lover". On the cover, in big, splashy letters the following words proclaimed UNEXPURGATED VERSION. 

 Now, mind you, I was 12 years old at the time but those two words tantalize with secret meaning and I tucked the book away to later discover who knows what.  I had that book for literally decades and I reread it many times. In time, the poor paper quality was turning to dust and the glue on the spine that held the pages together broke down. The book literally fell to pieces.  I lost or maybe tossed the book some time in the late 90's but to this day, I haven't forgotten it.

My heart broke the day my dad came home and told us we were moving back to California.   It was 6 weeks until the end of the school year (I was in 8th grade).  We settled in San Diego and I finished my last month of eighth grade there. Friendless, heartbroken, and a newly pregnant mother; it was not an easy time.

Eventually my brother arrived; I was 14 years old.  I went through high school, made a circle of friends who evaporated after graduation.  But, by that time I had managed to learn to keep my feet on the ground and within two years, I moved from home making lots of mistakes along the road to adulthood.

My adult years of moving lay in front of me. It would be long road.

TOMORROW