• New Events
  • Feed
  • Subject
    • Eat
    • Sleep
    • Visit
    • Read
    • Listen
    • Watch
    • Life
    • Moonridge
  • Trending
  • Karen
  • Privacy Policy
  • Subscribe

Always Packed for Adventure!

It's the destination and the journey.

  • New Events
  • Feed
  • Subject
    • Eat
    • Sleep
    • Visit
    • Read
    • Listen
    • Watch
    • Life
    • Moonridge
  • Trending
  • Karen
  • Privacy Policy
  • Subscribe

Turning Forty

Tomorrow, I turn forty. It boggles my mind that another decade has rushed by and that I'm now solidly middle-aged. (gulp). Luckily, most of my friends are going through the same thing, so I'm in good company!

I've been thinking a lot about my mom. She was diagnosed with cancer shortly after I turned thirty and passed six months after my birthday. Her death kicked off my thirties and dramatically changed my life. I was left shattered. I still miss and think of her every single day. As I approach this milestone birthday, I've been missing her even more.

 She always claimed that her forties were the best decade of her life. I've been trying to wrap my mind around this, because if you look at some of the crap that she went through, it just seems like an impossible statement. My mom had me a few months before she turned thirty-eight and by the time she was forty-two, my father was asking her for a divorce. They had been married for almost twenty-five years and he was cheating on her. He was also an alcoholic and was planning on taking his half of the house they mutually purchased, leaving her in a financial bind. By all accounts, she was devastated and didn't want a divorce. It turns out, the divorce never happened, because my father killed himself in a scandalous (front page headline news)- murder/suicide with his new girlfriend. So my mom was in her early forties and now a widow/single mom with a toddler. This is all heavy enough, but a few years later my mom was diagnosed with cancer. The cancer came right as she was promoted at work and she had to step-down from her new role. All of this crap happened, so how could she think her forties were so great?

I never had the chance to ask her, so this is just me giving my best guess. I think her forties were extremely difficult, but I think she chose to reframe it. She chose to look to the positive. With my father, she had a husband that she loved very much and married when she was eighteen, but it was also a drama-filled, stressful relationship. He was a mess. With him gone, her life got lighter. She could raise me the way that she wanted, without having to worry about his input or shared custody. She was able to keep her house. For the first time in her adult life, she could do things her way. With the cancer, she beat it. And with her job, other opportunities came along. Although the decade started out rough, I think ultimately her forties were a time where she felt strong and empowered. 

I'm not sure what my forties will hold for me, but if my twenties and thirties are any indication, I'm ready to expect the unexpected. Life is amazing and unpredictable. It's a wild ride.

Here is the rollercoaster that were my thirties....

This picture was taken at our family brunch in Pasadena on my thirtieth birthday (August 12, 2007). I'm wedged between my aunt and uncle, who both died in 2013. My mom is in the brown top in the lower-right. She was definitely sick in this picture, massive weight-loss, but had not been diagnosed. My ex-husband, who I divorced a few months after my mom died, is in the lower-left. The woman in the grey-top is a close-family friend, who I'm still in touch with. It's so strange to think a decade later, four of the people in this family picture are gone from my life.

My mom died on February 4, 2008 and had been a volunteer for the senior patrol with the Glendale Police Department. The police department insisted on organizing her funeral, which was pretty incredible with hundreds of people in attendance, including the police chief and K-9 unit. My mom was active in raising money for the dogs! The police department planted a tree in her honor at a local park. Here is a picture of the tree celebration that my aunt and I attended on the Arbor Day in 2008. We are with one of the police officers and my mom's senior patrol partner.

My thirty-first birthday was a big deal, as it was the first birthday without my mom. I had a few celebrations. My aunt and uncle took me to our favorite restaurant: Niuport 17. I also had a party with two of my childhood best-friends, Julie and Fanny. I felt and continue to feel, very loved.

View fullsize 1929707_34387864512_8358_n.jpg
View fullsize 1929707_34387854512_7670_n.jpg

Speaking of feeling loved, many of my friends had their first babies around the time my mom died and I feel honored to have been included as part of their lives. I come from a very small family (I'm the only person left in my family), but I've always felt included as an extra family member in the lives of my friends. I absolutely love being "Auntie" to their kids. 

The summer after my thirty-first birthday, my ex-husband officially moved out of the state and we are not in contact. Thankfully, our divorce was amicable and he even stayed to help me renovate my childhood home and waited until it was ready to move into. Although the divorce was absolutely necessary, I'm grateful that he didn't make it harder than it had to be.

By the end of summer, I was living alone for the first time, back in my childhood home. 

It was a very difficult transition for me. I'm not someone who easily embraces change and I felt lonely. Luckily I was surrounded by friends and neighbors who refused to leave me alone. No wallowing allowed! It helped that I had a few roommates.

My elderly cat, Spotless. Spotless lived until 2009, having to be put down the week after my birthday. I also got into a car accident the same week, hitting a parked police motorcycle. Of course, I knew the Glendale police officer involved and it was a mortifying experience. He thought it was hilarious and no one was hurt. This picture was taken when Spotless was a kitten. I hope it's needless to say, but just in case...I didn't keep a single piece of my mom's furniture!

I had Nicolette, who is still alive and is now an elderly cat. Here's a picture from when she was still young.

On Easter Sunday in 2009, I found a blue parakeet sitting on the grass in my aunt and uncle's backyard. We couldn't find its owners, so I named him/her Cadbury and bought a green mate, named Jellybean. I had them until 2012, when Jellybean died and I gave Cadbury to my aunt's housekeeper. 

Slinky came into my life in the spring of 2010. He was a rescue from a bad situation and I adore him. 

Holidays were hard. My mom always made the same turkey meal with the same sides for both Christmas and Thanksgiving. We decided that we needed to change that tradition. We went out to dinner at a restaurant for Thanksgiving and my aunt made prime rib for Christmas. My mom always went nuts with decorating for the holiday, but I kept it simple with a miniature tree. Here are a few pictures from our first Christmas without mom. The dog is my aunt and uncle's pup, Molly. It was not my idea to put clothes on her!

View fullsize 17043_234316179512_7849297_n.jpg
View fullsize 17043_234316174512_7700415_n.jpg

In my early thirties, I was still working for Universal Studios Hollywood, where I spent fifteen years. I loved my job, mostly because of the friends that I made working there. In 2011, I had to leave Universal because of nerve damage. I couldn't type as much as I needed for the office work that I was doing. I was offered an alternative position, but declined, because at that point, I was taking care of my aunt and uncle. They both were declining in health and increasingly needed my help. I even moved my cats to their house, with the intention of moving there permanently. 

Here is a picture of me at Universal. My office was in the Simpson's attraction!

My early-thirties were fun: traveling, concerts, plays, theme parks, et... My social life was busy with friends and boyfriends. I'm grateful to say that although none of the relationships ultimately worked out, I dated good men, whom I respect. No jerks! I'm also close friends with nearly everyone that I was friends with when I started my thirties and I've picked up a few new ones. 

In early 2012, I met a dashing Brit named Dan. It was a whirlwind. An overwhelming, all-consuming, passionate courtship! Despite both being divorced, we didn't hesitate to move in together after the third date. Crazy right? This meant that I didn't permenantly move to my aunt and uncle's house, but I still spent 3-4 days a week in their home.

Since care-taking was my first responsibility, I worked a few odd-jobs. I had a short stint at my favorite department store: Nordstrom. They were a good company to work for, but I'd rather just shop there. I also worked as a dog walker. It's hard to beat getting paid to play with puppies! 

I went on my first trip to Europe in the winter of 2013 to visit Dan's family in England. It was amazing and exceeded my expectations. I've been back six times. In my thirties, I also traveled to = Spain, France, Gibraltar, Sweden, Belgium, Netherlands, Wales, Scotland, Canada (both coasts), Mexico, Haiti, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. I've visited several states for the first time : Alaska, Utah, Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and Rhode Island. In my thirties, I saw Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, and Glacier Bay National Park. I rode in a hot air balloon and a seaplane. I went white water rafting and swam with sting rays. 

A few weeks after we returned from my first trip to England, my uncle passed away from heart and liver failure. Although not unexpected, it was a devastating loss. I had a really special bond with my uncle.

Dan proposed to me in the summer of 2013 at Highclere Castle in England, which is where they filmed Downton Abbey! We eloped at the Aria in Las Vegas on November 2, 2013. 

A month after our wedding, my aunt had a major back surgery. Although the surgery seemed to go well, a week later, her kidneys began to fail. She passed away a few days before Christmas in 2013. It was shocking and so unexpected. Aside for distant relatives that I've never met, my aunt was my last blood relative. I feel really blessed to have had the opportunity to take care of my aunt and uncle before they passed away. It gave me the opportunity to get to know them and to develop a very close relationship, that might not have happened if we hadn't had such a small family. I also got to witness how their friends really loved and helped them. It made me treasure my own friends (extended-family) even more!

Luckily, when I married Dan, I also inherited a large family! I never thought that I'd have kids, but I now have a wonderful stepdaughter and stepson who live in Sweden. They make me laugh, drive me crazy, and surprise me with the most unexpected moments. Truly, they enrich my life in ways I never expected. I have nieces, nephews, sister and brother in-laws, who live in England; a huge extended family whom I love to visit. My mother-in-law has a fabulous sense of humor and loves books as much as I do. I was also very close to my father-in-law, Dave, who passed away in 2016. Early in my relationship with Dan, Dave visited from England and I took him to Disneyland. If you want a crash-corse in getting to know someone, spend an entire day at a busy theme park with them. We had a blast!

Here's a picture of a 2015 mediterranean cruise that we went on with my in-laws and kids.

In 2014, we sold my aunt and uncle's house, which had been their home for my whole life. We used part of the money to buy a fixer-upper second home in Big Bear Lake.

The house is mostly finished now, but we took it down to the studs and spent several years on the renovation project. I also used money from my relatives to go back to school. I completed a three-year fiction writing certificate course through UCLA Extension. I'm proud to say that I finished in two years with taking more classes than required and I finished with honors. I also had my work-in-progress manuscript nominated for the Kirkwood Prize. I'm still working on my manuscript, but I know it will get done in my forties! 

Last summer, Dan got offered an amazing job opportunity in Portland, OR. We've spent the last year living in downtown Portland in a high-rise apartment. It has been a huge adjustment and a big adventure. I've spent most of the year working on my manuscript and staying out of the rain. 

We had to sell my childhood home when we moved to Oregon. This was really tough for me. Luckily, one of my closest friends was our agent. She helped ease the transition. It also helped that we got a ton of offers that were well-above our asking price and I had a good feeling about the couple we sold to. They even had a cat named Penny!

We are celebrating my birthday in Big Bear Lake with my mother-in-law. At the end of August, we are moving back to Big Bear, as Dan's company is allowing him to try working from home. I don't think Big Bear is likely going to be our home for long, but it will be nice to actually use the home that we spent so much time and energy having renovated. I look forward to starting the next decade of my life back in California!

tags: Turning Forty, 40 years old, My Forties, My Thirties, Decades of my Life, Married a Brit, Glendale California, Big Bear Lake California, Portland Oregon, Death of Parent, Selling Childhood Home, Glendale Police Department, Universal Studios Hollywood, Best Decade of Your Life
categories: Life
Friday 08.11.17
Posted by Karen Lea Germain
Comments: 6
 

2016 Wrap-up

It's that time again, to look back and take stock of all that has happened in the year. I know that 2016 has been rough for a lot of people, with the crazy election and such, but this has personally been an exceptionally hard year for the Germain family. It's been a year of major life changes, definitely one of the most transformative years of my life.

The year started in an amazing way, Dan and I drank champagne and watched fireworks from our hotel in Orlando during our eight day vacation. Most of our vacations include family, so it was special to have a romantic getaway. The weather was sunny and perfect. Plus, we purchased Disney World annual passes, so that we could have a cost-effective way to return to Orlando with the kids in the summer. We had to test-out the rides first, right?

In January, we learned that Dan's division at work was being dissolved at the end of April. The bad part was the stress and worry that comes with losing a job. However, we had several months to prepare, and he was given an excellent severance package. The unknown is always scary and I'll admit that the first half of the year was bumpy, but ultimately, this loss sent us on a new and better path.

I spent the winter finishing my UCLA Extension Fiction Writing Certificate Program, which I completed a year ahead of schedule and with honors. I'm now finishing my manuscript, which is due at the end of this winter for an instructor review, an incredibly perk for completing the certificate program. The pressure is officially on.

In April, we spent two weeks at the MGM Grand Signature Hotel in Las Vegas, so that Dan could run his final trade show for his former company. We even drove all of the equipment out to the show, which involved hanging out with truckers, and seeing the "behind the scenes" action at the convention center. While Dan was working, I was busy in our hotel room, setting up our new home-based travel agency, Easy as Pie Travel, LLC.. Of course, I also took daily trips down to the pool for some sun bathing and relaxation. Working in Vegas is tough.

In May, we realized that running two houses was draining resources rapidly, and that the best course of action would be to sell my childhood home in Glendale. This was HUGE for me. It was not an easily made decision. We began the process of moving our stuff up to our Big Bear Lake house, which was still ( and is still), under construction. Our hope was to have it finished for Zoe and Felix's summer visit, and although it was livable, it was not completely done, which was a huge disappointment. We moved most of the stuff ourselves, renting small Uhaul trucks and slowly taking up all of our belongings over several trips. I will always use a moving company for future moves. Lesson learned.

Exhausted and needing a vacation, we used my travel agency discounts, and booked a last minute Alaskan Cruise on Holland America's MS Amsterdam. It departed from Seattle, which was a city I had never visited. We spent a day and half exploring before our cruise, visiting the Space Needle, Pikes Place Market, and the Chihuly Gallery. The cruise was amazing, something that everyone should have on their bucket list. We saw the Hubbard Glacier up-close ( the sounds of cracking ice were unbelievable), we flew in a seaplane, saw wild Bald Eagles soaring, and went dog sledding. We also visited the Canadian island of Victoria, BC. Everyone should see Alaska, it was gorgeous.

Our cruise was extremely sad and unforgettable for another reason; when we arrived in our first port of Juneau, we learned that Dan's father, Dave, had cancer and his time was short. We were told not to abandon our cruise, but we spent the entire trip worrying. It was impossible to not worry or feel sad.

The day after we returned home from Alaska, we were on a flight to England. I'm grateful that we were able to speak with Dave when he was still coherent, and to be with him at the hospital when he passed. I'm also extremely grateful for the years and vacations that I was able to spend getting to know my father-in-law. I never really knew my own dad, so this made my relationship with Dave even more meaningful. I met him shortly after Dan and I started dating, and I had a crash-course in getting to know my future father-in-law, when I spent an entire day with him alone at Disneyland. We had so much fun. I will always remember his kindness, his great advice, and his sense of adventure. He had the best stories and was an excellent "grump." We spent a few weeks in England, spending time with family and helping make arrangements. Although our reason for the trip was terrible, we were able to enjoy the family time. We finally got to see my brother-in-law play in his band Beatlejuice (Beatles covers, they're really good!) and we visited the Bombay Sapphire Gin Factory with friends. 

This sudden trip to England, sent our lives on a new path. It meant that Dan had to postpone a job interview, but while in England, Steve (my brother-in-law), gave Dan a lead on a position with Amazon, based out of Portland. When we returned home, he followed up, and soon was flown to Oregon for an interview. As you probably already know, he got the job, and our lives were about to be kicked into overdrive.

We had already booked our summer holiday with the kids, so Dan agreed to start work a few days after their vacation ended, at the end of August. We had to clear out the Glendale house and prep it to be sold, find a place to live in Portland ( which we did entirely online), and we had to get Big Bear ready for the kids. Our plate was overflowing.

In mid-July, Dan flew to Sweden to pick up Zoe and Felix. This was the first time we were spending our summer vacation with them in America, and we had them for an entire month. We spent a few days in Los Angeles and then nearly a week in Big Bear. The big surprise, was we took them to Orlando for two weeks to experience Disney World and Kennedy Space Center. It was cheaper to fly out of Las Vegas ( That's my travel agent expertise saving us money), so we spent two nights at the Luxor on either end of the trip. Yes, we were "Those people", who take kids to Vegas, but really it was the perfect place for a family vacation. We were easily able to avoid anything inappropriate. We rented a cabana at the Luxor and used the pool all day. In the evenings, we saw shows ( Beatles Love and The Blue Man Group), plus we introduced the kids to our favorite Vegas spot, The Pinball Hall of Fame. It was an amazing summer holiday. I have no idea how we will top it in 2017.

We packed a few suitcases and took the last flight to Portland on the evening of August 20th. The next morning, we picked up the keys to our downtown apartment, which we had picked sight unseen. It's worked out, but I don't recommend it. We've spent the last few months having "renters-remorse", as we see all of the other buildings that we could have picked. It's not terrible though, we are right across from the Portland Art Museum, and near all of the major theaters. It was easier to buy new furniture and house goods, so a majority of our things are still in our Big Bear house. The cats were surprisingly okay with the fifteen hour drive, that we made in early September. They were heavily drugged.

This fall has been a blur of getting settled into our new Portland life. Dan is incredibly busy with his new job and I continue to work on my manuscript. The weather is cold and grey, but we have purchased a S.A.D. Lamp ( it works) and I'm loving my new cold weather wardrobe. My ear muffs are so cute, that I even wear them around our apartment. We sold our Glendale house in November, a move made easier because a close friend was our realtor, and the couple that purchased my house, seemed really nice. Plus, they have a cat named Penny, which is probably the biggest sign that the universe has ever sent to me. I know my mom is smiling.

A few other non-travel related highlights: I went to two concerts, Josh Ritter at the Fonda, and the anniversary tour of Jenny Lewis and The Watson Twin's Rabbit Fur Coat album, which was at an gorgeous cathedral in Los Angeles. With the setting and the music, it felt like a religious experience. We attended an awards gala honoring James Cameron, sitting at a table adjacent to Cameron, just a few feet away. Speaking of celebrities, I got to meet one of my favorite authors, Alexander McCall Smith at Powell's Books. I attended my first writer's conference; AWP in Los Angeles, where I packed in two days of non-stop panel discussions. At AWP, I met more authors, such as Cheryl Strayed and Bret Easton Ellis. AWP was one of my best weekends of the year. In Portland, I went to the Wordstock Literary Festival and saw, Karen Russell, Laurie Notaro, Richard Russo, and Carrie Brownstein. This very lit heavy year, ended with me having read sixty-eight books. 

2016 brought tremendous change. I'm hoping to spend 2017 slowing things down a bit, and focusing on getting to know our new city, building Easy as Pie Travel, and polishing my manuscript. But first, it's off to England for Christmas and New Years. Let's start the year off right, by spending it with family. 

 

tags: 2016 Wrap Up, What I Did in 2016, 2016 Year in Review, New Job in 2016, Major Life Changes in 2016, Glass Half Full Type of Person, 2016 Difficult Year, New Years Eve in Orlando, Winter Holiday in Florida, Job Loss in 2016, Scared of Life Changes, UCLA Extension Fiction Writers Program, MGM Grand Signature Hotel Las Vegas, Las Vegas Convention Center, Convention Center Truckers, Easy as Pie Travel LLC, Home Based Travel Agency, Travel Agent Deals, Where Travel Agents Vacation, Selling Childhood Home, Selling Childhood Home in Glendale, Big Bear Lake House, Our Big Bear Lake House, Moving to Big Bear Lake, Summer Vacation Orlando 2016, Moving Yourself, Holland America Alaska Cuises, Cruises to Alaska, MS Amsterdam Cruise to Alaska, Seaplane in Alaska, Dog Sledding in Alaska, Bald Eagles in Alaska, Chihuly Gallery Seattle, Our First Trip to Seattle, Pikes Place Market Seattle, Seattle Space Needle, Alaskan Cruise Shore Excursions, Visiting Victoria British Columbia, Canadian Islands, Glaciers in Alaska, The Sounds a Glacier Makes, The Sound of Cracking Ice, Missing my Father-in-Law, Deaths in 2016, Beatles Cover Band Beatlejuice, Bombay Sapphire Factory England, Moving to Portland Oregon, Near Portland Museum of Art, Moving Cats to Another State, How to do Road Trips with Cats, Tips for Moving Cats, Cat Named Penny, Cabana Rentals at Luxor, Taking Kids to Vegas, Those People who Take Kids to Las Vegas, Family Vacations to Las Vegas, Blue Man Group Las Vegas, Beatles Love Las Vegas, Pinball Hall of Fame Las Vegas, Getting Used to the Weather in Portland Oregon, Do SAD Lamps Work, SAD Lamps for Portland Oregon, Josh Ritter at the Fonda 2016, Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins Rabbit Fur Coat Anniversary Tour 2016, Gala Honoring James Cameron, Alexander McCall Smith at Powell's Books 2016, Cheryl Strayed AWP 2016, Bret Easton Ellis AWP 2016, Karen Russell Wordstock 2016, Richard Russo Wordstock 2016, Carrie Brownstein Wordstock 2016, Laurie Notaro Wordstock 2016
categories: Life, Read, Visit
Thursday 12.29.16
Posted by Karen Lea Germain
 

805 East Acacia Avenue #F

Today, if everything goes according to plan with the close of escrow, my childhood home no longer belongs to me. I feel like the Pixar film, Upside Down, all of the emotions inside of me are competing. At the moment, sadness is winning. 

My house doesn't look like much, built in the mid-70's and only 952 square feet. My parents, Penny and Conrad Hansen, bought it as a starter home, moving in a month before I was born. It came with rust colored shag carpet, and the garage was painted bright pink; it had been used as playroom for the young daughters of the original owners. My grandpa and dad added a pantry in the garage, which surprisingly, none of the neighbors have copied. It added so much storage! My parents never intended on keeping it long-term, but after my father died in 1982, it was a perfect size for Mom and me, in a community where we felt safe.

Mom made some changes in the early eighties. Out went the shag and instead, we had plush, dark brown carpet. This of course, matched our very 80's heavy wood furniture. The house wasn't all brown, we painted the walls a Smurf blue. It was as tasteless as you are imagining. 

Some of the furniture changed, but every time Mom repainted, she kept the same shade of blue. Our home decor didn't dramatically change, until I officially moved-out in 2001. I wasn't gone more than a week, when Mom turned my childhood bedroom into a guest room. There was no turning back. and I was a bit crushed by her swift dismantling of my childhood. She also changed the carpet to a multicolored pastel berber, that matched the Smurf walls, and new couch. Again, it was as tasteless as you are imagining. 

Mom died in 2008, which coincided with the collapse of my first marriage. I dramatically renovated the townhouse, before moving back in as a newly single woman. It was both odd and comforting to be back in this house. The original dark wood kitchen, with its stained white counter tops, was gutted, and replaced with Cape Cod style white cabinets and a light green counter top. The cheap linoleum flooring was replaced with a creamy stone. It was lighter and brighter, I loved my new kitchen. I embraced learning to cook, something that my mom never loved. I replaced the berber with hardwood downstairs, and a plush beige carpet upstairs. Not a fan of ceiling fans, I replaced them with modern light fixtures. I also replaced the sliding closet doors with an folding style, and added crown molding to give polish to the house. Smurf blue paint was out, but I went in a direction that some people have called tasteless ( see a Hansen theme here?) - A majority of the house was painted a soft yellow, the guest bath- pale blue, upstairs bath-celery green, office/my childhood bedroom- coral, master bedroom - Lavender. All of the cheerful colors made me happy. 

In early 2012, I was considering renting out my house, and moving to Tustin to live with my aunt and uncle. I had emptied the entire house, when Dan, whom I was newly dating, and I decided that we wanted to live together in Glendale. Since it was empty, we made more renovations. First, my paint had to go. The painter we hired, referred to it as "An Easter Egg House" and even threw in a discount for mocking it. We painted with a neutral color called Sand Castle. It was nice, but honestly, a little boring! We put in a rubber coating on the garage floor. We gutted the upstairs bathroom, adding a new vanity with double sinks, new tile flooring, a new bathtub, and shower doors. We tiled all of the walls, with a pretty blue and silver stripe of small tiles going around the entire bathroom. It was modern and European in style. 

Over the last four years, we've had all of the windows done, we've upgraded all of the appliances, the house now has wood floor throughout, except for my old bedroom, which has new carpet. My favorite addition, was doing up our enormous patio with lots of beautiful cactus. The heat on the patio is so intense during most of the year, that through trial and error, it was discovered that only cactus thrive. I believe the only original things left in the house are the downstairs bathroom vanity/mirror/medicine cabinet, and the wood handrail on the stairs. I'm sure with the new owners, these will soon be gone. It would have been our next renovation.

Two giant trees used to flank the front of our townhouse, but they are long gone. Also gone, are most of the pets that lived here. Over the years, we had four cats (MeTwo, Spotless, Slinky, and Nicolette), a lop-eared rabbit ( Calico), a rat (Pumpkin), two parakeets (Cadbury and Jelly Bean), and a ton of unnamed fish. 

Thirty-nine and half years of mostly happy memories were made in this home. Mom always held Thanksgiving and Christmas at our little house, inviting "holiday orphans" for turkey and competitive games of Trivial Pursuit. As a kid, I had countless sleep-overs and pizza parties. We were the first family in the neighborhood to have "On TV", and my mom invited all of the neighborhood kids over to watch Star Wars and spill popcorn all over our living room. As a teenager, I threw a few parties that Mom never knew about, including a cringe-worthy Goth themed Spaghetti dinner.  

During the summer, when my mom was at work, and I was home alone ( about ten years old, this was sort-of okay in the 80's), we would get cardboard from my friend Luke's grandparents house and use it to create a slide down the stairs, sitting in another box and pushing off, crashing down. I don't know how we didn't break any bones or furniture!  We would make lemonade and other snacks, selling it to the other kids in the complex. We even put on a luncheon/variety show, which the neighborhood kids consistently called a rip-off, but always returned for more, forking over their allowance. Sometimes you have to embarrass yourself to turn a profit. I have fond memories of skating and bike riding in the driveway. We had an awesome pool, so many summers spent playing Marco Polo and doing cannonballs in the deep end. My last memory of the pool is going to be my step-kids playing in it this last August, which makes my heart feel warm. It feels like life coming full circle.

It was a really fantastic neighborhood to be a kid. I'm still incredibly close with many of my friends that I made in our complex. Although the neighborhood has changed, several of the neighbors that I've had my entire life still live in our complex. I think that's a testament to the community that we built. Our community was very diverse, with neighbors from so many different cultures. I honestly can't imagine how a community could be much more diverse than ours. This was such a gift to be raised around so much diversity. 

Besides thinking of all of the memories that were made in my home, I'm mostly mourning the sense of safety that I felt living at 805 East Acacia. Will anything else every truly feel like home? Although selling is the right decision for Dan and I, at this moment in our lives, I hope that it will still feel like we made the right decision in the future. The new buyers are a young couple who I immediately liked from the warm letter that they included with their offer. They just had the right vibe, and they included a picture of their cat. I just hope as they create a home, that I will find peace with my major life change. I confessed to a few people that selling my house feels a little like loosing my mom all over again. It's like a piece is missing. Hopefully time and new opportunities will ease this feeling. 

Unfortunately, most of my family pictures of the house are in storage, so here are just a few that I took on my last visit.

This is the view out of my front door.

Here is the driveway, where we played. My garage is second from the left, with the cactus planters on the patio.

My childhood bedroom. 

The view from my bedroom. 

Selling my house has been made easier with the help of several people.

First, my rockstar relator (who is also a close high school friend), Valerie Halsey at Berkshire Hathaway Real Estate. She was the best through every step of the process, including giving me excellent advice regarding getting the house ready and help picking a buyer. We had a lot of strong offers and I attribute this to her expertise with getting the house in shape to sell it. She knew exactly what we needed to do. Valerie had her work cut out for her, as me being in Portland, made it more challenging. Her husband, Brett, is a amazing photographer, who not only took accurate pictures for the listing, but captured unusual angles. He made our place look good! Speaking of looking good, one of the best decisions we made was to use Cort for professional staging. Jules Escalona at Cort Interiors is a master at staging, he made our place look better than we could have imagined it. He was worth every penny. 

It's time to pack up the memories, close a significant chapter of my life, and focus on building a new community here in Portland or wherever else the future might take us. 

tags: 805 East Acacia Avenue #F, Growing Up in Glendale California, Growing Up in South Glendale CA, Selling Childhood Home, I Sold My Childhood Home, Emotions of Selling Childhood Home, Traumatic Life Events Selling Home, Growing Up in a Diverse Community, Berkshire Hathaway Real Estate Review, Using Cort Interiors to Stage a Home, Should You Have Your Home Professionally Staged, Professionally Staged Home Equals Higher Offers, Tips for Selling a Home, I sold My Home in Glendale CA, Pictures of My Childhood Home, Regret Selling Childhood Home, Orange Shag Carpet, Home Decor in 1980's, Christmas with Trivial Pursuit, Childhood Memories Slide on Stairs, Childhood Memories Lemonaid Stan, On TV 1980's, Teenage Goth Party, How My House Looked Through The Decades, Easter Egg Colored House, Smurf Blue Paint, European Style Bathroom, What Makes a Great Neighborhood, Feel Like Pixar Upside Down, Penny and Conrad Hansen Glendale, How to Pick Buyers for Your House, New Family Living in Your Childhood Home, Emotions of Selling a House, Best Childhood Ever, Inheriting Childhood Home, Making Your Childhood Home Yours Again as an Adult, Wish for People Buying My House, How Your Childhood Neighborhood Has Changed, Renovating Your Childhood Home
categories: Life
Thursday 11.17.16
Posted by Karen Lea Germain
Comments: 2
 

Powered by Squarespace 6